IDTA members invest INR 2,170 crores in 56 deep-tech firms in first year

It is important to note that these investments were made independently by individual IDTA members. Each member acted in accordance with their own specific investment strategies and internal processes. The total figure from this first year reflects a deepening conviction among investors in Indian-built deep-tech companies and highlights the breadth of capital being deployed across various strategic technology sectors.

Under the RDI Scheme, capital was distributed across five priority sectors. The breakdown of the investment across these sectors is as follows:

• Artificial intelligence and its application to Indian problems drew approximately INR 639 crores across 16 companies.
• Deep technology spanning quantum computing, robotics, and space accounted for approximately INR 649 crores across 21 companies.
• Energy security and transition, and climate action attracted approximately INR 655 crores across 8 companies.
• Biotechnology, biomanufacturing, synthetic biology, and pharmaceuticals received approximately INR 189 crores across 7 companies.
• The digital economy, including digital agriculture, saw approximately INR 38 crores across 4 companies.

Beyond capital for deep-tech success

The IDTA was established on the fundamental premise that deep-tech companies require much more than just financing alone to succeed. Successful commercialisation of complex technologies requires access to technical expertise, research capabilities, and manufacturing and supply-chain partners. Furthermore, companies need access to customers, global markets, and an enabling policy environment to thrive.

The Alliance serves to bring together investors, corporations, and industry associations to strengthen these vital connections. While fostering these links, the alliance ensures the independence of each individual member's investment decisions is preserved.

Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, commented on the progress. He stated that India has built a strong foundation of scientific talent and research capability, but the next imperative is to translate this strength into globally competitive technologies, products, and enterprises.

Prof. Sood added that deep-tech innovation requires patient capital and sustained support through research, validation, commercialisation, and scale. He noted that the capital deployed by IDTA members in the five priority sectors identified under the RDI Scheme is an encouraging indication of growing private-sector confidence in India’s innovation ecosystem. He suggested that the RDI Scheme and industry-led initiatives can complement each other in strengthening the pathways through which promising technologies move from the laboratory to the market and create long-term strategic and economic value for India.

Scaling Indian innovation to global markets

Sriram Viswanathan, an Executive Committee Member of the India Deep Tech Alliance and the Founding Managing Partner of Celesta Capital, reflected on the journey since the launch at SEMICON India 2025. He noted that the initial conviction was that India’s deep-tech opportunity required a sustained, industry-led effort bringing together patient capital, technical expertise, and pathways to commercial scale.

Viswanathan remarked that one year later, the nearly INR 2,170 crores invested by IDTA members across more than 50 promising companies shows that this vision is beginning to translate into measurable action. He stated that the progress of IDTA members over the past year demonstrates that private capital is moving alongside India's national ambition. While this is an important first milestone, he emphasized that the larger task is to help India’s deep-tech companies build enduring businesses, access global markets, and emerge as technology leaders in their respective fields.

Discussing the commitment to the sector, Ravi Kiran Vadapally, an Executive Committee Member of the IDTA and Chief Financial Officer & Partner (Early Stage) at Premji Invest, said that their conviction in India's deep tech opportunity has only strengthened after a year. He noted that over the past twelve months, they have been active on the ground, committing risk capital to early-stage companies across various sectors including semiconductors, defence tech, bio tech, robotics, and AI.

Vadapally observed that the quality of entrepreneurship being seen convinces them that the ecosystem is inflecting. He pointed out that building globally competitive companies in strategic and sunrise domains takes more than capital alone; it requires patient partnership, deep sector expertise, and a willingness to walk with founders through the hard, capital-intensive early years. He expressed a commitment to working alongside the government and fellow partners to strengthen the ecosystem of talent, infrastructure, and follow-on capital so these companies can become global champions.

Building pathways from research to commercial products

Gopal Jain, an Executive Committee Member of the IDTA and Managing Director & CEO of Gaja Capital, noted that India has no shortage of scientific talent or ambitious founders. He stated that the critical opportunity lies in building stronger pathways through which research can become intellectual property, commercially viable products, and scalable companies.

Jain added that the breadth of investment by IDTA members is an encouraging indication that more Indian innovations are beginning to make that transition. He remarked that while India has seen the emergence of an entrepreneurial ecosystem over the past three decades, the country is now witnessing the emergence of an innovation ecosystem.

Pranav Pai, an Executive Committee Member of the IDTA and Managing Partner of 3one4 Capital, echoed the sentiment regarding scientific talent and ambitious founders. He stated that the critical need is to build stronger pathways through which research becomes commercially viable products, protected intellectual property, and companies that can scale.

Pai observed that India is now integrating a continuum of research, grants, and equity to fund innovation across sectors, and that the breadth of investment by IDTA members reflects how quickly that opportunity is widening.

About the India Deep Tech Alliance: The IDTA is an industry-led consortium of investors, corporates, technology partners, and ecosystem stakeholders. It is focused on accelerating India's deep tech companies across sectors such as AI, semiconductors, advanced computing, robotics, and biotech. The alliance aims to convene capital access, technical mentorship, market linkages, and policy engagement to help founders build globally competitive technology companies from India. More information is available at idtalliance.org.