IAN Angel Fund Backs IndigoTex With ₹5 Crore To Scale India’s Waterless Wool Denim Innovation

IAN Angel Fund leads ₹5 crore in IIT Delhi-originated deep-tech textile startup IndigoTex

IAN Angel Fund, the evergreen fund of IAN Group, has led a ₹5 crore funding round in IndigoTex, India's first waterless wool finishing technology startup commercialising wool and wool blended denim and other fabrics, with participation from SIDBI, FITT, and IIT Delhi Angels. The latest funding will be deployed towards manufacturing and factory setup, expansion of the sales and operations team, commercialisation of IndiWool™ Denim and washable wool/poly-wool fabrics, further R&D and product development, certifications required for domestic & international markets as well as build for scale.

IndiWool™ Denim combines the durability and versatility associated with denim with the thermal and comfort properties of wool. The company has developed variants ranging from low-wool-content fabrics designed for all-weather applications to wool-rich variants aimed at colder climates. They have signed NDAs with Ralpha Lauren and Kering Group, France and are in active discussions with premium and luxury brands, garment manufacturers, fabric exporters and sourcing houses.

Beyond wool denim, IndigoTex is developing ECOTEX™ Wool, a technology that enables washable wool and poly/wool fabrics, addressing the conventional dependence on dry cleaning for wool garments, finishing setup at its manufacturing facility in Rai Industrial Area, Sonipat, Haryana. The facility will help scale-up of its waterless wool finishing technology and commercial production of washable wool and poly/wool fabrics. While its R&D operations will continue to be based at the Research and Innovation Park at IIT Delhi.

Founded in 2024 by Satendra Singh, Prof. B.S. Butola, and Dilip Singh (Co-founders), IndigoTex is building a deep-tech foundation for textile manufacturing in India, with a focus on export-oriented, high-value textile products and technologies. Its portfolio spans innovative wool and technical textiles, as well as sustainable manufacturing solutions designed to address real-world challenges across comfort, performance and textile processing.

IndigoTex was one of the 120 startups selected for Bharat Innovates 2026, in Nice, France, as also at the BRICS Summit 2026.

The company is already beginning to build an international market presence, with engagements across Europe and other cold-climate markets including Australia. The company has initiated discussions and collaborations across France, Russia and Denmark, and plans to deepen its presence across Europe, North America, Australia and other cold-climate markets.

Satendra Singh, Co-founder & CEO, IndigoTex, said, “We would like to sincerely thank each and every investor who participated in this investment round and placed their trust in Indigotex. This investment marks an important milestone in our journey as we build a deep-tech textile company from India for global markets. As we move forward, integrity, sustainable growth, a customer-centric approach, and the responsible deployment of capital will remain at the core of our decisions. We are committed to using this support to strengthen our R&D, scale our innovative textile technologies, expand into technical textiles, and create products that solve real-world problems.”

The company’s broader vision is to establish India as a source of deep-tech textile innovation for global markets, with a focus on advanced and technical textiles. It aims to build a globally recognised textile R&D company that develops new materials, products and problem-solving technologies while creating opportunities for textile engineers to work on technology-led solutions to real-world challenges.

About IndigoTex

Indigotex Private Limited is an IIT Delhi-originated deep-tech textile company developing and commercialising innovative, high-performance and sustainable fabrics and waterless textile processing technologies. The company focuses on creating next-generation textile solutions across wool, technical textiles and sustainable manufacturing.

About IAN Angel Fund

IAN Angel Fund, the evergreen fund of IAN Group, is a SEBI-registered Category I AIF and part of India's leading early-stage investment platform, which pioneered angel investing in the country. Today, IAN invests through its Angel Fund and venture capital funds, backed by a network of approximately 500 investors, including iconic entrepreneurs and industry leaders from India and overseas. The platform enables founders to raise capital from ₹50 lakh to ₹50 crore as they scale, while offering investors a diversified early-stage portfolio across both emerging and growth-stage startups.

About IAN Group

IAN Group is India's largest horizontal platform for early-stage investments, comprising the IAN Angel Fund, BioAngels, and a series of SEBI-registered venture capital funds, including the US$100 million IAN Alpha Fund. IAN supports entrepreneurs with capital, mentoring by experienced founders, and access to global markets. Forbes has recognised IAN as one of the most iconic business and economic developments of Independent India over the last 75 years, alongside institutions such as LIC, NASSCOM, the RBI, and Naukri.com.

