Venture Capital Firm For Immigrant Founders Secures Additional $35M

Unshackled Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm for immigrant founders, has closed its third fund with $35 million.

This adds to the $35 million the firm, founded by Manan Mehta and Nitin Pachisia, has already deployed to 80 companies. 

Unshackled Ventures has also provided over 200 founders with visa sponsorship, immigration support, and a community of resources.

Unshackled Ventures

The first and only early-stage venture capital fund focused on retaining foreign talent in the U.S., Unshackled Ventures invests in visionary immigrants and has built a place for them to successfully launch a company, regardless of their current work authorization.

“Immigrants are some of the greatest creators in this country. That’s why we keep on believing as a national advantage; this population is in the American best interest,” Pachisia told TechCrunch.

Fund III

With the challenges facing the current fundraising environment, it took the team 18 months to secure capital for Fund III, compared to six months for their previous two funds.

Still, the duo said Fund III more than doubles the firm’sfirm’s assets under management.

It garnered 73% of its funding from institutional investors such as Cambridge Associates, Cendana, Emerson Collective, California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, and Sorenson Impact Advisory.

“If we provide immigrants with friends-and-family capital support, we believe that we can preserve the American promise and honestly, as a venture capital firm, invest in a talent pool that otherwise was overlooked,” said Pachisia.

In 2023, 781,000 foreign workers registered for 85,000 H-1B visa lottery slots.

Therefore, Unshackled Ventures and the fund will begin a program in July called Eighteen150, a founder-in-residence program, to support more immigrant entrepreneurs, regardless of their immigration status.

The Current Fundraising Environment

The Wall Street Journal last month reported that the amount of venture capital raised by startups in the U.S. dropped by 55% between the first quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023.

Additionally, the yearly internal rate of returns for venture firms in the third quarter of 2022 was the lowest since 2009.

Bloomberg also confirmed that more than 400 companies hadn’thadn’t raised new money since 2021, and 94% of tech unicorns are unprofitable, highlighting Unshackled Ventures’Ventures’ success in receiving funds.