India's Super-Rich Pool Millions for Slice of World's Hottest Private AI Firms
While India's domestic artificial intelligence startups garner increasing attention, the country's wealthiest family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals are placing their most significant bets thousands of miles away. They are targeting US-based 'frontier AI' and large language model companies that they believe will define the next computing cycle, according to industry insiders and wealth managers.
Offshore Investment Strategy Gains Momentum
Wealth managers report that Indian UHNIs are significantly increasing their offshore exposure as global AI valuations soar. A familiar set of companies sits at the heart of these offshore investments: OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, xAI (maker of Grok), SpaceX and FigureAI. These are largely unlisted and tightly held firms, making it difficult for investors to gain entry with smaller cheques.
To overcome this barrier, investors are increasingly relying on wealth managers and private banks to stitch together pooled offshore vehicles and secondary-market access, rather than attempting direct investments on company cap tables. This approach allows them to operate within India's overseas investment and remittance framework while accessing private firms that typically do not accept direct individual shareholders.
The Mechanics of Pooled Investment Vehicles
Bankers and advisors at firms like Kotak Mahindra Bank and InCred Wealth note that interest has surged as wealthy Indians diversify offshore and global AI valuations have jumped, bringing India-resident UHNIs, family offices and some non-resident Indians into the same deal flow.
"No SpaceX or a company like SpaceX will take a single individual investor on its cap table without a work around," explained Gautami Gavankar, president at Kotak Mahindra Bank. "So most investments into private companies typically happen through a fund structure outside India."
In practice, the pooling vehicle is typically established offshore by a fund manager or specialist administrator, while banks and wealth advisers in India help investors access it. These special purpose vehicles or offshore funds pool money from multiple investors and use the combined block to buy into targeted companies.
Structure and Execution Details
Yogesh Kalwani, head of investment and family office at InCred Wealth, explained that the global secondary market makes it possible to "tie up a block, get into an SPV or a fund and the fund buys it," allowing investors with $150,000-500,000 to participate through multiple SPV layers.
"For the hottest artificial intelligence names, the SPV rounds typically require $50 million and above… maybe $100 million, while secondaries can be executed in smaller blocks, such as $5-10 million, making them more workable for pooled Indian capital," said Kalwani.
Mint estimates that approximately $80-$100 million from resident Indian investors and non-resident Indians has been pooled into such AI-focused SPVs over the past three months. Private banks and wealth advisers act as the interface for India-based UHNIs, family offices and some NRIs, filtering deals, explaining structures and connecting eligible clients to offshore vehicles actually buying the shares.
Investor Profile and Deal Sizes
According to interviews with multiple fund managers and family offices, investors participating in these offshore structures are typically ultra-wealthy, with net worths ranging from about ₹100-1,500 crore. Kalwani noted that wealthy individuals can enter these opportunities at ticket sizes of $150,000-$500,000, while family office transactions typically range between $1 million to $5 million per office.
Gavankar added that family offices with capital parked offshore can write much larger cheques with sufficient conviction and scale, potentially reaching $10 million to $20 million. She has encountered instances of $100 million and $50 million raises sourced from HNIs and family offices, depending on company fundraising and existing demand.
Liquidity Considerations and Exit Pathways
Most structures are managed by offshore fund managers or specialist administrators, with Indian and NRI investors relying on periodic updates and open communication lines but having limited control over exit timing and methods. Exits typically occur "at the discretion of the fund manager," especially since these are private deals executed through fund structures in secondary markets.
Kalwani cautioned that liquidity is not guaranteed and returns depend heavily on entry price and holding duration. "There is no exit happening—2025 was largely a deployment year," he noted, adding that funds are typically longer-tenure vehicles.
Market Context and Valuation Trends
Recent funding rounds illustrate the substantial deal sizes in the US market that Indian investors are tracking. Perplexity raised $100 million in July 2025 at an $18 billion valuation, followed by another $200 million in September 2025 at a $20 billion valuation. OpenAI closed a $40 billion funding round in March 2025 valuing the company at $300 billion.
Anthropic has experienced even faster valuation growth, raising $3.5 billion at a $61.5 billion post-money valuation in March 2025, followed by a $13 billion Series F at a $183 billion post-money valuation in September 2025.
Recent reports suggesting potential public market listings have further fueled investor interest. SpaceX is pursuing an initial public offering in 2026, while Anthropic has engaged legal counsel to prepare for a potential IPO that could occur as early as 2026, potentially creating clearer exit pathways for early backers.