Indian Deep-Tech Startup Meine Electric's Fast-Charging Iron-Air Battery Clears Independent Validation, Paving the Way for 24/7 Renewable Energy Storage

• Independent validation by Customized Energy Solutions (CES), the parent company of the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), confirms the performance and cycle stability of Meine Electric’s breakthrough Fast-Charge Long-Discharge (FCLD) Iron-Air battery technology.

Indian deep-tech startup Meine Electric has developed the world's first fast-charging iron-air battery system, marking a significant technical advancement for long-duration energy storage (LDES). The technology, which features a proprietary Fast Charge Long Discharge (FCLD) capability allowing the battery to charge in 6 hours and discharge over 18 hours, has been independently validated by Customized Energy Solutions (CES), a US-headquartered global energy services and technology company and the parent organization of the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA).

The independent testing was conducted by the CES Battery Laboratory through a structured testing protocol designed to assess electrochemical performance, capacity retention, and operational stability. Testing two iron-air electrochemical cells, the assessment validated the system's operational stability under an asymmetric duty cycle comprising a rapid 6 hours of charging followed by 18 hours of discharging per cycle.

Historically, iron-air battery chemistry has been limited by longer charge cycles, with existing approaches focused on multi-day storage applications. According to DataM Intelligence’s Iron Air Battery Market Size, Long-Duration Energy Storage Forecast 2035; 2026 Report, Iron-Air batteries are emerging as a promising solution for long-duration energy storage due to their ability to provide reliable and scalable storage using abundant materials such as iron. Global players, including Form Energy (US) and Ore Energy (Europe), have built Iron-Air systems focused on long-duration applications, with existing approaches demonstrating storage durations of up to 100 hours. However, these longer cycle times have restricted its suitability for daily renewable energy balancing.

Meine Electric has addressed this limitation through its proprietary Fast Charge Long Discharge (FCLD) technology, electrode development processes, and new system architecture. The technology enables a 6-hour charge and 18-hour discharge cycle, making it the world’s first fast-charging Iron-Air battery technology designed for daily-cycling renewable energy applications. The chemistry also offers fundamental advantages including inherent safety, reliance on abundant raw materials, and lower system costs compared to lithium-ion.

"Traditional iron-air systems are restricted to multi-day cycles, making them largely incompatible with the intermittent nature of renewable energy generation. Furthermore, solar-heavy grids don't need a 100-hour battery. Unlike regions that require seasonal storage, the renewable challenge across Asia and MEA is fundamentally a daily balancing problem. By engineering our system to capture a full charge within a tight 6-to-8-hour window, we are finally turning iron-air batteries from a sluggish backup chemistry into a foundational, daily-cycling asset," said Priyansh Mohan, Co-founder and CEO of Meine Electric.

This daily-cycling capability aligns precisely with the requirements of rapidly growing renewable energy markets like India, where the grid demands storage technologies that can consistently capture excess solar generation during the day and discharge it reliably overnight. For Meine Electric, it reinforces the company’s progress from laboratory-scale development towards real-world deployment of next-generation storage solutions.

Founded in 2023 by Priyansh Mohan and Stuti Kakkar, Meine Electric is the first company in APAC, and the third player globally, pioneering iron-air long-duration energy storage. As India races towards its 500 GW renewable energy target by 2030, Meine Electric is positioned to deliver key strategic advantages:

• Market-Leading Costs: The proprietary technology operates at a levelised cost of storage (LCOS) of less than $0.05/kWh (~₹5/kWh).
• Daily-Cycling Capability: Affordable, daily-cycling batteries that seamlessly complement lithium-ion to unlock true round-the-clock renewable power.
• Grid Infrastructure: Systems capable of functioning as foundational assets to firm renewables and flexibilize thermal assets.

"The energy industry prioritizes lower costs and higher reliability, and iron-air technology is structurally positioned to deliver on both. We are betting on iron-air as a foundational infrastructure play to support the renewable grid," stated Stuti Kakkar, Co-founder and COO of Meine Electric.

