<p>Research on venture capital (VC) diversification has mainly been informed by evidence from developed economies, where mature institutional environments enable VCs to accumulate industry-specific knowledge and thus favor specialization. In contrast, limited attention has been paid to how VCs in emerging markets, characterized by evolving institutional frameworks, develop and deploy knowledge through experience. To address this gap, we examine how India’s institutional context shapes the relationship between VC experience and industry diversification. Drawing on a knowledge-based perspective, we argue that such environments encourage the accumulation of knowledge breadth, or industry-agnostic expertise, rather than knowledge depth. As VCs gain experience, this breadth is reinforced by repeated investments, enabling them to diversify across industries. Using a panel dataset of Indian VCs from 2003 to 2022, we find strong evidence that accumulated experience is positively associated with industry diversification. We further identify important boundary conditions. The positive effect of experience weakens when VCs focus on early-stage ventures or Business-to-Business (B2B) start-ups, settings in which the application of knowledge-breadth across industries is constrained and industry-specific knowledge becomes more valuable. These findings are robust across multiple model specifications. By applying a knowledge-based lens, this study advances research on VC diversification by demonstrating how institutional environments shape the nature of experiential knowledge and, in turn, VC investment behavior in emerging markets.</p>