Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 16: Auraska Ventures Pvt Ltd today announced its launch as a new-age alternate investments and strategic advisory platform designed to invest in, advise, and build businesses across India’s cultural economy—spanning media, entertainment, sports, gaming, fashion, content IP, and celebrity-driven consumer brands.

The platform brings together three integrated businesses:

• A strategic advisory practice with a leadership track record of over USD 3 billion in transactions.
• The Auraska Opportunities Fund, a planned ₹500 crore SEBI-registered Category II AIF.
• An active venture-building arm currently incubating businesses in celebrity digital rights protection, legal tech, and consumer IP-driven brands.

Auraska is led by Vishal Mahajan, Founder and CEO, who brings 27 years of experience in alternate investments and investment banking, closing over USD 2 billion in deals including pioneering M&A transactions and investments in the consumer sectors including ORRA Diamonds and Kisankonnect e-grocery. He has been a founding team member at YES Bank Investment Banking and EY across Mumbai and New York and focuses on new-age businesses.

The CBO of Auraska Ventures, Stuti Shetty, has a background in legal studies in England & Wales. Recognized as a dynamic young leader, Stuti has built strong expertise in client relationship management across sectors. She has successfully cultivated relationships with High-Net-Worth Individuals (HNIs) across the UAE, India, and the UK.

Auraska’s launch comes at a moment when India’s cultural and creative economy is receiving unprecedented policy attention, institutional interest, and global recognition.

• India’s media and entertainment sector reached ₹2.5 trillion in 2024 and is projected to cross ₹3 trillion by 2027.
• The online gaming sector is growing at 28% CAGR and is projected to reach ₹33,243 crore by FY28.
• Between 2 to 2.5 million digital creators now influence over ₹29.6 lakh crore in annual consumer spending.
• India’s esports sector has collectively raised $825 million, with over 200 active companies.

The Union Budget 2026–27 formally recognised the “Orange Economy” as a national growth priority, announcing AVGC Content Creator Labs in 15,000 schools and 500 colleges.

Meanwhile:

• India’s AIF industry has crossed ₹15.7 trillion in commitments, growing at nearly 30% CAGR over five years.
• Indian family offices have pushed alternative allocations past 40%, the highest in Asia-Pacific.

Yet there is virtually no dedicated institutional capital vehicle designed to back the sectors where India’s cultural influence is generating the most global traction.

The Auraska Platform: Three Businesses, One Conviction

Strategic Advisory

Auraska’s advisory platform operates across deal advisory, M&A, fundraising, and cross-border strategic partnerships in consumer, media, sports, gaming, real estate, healthcare, and IP businesses. The leadership team has collectively advised on over USD 3 billion in transactions.

Auraska Opportunities Fund

A planned ₹500 crore SEBI-registered Category II AIF investing in 10–15 companies from seed to Series B across consumer, media, sports, gaming, fashion, and IP businesses. The fund blends equity with select high-yield debt opportunities. Its LP base—HNIs, celebrities, sports personalities, family offices, and corporates—creates a model where investors also serve as cultural amplifiers for portfolio companies.

Venture Building

Auraska is actively incubating businesses in:

• Celebrity digital rights protection and monetisation in an AI content world.
• Legal tech solutions for the Indian legal services industry.
• Consumer IP-driven brands.

The celebrity digital rights venture is particularly timely. India’s IT Amendment Rules 2026 mandate 3-hour takedowns of AI-generated deepfake content, and landmark lawsuits by prominent Indian celebrities have established judicial precedent around personality rights in the AI age.

It is already in touch with high-net-worth individuals for raising the corpus, and getting Sebi approvals for the Category II AIF will take up to four months from now, founder and chief executive Vishal Mahajan said, adding that deployments will start immediately after the regulatory nod.