BANGALORE, INDIA: Infosys co-founder and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy has set up a venture capital fund.

To raise fund for the new venture Murthy has sold eight lakh shares of Infosys, the software exporter informed the stock exchange. This amounts to 0.13 per cent of the total shares of Infosys.

After the transaction, Murthy holds 2.38 million shares in Infosys, which he co-founded with six other software engineers in 1981 with $250, mainly borrowed from their spouses, and turned it into a technology bellwether, according to a Reuters report.

Infosys said Murthy would use the funds to set up a venture capital fund that would help young entrepreneurs.

"The venture capital fund will encourage and support young entrepreneurs having brilliant business ideas. The fund will primarily invest in India and may on a case-to-case basis consider investing overseas," said the filing.