The validation by CES adds critical third-party credibility to Meine Electric’s technology roadmap as the company moves towards larger-scale demonstrations, pilot deployments, and continues developing indigenous energy storage solutions to secure India’s transition to renewable energy.
About Meine Electric

Meine Electric is an Indian deep-tech startup pioneering the world’s first fast-charging Iron-Air battery for Long-Duration Energy Storage (LDES). By shrinking traditional charge times from 100 hours to just 6 hours, paired with an 18-hour discharge, the company utilizes a proprietary, low-cost "reversible rusting" chemistry to provide reliable & affordable 24/7 baseload power. Engineered specifically for the daily-cycling demands of modern power grids, Meine Electric's systems enable renewable firming and thermal asset flexibilization at a fraction of the cost of alternative storage technologies. As a first-mover in the high-growth APAC and MEA markets, the company is now working towards partnering with utilities and heavy industries to build the critical infrastructure required for a secure global energy transition. Backed by leading investors and institutional partners, Meine Electric is pioneering India-built, practical engineering to drive the shift to a future of limitless renewable energy. Meine Electric has won several industry awards, including The National Startup Award 2026, Nasscom Emerge 50 Award, besides others.

Vision: Limitless renewable energy.

Mission: Make iron-air batteries the backbone of long-duration storage and lead globally in this category.. 

Long-term goal: Enable $1B in revenue by 2032 through grid-scale Iron-Air Battery deployments.

Bengaluru's Vimag Labs Secures Patent for India’s Ist Software-Defined, Magnet-Free Motor Platform

Volektra Motor

• Fifth patent granted to the Accel-backed deep-tech company, protecting the core architecture of its Virtual Magnet Synchronous Motor (VMSM) - a rare-earth-free, software-controlled electric motor platform

Vimag Labs has been granted its fifth patent in India. The patent, titled "A Robust Rotating Transformer Excited Synchronous Motor and Its Control," covers the foundational motor architecture of the company’s proprietary Virtual Magnet Synchronous Motor (VMSM) platform.

Unlike conventional Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSMs), which rely on fixed rare-earth magnets embedded in the rotor, VMSM generates and controls its magnetic field in real time using power electronics and proprietary control algorithms. The result is a brushless, slip-ring-free synchronous motor that matches or exceeds the performance of permanent magnet solutions — without any magnets.

This latest grant brings the company’s intellectual property portfolio to five patents granted, ten in the pipeline, and fifteen trademarks filed spanning motor architecture, software controls, power electronics, and application-specific implementations.

Commercial Deployment

The patent strengthens Vimag Labs’ competitive position as it scales commercial deployments. The company currently has active pilots under way with established two-wheeler and passenger car manufacturers, with expansion planned into light commercial vehicles, commercial vehicles, and high-power industrial systems ranging from 200 kW to 600 kW. Additional application areas under development include robotics, defence, and cooling systems.

For OEMs, the platform offers a dual advantage: lower motor costs and freedom from the supply-chain risks of rare-earth magnets, the majority of which are currently sourced from China. For India, the technology directly supports the Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat objectives by enabling indigenous development of critical electric motor technology.

Manish Seth, Co-founder and CEO, Vimag Labs, said: “This patent is the outcome of over 87,600 engineering hours. It strengthens every dimension of our commercial roadmap- OEM partnerships, licensing, manufacturing scale-up, and future growth.”

He added: “Our long-term vision is to build scalable, software-driven, magnet-free motor systems for global electrification. This innovation strengthens India’s deep-tech base across electric mobility, power electronics, robotics, defence, and clean-energy systems.”

Funding and Partnerships

Vimag Labs recently raised USD 5 million in its Series A round led by Accel, with participation from Chakra Growth Fund and Thinkuvate. The company has also signed a manufacturing MoU with Jendamark Pvt. Ltd. to support VMSM production scale-up.

About Vimag Labs

Vimag Labs is a Bengaluru-based deep-technology company building a new class of electric motor. Its patented VMSM platform replaces rare-earth permanent magnets with software-defined magnetic fields, delivering equivalent or superior performance across mobility, industrial, and defence applications. The company is scaling operations across India, Europe, and the United States.

NetApp Excellerator Cohort-14 Demo Day Showcases India’s Deep-Tech Startups Driving AI and Cloud Innovation

NetApp, the Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, today hosted the Demo Day for the 14th cohort of its flagship accelerator program – NetApp Excellerator. The event brought together some of the most promising deep-tech startups working at the intersection of AI, data, and cloud. The event showcased how the selected startups are redefining possibilities in enterprise technology, responsible AI, and digital infrastructure.

