NVIDIA, Qualcomm Back India’s Next Deep Tech Startups

A powerful new alliance is forming to supercharge India’s deep technology sector, with industry giants NVIDIA and Qualcomm Ventures joining a coalition of investors backing the country’s most ambitious startups. This group, which launched with over one billion dollars in commitments, aligns perfectly with India’s massive new research and development program valued at approximately twelve billion dollars. NVIDIA brings its expertise as a strategic technical advisor, while Qualcomm Ventures joins several Indian venture firms, adding more than eight hundred and fifty million dollars to the funding pool.

India’s startup landscape has matured significantly, now hosting over 180,000 startups and more than 120 unicorn companies. The ecosystem initially replicated Western business models before evolving into a hub for global SaaS providers. Recently, the focus has shifted dramatically toward solving complex, large-scale challenges. Startups are now building satellites, developing electric transportation systems, and designing semiconductors. The Indian government actively encourages this shift as nations worldwide compete for technological independence. Despite this push, securing funding remains difficult for deep-tech ventures, which typically need more time to develop than traditional businesses and often seem too risky for conventional venture capital.

To address this funding gap, Celesta Capital, with operations in both Silicon Valley and India, established the India Deep Tech Alliance (IDTA) last September. The initial group included seven prominent investors: Accel, Blume Ventures, Premji Invest, Gaja Capital, Ideaspring Capital, Tenacity Ventures, and Venture Catalysts. The alliance has since expanded to include Indian firms like Activate AI, Chiratae Ventures, InfoEdge Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Singularity Holdings, and YourNest Venture Capital.

This coalition plans to invest capital while also offering mentorship and valuable network connections to Indian deep-tech startups over the next five to ten years. It intends to work closely with the Indian government on key policy initiatives, including the recently launched Research, Development and Innovation scheme. Sriram Viswanathan, a founding managing partner at Celesta Capital and a key member of the IDTA council, described the group as “a coalition of the willing, wanting to support the development of the Indian deep tech ecosystem.”

The Indian cabinet approved the one trillion rupee RDI scheme earlier this year, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially launching it recently. This initiative will finance projects in critical fields like energy security, quantum computing, robotics, space technology, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence. Funding will be distributed through long-term loans, equity investments, and allocations to specialized deep-tech funds. The venture firms in the alliance plan to utilize this government program to support startups based in India.

NVIDIA’s involvement provides strategic and technical guidance to member firms and emerging startups. The chipmaker, whose market value has skyrocketed during the global AI boom, will advise on best practices for integrating its AI and accelerated computing platforms. It will also conduct technical training through the NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute and participate in policy discussions between industry leaders and the government to strengthen India’s deep-tech capabilities. Although NVIDIA is not making a financial commitment, Vishal Dhupar, NVIDIA’s managing director for South Asia, confirmed the company will share technical expertise and scalable computing resources with Indian startups in the coalition.

Viswanathan emphasized the significance of NVIDIA’s participation, stating, “NVIDIA’s support is a pretty significant validation of the ecosystem, and them joining the IDTA is an endorsement of our collective objective that there is an opportunity for India to start seeing a burgeoning growth of this ecosystem.”

Qualcomm’s role differs, as the company is joining with an investment focus. The San Diego-based chipmaker first invested in India back in 2008, with early successes including MapmyIndia, a competitor to Google Maps that went public in late 2021. Qualcomm and Celesta also supported Indian drone manufacturer IdeaForge, which became a publicly listed company in 2023. Rama Bethmangalkar, India managing director at Qualcomm Ventures, explained that their contribution extends beyond capital. The firm will help startups connect with its portfolio companies, partner networks, and internal teams at Qualcomm.

Bethmangalkar highlighted the importance of collaboration, saying, “If you are like minded and other VCs have allocated certain portion of their resources, dollars, time, and network, it helps each other and then collectively to work with the government, to be aligned with what the government is thinking on certain areas, whether it is quantum, semiconductors, AI, or emerging technologies, it is very important to be part of that group.”

The ultimate success of the IDTA remains to be determined. Viswanathan characterized the alliance as a “loose coalition of the willing,” noting that each investor continues to operate their own independent programs. When asked about progress since the September launch, he mentioned they are “collaborating to share knowledge, to share deal flow, and all of that.” The specific capital contribution from each participant also remains undefined. Viswanathan clarified that the alliance functions as a collaborative network rather than a formal fund, with no mandatory investment allocations or obligations.

Recent data from Nasscom and Zinnov shows promising growth, with India’s deep-tech funding increasing by 78% year-over-year to reach $1.6 billion in 2024. While this growth is encouraging, the amount raised still lags significantly behind developed markets like the United States. The alliance could help boost these figures, but its greater impact may lie in attracting global attention, and subsequently more investors and corporate venture funds, to India’s startup ecosystem.

Bethmangalkar expressed optimism about the future, stating, “What we need are role models to begin with. People are going to jump in. Entrepreneurs are going to get the confidence capital… In ten years, you’ll start seeing these as the companies listed on the main boards of our exchanges , deeply science- and tech-oriented firms.”

(Source: TechCrunch)