BIRAC AcE Fund (Fund of Funds for Biotech)

BIRAC's Fund of Funds providing equity support to biotech startups with an investment commitment of ₹174.50 crore, actual investment of ₹349 crore in biotech startups. As a fund-of-funds rather than a direct investor, the AcE Fund does not write cheques to startups itself — it commits capital (₹174.50 crore as of its most recent public disclosure) into roughly 16 SEBI-registered daughter AIFs run by professional fund managers, who then make the actual equity investments. This structure means a biotech startup seeking AcE-linked capital needs to identify and pitch one of the daughter funds directly rather than applying to BIRAC, and the fund's stated purpose is specifically to bridge the 'valley of death' between early grant-funded R&D (such as BIG) and growth-stage investment. Reported figures show the daughter funds have collectively backed over 100 biotech startups to date.