The Demo Day marked the culmination of an intensive, mentorship-driven journey for Synthefy, Filo Systems, TrueFoundry, Sentra, and Genloop.ai — five innovative startups that were part of the current cohort. Over the past few months, these startups worked closely with NetApp’s global leadership and technology experts to fine-tune their solutions, build scalable go-to-market models, and explore proof-of-concept (PoC) opportunities with NetApp customers and partners.

“Through NetApp Excellerator, we aim to nurture innovation that has real-world impact — supporting startups building the next generation of data and AI infrastructure. Each cohort reinforces our belief that collaboration between startups and established enterprises can accelerate meaningful change,” said Vasanthi Ramesh, VP & Engineering Head, NetApp India. “As we celebrate another successful Demo Day, we’re proud to see how these founders are pushing boundaries and strengthening India’s position as a global innovation hub.”

Speaking about the impact of the program, Anuraag Gutgutia, COO, Co-Founder, TrueFoundry, shared, “NetApp Excellerator has been instrumental in refining our platform which will help us scale our business vision. The mentorship, technical guidance, and access to NetApp’s network with real business value delivered, helped us accelerate faster than we imagined while building for global markets with confidence.”

Since its inception in 2017, NetApp Excellerator has emerged as one of India’s leading corporate accelerator programs, dedicated to empowering deep-tech and AI-led startups. To date, the program has accelerated 90 startups over eight years and 13 cohorts. Its alumni have collectively raised over USD 600 million, and eight startups have achieved successful exits. Recognized among the top five accelerator programs in India for corporate innovation by the NexTT Awards, NetApp Excellerator continues to play a pivotal role in building innovation-driven businesses.

As the Demo Day for Cohort 14 concluded, the spotlight was on collaboration, responsible innovation, and the power of India’s deep-tech ecosystem to drive future-ready solutions. With each new cohort, NetApp continues to strengthen its mission to empower startups that are building for scale, sustainability, and global relevance.

About NetApp

For more than three decades, NetApp has helped the world’s leading organizations navigate change – from the rise of enterprise storage to the intelligent era defined by data and AI. Today, NetApp is the Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, helping customers turn data into a catalyst for innovation, resilience, and growth.

At the heart of that infrastructure is the NetApp data platform – the unified, enterprise-grade, intelligent foundation that connects, protects, and activates data across every cloud, workload, and environment. Built on the proven power of NetApp ONTAP, our leading data management software and OS, and enhanced by automation through the AI Data Engine and AFX, it delivers observability, resilience, and intelligence at scale.

Disaggregated by design, the NetApp data platform separates storage, services, and control so enterprises can modernize faster, scale efficiently, and innovate without lock-in. As the only enterprise storage platform natively embedded in the world’s largest clouds, it gives organizations the freedom to run any workload anywhere with consistent performance, governance, and protection.

With NetApp, data is always ready – ready to defend against threats, ready to power AI, and ready to drive the next breakthrough. That’s why the world’s most forward-thinking enterprises trust NetApp to turn intelligence into advantage.

NETAPP, the NETAPP logo, and the marks listed at www.netapp.com/TM are trademarks of NetApp, Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Only 11% of Tech Investment in DeepTech Startups, More Funding Needed: NASSCOM

More financing is needed for the country's deep technology startup to move fast, while at the moment the sector is receiving only 11 percent of total technology investment

Devjani Ghosh, president of the National Association of Software and Services Companies ( NASSCOM), said this on Friday.

Deep Technology startups are enterprises that works in the field of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, quantum, blockchain, Internet of things (IoT), Drones and augmented Realty (AR), among others.

In a workshop titled 'Startups and Entrepreneurship: Vision India @2047', organised by the Department of Industry and Internal Trade Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce, Ghosh said that there are more than 25,000 tech startups in the country। Only 3,000 of it is related to intensive technology

She said that India has some of the best deep technology startups, working in a full range of emerging technologies, But they are getting only 11 percent in technology related funding.

Countries like China and the United States are prioritising their funds to the deep tech startup ecosystem because this sector is driving innovation for their country, according to Ghosh.

