India’s micro venture capital firms are at a crossroads a decade after first bursting onto the scene, as they fight for deals with larger investors who have increasingly gone deeper and earlier in a hyper-competitive startup ecosystem.

Micro VC funds such as Artha India Ventures, Unicorn India Ventures, GrowX Ventures and 100X.VC have typically operated in the space just above the angel investors and below that of early-stage venture capital firms, usually coming in as the first institutional cheques in early-stage startups that have gone past the ideation stage and are beginning to record early revenue.

The definition of micro VC funds remains fluid. In the United States, they are defined as funds managed by a single, or at best, a couple of general partners, with a small boutique investment thesis, and rarely charging management fees. In India, however, domestic micro VCs have typically raised between $30 million and $50 million.

Read More: Micro VCs fight for relevance as bigger funds dig in