Global chipmakers like Nvidia and Qualcomm Ventures on Wednesday joined a group of Indian and US investors backing deep-tech startups in India, as the consortium added new members and secured fresh capital commitments.
Activate AI, InfoEdge Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, and Kalaari Capital, along with Nvidia and Qualcomm, are among the latest to join the India Deep Tech Alliance (IDTA), which was launched in September with an initial $1 billion to support companies across sectors such as space, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and robotics.
IDTA also announced securing $850 million to bridge the sector’s funding gap.
Nvidia, which has joined as a founding member and strategic advisor to the group, will provide technical guidance, training and policy input to help Indian deep-tech startups adopt its AI and computing tools.
Nvidia wants to “provide guidance on AI systems, developer enablement, and responsible deployment, and to collaborate with policymakers, investors, and entrepreneurs,” Vishal Dhupar, Nvidia’s managing director of South Asia, said, as per a CNBC report.
Funding for deep-tech startups in India jumped 78% to $1.6 billion last year, yet it accounted for only about one-fifth of the total $7.4 billion raised across startups, according to data from industry body Nasscom.
Sriram Viswanathan, founding managing partner at Celesta Capital, told Reuters the increasing government support meant that “there’s no better time for India to look at deep tech”.
“There’s no real pooling of capital. It’s voluntary,” Viswanathan said, drawing parallels to Nasscom.
The government is also actively looking to innovate in the deeptech space. For this purpose it has taken various initiatives. The government has earmarked ₹100 billion under its AI mission and ₹1 trillion to the Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) Scheme to encourage research in this space.
What does India DeepTech do?
India DeepTech is a pan-industry alliance to promote deeptech startups in India. It brings together all elements of the ecosystem in India under one roof to enable the creation and scaling of more startups focused on scientific research and engineering innovation.
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.
(With inputs from agencies)
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