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Nvidia Corp. has joined Indian and US investors backing deeptech startups in the country that's home to the world's largest internet population outside of China.
The India Deep Tech Alliance has added new investors—including Qualcomm Ventures, Activate AI, InfoEdge Ventures, Chirate Ventures and Kalaari Capital—to raise as much as $850 million. Nvidia joins them as a founding member to provide technical guidance, training and policy input to help Indian deep-tech startups adopt its AI and computing tools.
Launched in September with a $1-billion fund, the India Deep Tech Alliance aims to address chronic underfunding of research-driven startups in sectors such as space, semiconductors, AI and robotics. The govt too has launched launched a $12-billion initiative to spur R&D in a country that is a services giant but still trails in manufacturing.
The deep-tech startup funding in India surged 78% to $1.6 billion last year, but still accounted for only about one-fifth of the $7.4 billion raised overall, according to a report by industry body Nasscom.
Deeptech startups in India
According to experts, deeptech investment is vital to build core technologies such chips and AI that secure economic and strategic independence.
Sriram Viswanathan, the founding managing partner at Celesta Capital, told Reuters that the increasing government support meant that “there's no better time for India to look at deep tech”.
Celesta has invested in startups including space-tech firm Agnikul Cosmos and drone maker IdeaForge. It was among the investors that launched India Deep Tech Alliance along with Accel, Blume Ventures, Gaja Capital, Premji Invest, among others.
The alliance's members aim to deploy their own capital to Indian deep-tech startups over the next five to ten years while also providing mentorship and network access. “There's no real pooling of capital. It's voluntary,” Viswanathan said, drawing parallels to Nasscom.
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