India’s startup ecosystem is evolving past simply app constructing and IT providers, with enterprise capitalists now backing startups constructing {hardware}, AI, robotics, and even house infrastructure. Deep tech, lengthy thought of dangerous and area of interest, is now attracting consideration, capital, and cultural validation.
At Startup Mahakumbh 2025 in New Delhi, commerce minister Piyush Goyal urged Indian startups to shift focus from comfort apps like meals supply to deep-tech improvements like AI and semiconductors, sparking a heated debate. Whereas some buyers agreed on the necessity for ambition, buyers like Kushal Bhagia, founder at All In Capital, additionally defended their investments (like PierSight and Bellatrix), highlighting India’s world edge.
“There’s by no means sufficient tech investments. There’s by no means sufficient concentrate on deep tech,” mentioned Narendra Bhandari, accomplice at early-stage enterprise capital agency Seafund, in an unique interview with AIM. The agency has lately invested in startups throughout semiconductors, house tech, and AI-powered well being instruments.
Over the previous decade, India’s deep tech panorama has shifted from being only a software program providers mindset to hoping to be a builder of foundational applied sciences. Bhandari believes the change has pushed extra individuals to experiment and construct.
The motion goes past cellular apps and cost methods. India is now seeing startups emerge in defence, computing, and house applied sciences. “There’s a spectrum of stuff that has come out from fintech, cost infrastructure, and tech for social and commerce. You see vertical after vertical in India being enabled by know-how,” he mentioned.
Change in Mindset, Riskier Bets
Enterprise capitalists are additionally not simply funding innovation but in addition guiding founders, constructing connections, and serving to startups with technical difficulties. They’re principally engineers by schooling, and having finished operational work, can take part in additional than the monetary half.
Based on Bhandari, a change in mindset has made this shift doable. He believes that founders at the moment don’t have to justify their profession selections to oldsters and potential in-laws.
“Virtually 25 years in the past, I’ve had individuals come into the workplace and say, I’d such as you to fulfill my potential father-in-law,” Bhandari recalled. “I don’t assume that’s a cultural drawback at the moment.”
This mindset shift is strengthened additional by entry to mentorship, authorities assist, and most significantly, capital. At present, there are extra buyers at an angel stage who’re keen to speculate small quantities. Bhandari mentioned buyers like him are taking riskier and extra technical bets with time.
AI Is Not Only a Buzzword
At Elevation Capital, accomplice Vaas Bhaskar believes AI is changing into a foundational aspect, not simply an added characteristic. “Simply the best way they’re architecting themselves from day zero, how the engineering, service and product groups are operating, it’s fairly totally different,” he informed AIM.
He famous the lean, AI-native constructions of youthful startups, acknowledging that only a few individuals can create merchandise and serve varied clients with small, lean groups. AI is not confined to core tech corporations. Even pretty bodily and established corporations, like shopper manufacturers, are pondering AI natively in a few of their capabilities.
Elevation believes that India’s power lies not simply in exporting expertise however in leveraging it domestically. “I believe we now have one of the best expertise within the nation and have constructed a vibrant ecosystem for that expertise,” Bhaskar mentioned.
Constructing with Batteries and Bots
Power, automation, and robotics are rising as important deep-tech sectors for Seafund. India’s dependence on imports and labour transitions drives innovation in these areas. “Power might imply batteries, EVs, and drones, as a result of all of this, in some methods, helps with getting issues finished, with decrease vitality,” he mentioned.
Within the automation sector, he identified a particular societal driver: “One of many issues, they’ll say, is that there’s not sufficient farm labour accessible. Individuals are transferring to cities, and folks from cities are transferring to greater cities.”
Seafund has already backed corporations like Swayaatt and others in robotics and is actively evaluating alternatives in biotechnology and genomics.
Satellites, Chips and Fraud Detectors
Again at Seafund, the portfolio reveals how deep tech in India is increasing throughout industries.
In house tech, the startup TakeMe2Space is addressing the rising demand for world satellite tv for pc communication. “The variety of satellites the world over is gonna develop considerably as a result of all of us want to speak on a regular basis,” mentioned Bhandari. “The necessity for communication is ever-growing in mapping, climate, site visitors, pure disasters, mining, and armed forces.”
For compute infrastructure, Seafund is backing Calligo Tech, which is creating semiconductor options that scale back energy consumption throughout information processing, a important bottleneck as AI demand strains computing capability.
Bhandari believes that any know-how that may compute quicker, with much less energy, and with larger precision may have a market. “To the extent that Sam, Elon, and all these guys are saying, ‘Our GPUs are fried.’”
In well being tech, Consint.ai makes use of forensic AI to detect fraud in insurance coverage claims, an software with broad potential. Now, know-how in forensics is not only helping in medical health insurance. “Forensic tech can detect fraud, which people, medical doctors, and nurses, sitting and watching the claims, won’t be able to detect,” he mentioned.
What Traders Need
Whereas know-how is important, Seafund and Elevation prioritise drawback readability, founder mindset, and buyer obsession. Bhandari outlined a structured framework for evaluating deep-tech startups.
“The very first thing we’ve got to know is the issue they’re fixing,” he mentioned. Then comes assessing the staff and their strategy to fixing it. “Is the staff able to fixing the issue? Or a minimum of, can they go down that path?”
He added {that a} technical background throughout the fund helps the buyers transfer quicker. It could assist them speed up the dialog with the startup. Even post-investment, Seafund continues to supply enterprise assist. “We are able to actually assist construct sounding boards for them. After which most significantly, we may help their enterprise progress based mostly on our community,” he mentioned.
Elevation, which has invested in lots of family names like Meesho, Swiggy, and Zomato, seems for comparable ideas. “It’s buyer obsession. They simply take into consideration each buyer backwards, and are very obsessive about the shopper ache level,” mentioned Bhaskar. “And that takes time. That takes a variety of failures alongside the best way.”
He emphasised that area depth is essential for AI-driven innovation. “Any person has to actually obsess on that one small sliver of a course of and construct a product which really replaces it quite than simply some fringes and whistles on the aspect.”
India’s Deep-Tech Second or Missed Likelihood?
Authorities assist has improved, with schemes just like the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) programme serving to startups scale back prices and take merchandise to market. “You’ll be able to experiment. For those who ship, you receives a commission again. It’s a terrific begin,” Bhandari mentioned.
Nonetheless, he believes India has an extended strategy to go. “We want extra of it, much more of it,” he mentioned. “We have to repeatedly make investments at a non-public stage and at a authorities stage.”
When requested about India’s place within the world tech race, VCs agree that India has a possibility to steer in deep tech, however it should act shortly. “We have to do extra. I don’t assume anyone’s confused about the truth that many international locations are doing much more than us,” mentioned Bhandari.
The nation wants to supply extra capital, entry, steering, and remedy issues,” he urged. Bhaskar highlighted two key tendencies for India’s AI alternative: constructing software program for Indian markets like SMBs and healthcare, and increasing entry.
In the end, the query doesn’t appear to be whether or not India can construct deep tech however whether or not it can achieve this quick sufficient.
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