
Krishnakumar Natarajan (KK)
Managing Partner
Co-founded Mela; operator-led B2B investing and founder support.
LinkedIn profile ↗India / Direct investor

Backing category creators to deliver big outcomes.
Operator-led B2B investing across enterprise technology, DeepTech and ClimateTech, from India for global markets.
Connect Now01 / The fund
Mela Ventures was founded by Mindtree co-founders Krishnakumar Natarajan and Parthasarathy NS. It invests in B2B enterprise technology, DeepTech and ClimateTech companies building from India for global markets. The current pitch page looks for early revenues or signs of product-market fit, with a typical initial cheque of $2-3 million and the option to invest more in later rounds.
MV Core Tech Fund I closed at INR 320 crore in March 2022. In its January 2026 strategy letter, Mela said Fund I held 15 investments, would make no fresh initial investments and had reserves for follow-ons. The same letter said Fund II had received regulatory approvals and was fundraising, with roughly half its investable corpus expected to go into DeepTech. Those are dated manager statements, not a verified Fund II close or an available allocation.
The current portfolio has 17 unique manager-listed companies, including the 2026 robotics additions Flo Mobility and Solinas. This is a manager-wide list, not a claim that all 17 belong to Fund I or that a particular new investment came from Fund II. Earlier reports gave different cheque ranges; this page uses the current primary pitch terms rather than treating older ranges as current.
Official investment fit and cheque size ↗ · January 2026 fund strategy ↗ · Fund I final-close announcement ↗02 / Portfolio
17 unique companies currently listed as active by Mela. DTT sectors describe what the company builds, not the manager's investment labels. Enterprise software, retail AI and hardware-design simulation software remain in Others rather than being relabeled as chip makers or physical deep-tech companies. Active is the manager's published holding status, not an independent statement of company survival or current fund allocation.

Electrochemical wastewater-treatment systems use electricity-driven reactions to remove contaminants. Modular equipment treats industrial water near its source so it can be reused, reducing reliance on conventional chemical-heavy processes.
Holding source ↗
Thermal-storage technology keeps food and medicines at controlled temperatures during transport. Rechargeable thermal batteries store cooling energy, reducing the fuel and refrigeration burden of last-mile cold chains.
Holding source ↗
Autonomous construction robots move materials around building sites. The Flo Hauler combines physical carts with navigation, perception and fleet-control software, reducing repetitive manual hauling.
Holding source ↗
Designs agricultural drones and aerial systems. Its spray drones automate crop treatment, combining aircraft design, flight control and application hardware for farm operations.
Holding source ↗
Builds electro-optic surveillance systems that combine cameras, sensors, AI and specialized hardware for long-range detection. Products serve border, perimeter, aerospace and other security applications.
Holding source ↗
Robots inspect and clean buried water and sewer pipes. Endobot handles inspection, HomoSEP mechanizes sanitation work, and SWASTH AI turns inspection results into maps and maintenance records.
Holding source ↗
Designs Indian RISC-V systems-on-chips: processors with computing, memory interfaces and security functions on one chip. Secure IoT targets connected devices; Vision SoC targets cameras and other edge-vision hardware.
Holding source ↗
Builds Earth-observation satellites combining radar and optical sensors. Radar can see through clouds and darkness, while optical images are easier to interpret; the combined data serves agriculture, infrastructure and security applications.
Holding source ↗
Tests connected products using virtual copies of devices rather than large physical fleets. Teams can reproduce network failures, device behavior and heavy traffic to check IoT applications before release.
Holding source ↗
A customer-data platform combines first-party information from online and offline sources. Marketers use unified customer profiles to run campaigns and measure response; this is enterprise software rather than a physical deep-tech product.
Holding source ↗
Image-recognition software measures retail shelves from store photos. Consumer brands and retailers use it to check stock, product placement and display compliance without manually reviewing every shelf.
Holding source ↗
Supply-chain software brings tracking information across road, rail, air and ocean transport into one view. Enterprises use it to monitor shipments, detect exceptions and coordinate logistics operations.
Holding source ↗
An AI platform for banks, insurers and other regulated businesses manages data, model development, deployment and model risk. It helps teams apply machine learning to credit, fraud and other business decisions.
Holding source ↗
Enterprise learning software uses simulations and AI-supported exercises to develop leadership, digital and business skills. It serves workforce training and performance readiness, not physical deep-tech manufacturing.
Holding source ↗
Simulation software helps hardware engineers find electromagnetic interference before building prototypes. It checks whether electronic devices emit too much unwanted electrical noise or fail when exposed to it; this is engineering software, not a chip maker.
Holding source ↗
Revenue and advertising-management software for media, retail and financial businesses. Its tools connect ad sales, campaign operations, billing and reporting so teams can reconcile revenue.
Holding source ↗
Observability software follows business transactions across applications and infrastructure. Banks and other enterprises use vuSmartMaps to see where payment or service journeys slow down or fail.
Holding source ↗03 / Team & connect

Managing Partner
Co-founded Mela; operator-led B2B investing and founder support.
LinkedIn profile ↗
Managing Partner
Co-founded Mela; operator-led B2B investing and founder support.
LinkedIn profile ↗
Partner
Investment leadership across enterprise technology, DeepTech and ClimateTech.
LinkedIn profile ↗


Investment Committee member
Official investment-committee role; not described here as a full-time Mela employee.
LinkedIn profile ↗
Investment Committee member
Official investment-committee role; not described here as a full-time Mela employee.
LinkedIn profile ↗Seven investing or investment-committee contacts, each with a direct personal LinkedIn check. The first five are Mela investment leadership. Rostow Ravanan and Sudip Nandy are listed by Mela as investment-committee members; their profiles show other operating roles, so these cards do not imply full-time Mela employment. KK and Parthasarathy are deduplicated across leadership and committee membership. Advisory-only, finance and marketing roles are excluded.
Official team and investment committee ↗04 / Fund network
Two named LP relationships are supported by Mela's own March 2022 Fund I final-close release. These are Fund I relationships, not inferred Fund II commitments. Unnamed family offices, technology executives and global investors are not turned into guessed names.
MV Core Tech Fund I
Mela names SIDBI FFS as an investor in its final-close release. SIDBI's public commitments table lists INR 50 crore sanctioned for MV Core Tech Fund I, against an earlier INR 250 crore target corpus. Sanctioned capital is not proof that it has all been drawn; that earlier target is not substituted for the manager's INR 320 crore final close.
Primary commitment source ↗NIDIA / Fund I investor
The final-close release names this investment vehicle as an LP. It does not disclose its individual commitment amount. The vehicle relationship is not presented as a separate direct commitment by Nippon Life or its other group companies.
Primary LP announcement ↗Research checked 2 November 2026. Portfolio co-investors, advisers and startup customers are not inferred to be LPs. Public fund statements are not investment advice or confirmation of an available allocation.