She also suggested mandatory 'startup service for students. She suggested creation of a 'startup service' on the lines of mandatory military service in countries like Singapore.

She said, "Can we say in the third or fourth year of engineering ( course) that you ( students ) have to work a year in a tech startups? This will help tech startups reach the best talent and compete with larger companies।"

Cognifiber, which is Replacing Computer Chips with Fiber-Optic Cables Raises $6 Mn To Enable Computing at The Speed of Light

Surpassing Moore’s Law: Cognifiber Raises $6 Million Series A to Bring In-Fiber Photonic Processing to Market

In-fiber photonic processing enables computing at the speed of light, breaking the barriers of current technologies. “Our fiber optics-based system delivers a 100-fold boost in speed while reducing power consumption by 80%.

- said Dr. Eyal Cohen, Co-founder & CEO of CogniFiber

CogniFiber, a deep technology company developing advanced in-fiber photonic processing systems, raised a $6 million Series A round of funding. 

The funding round was led by Chartered Group, a private equity firm specializing in disruptive technologies with a far-reaching presence in Europe and Asia. This investment opens the path to break through current processing speed barriers, unlocking many AI-driven business opportunities.

Today’s hyper-scale data centers and edge devices alike run on silicon-based processors. Moore’s law, the standard trend in processor evolution, predicts that the capability of chips will double every two years without increasing in size. This capability is fast approaching a wall as the industry struggles with today’s barriers while maintaining efficiency and reliability. Complex computations can now be done on the fly with light carried through optical fibers.

Dr. Eyal Cohen

 
“This new ability to compute complex algorithms in a fraction of the time will leave Moore’s law in the rearview mirror,” said Dr. Eyal Cohen, Co-founder & CEO of CogniFiber. “In-fiber processing allows for the realization of a 100-fold boost in processing speed and efficiency.” Beyond leaping over the physical limitations of semiconductors, fiber-based processing radically cuts the cost of computing, which demands 1% of the world's electricity to operate and cool servers. This is even more important for Edge micro centers where high performance needs to co-exist with limited power resources.

Prof. Zeev Zalevsky

 
Before officially founding the company in 2018, CogniFiber’s co-founders spent years bringing the technology to life, including working within Intel’s Ingenuity Partner Program. “Senior engineers at Intel were excited to drill down into every aspect of our technology, reviewing its viability to revolutionize how computers operate today,” said Professor Ze’ev Zalevsky, Co-founder & CTO of CogniFiber. “This technology will help deliver on the promise of photonic computing to safety, cybersecurity, autonomous driving, AI-developed medicines, and countless other applications.”

Working with industry leaders and Japanese investors to promote this revolutionary technology, the Series A funding will go towards creating and delivering a robust and scalable product to market. “The balance between Israel’s agile approach to innovation and the tradition of high-quality, value-focused technologies amongst Japanese investors creates excellent synergy where entrepreneurs feel they have true partners,” said Eyal Agmoni, Founder and Chairman of Chartered Group. “Together, these parties will usher in a new era of photonic computing”.

Here're 17 Startups Picked by NASSCOM for its 4th Batch of DeepTech Club

Yesterday, Nasscom unveiled the 4th batch of its DeepTech Club under which the startups will be nurtured, mentored and funded. The selected 17 startups are working in the field of new-age technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, Machine Learning (ML) and virtual reality (VR).

The startups have been selected for 4-month programme that would involve guidance, enterprise connect sessions and exposure to investors and the global startup ecosystem, the IT industry’s apex body said in a statement. Out of the 17 startups selected, two are from Hyderabad which include Aptagrim and Onward Assist.

Below is the list of all 17 selected deep technology startups, for 4th-Cohort -

• Alphaa.ai - An AI-Assisted analytics platform for businesses. Simply interact with data by asking natural language questions on any dashboard and data source. Create, Discover and Share insights.
• Aptagrim Consulting - A Data Science company leveraging the advancements in Artificial Intelligence to empower people with visual impairment.
• nTalents (Ehunch Research Labs) - nTalents is an AI enabled talent assessment tool which provides unparalleled accuracy in soft skill and behavioural competency measurements.
• Evue Technologies - AI Powered Robot Interview and Assessments.
• Fluid Robotics Fluid Robotics builds smart solutions for monitoring pipelines and underwater infrastructure.
• Fourtek IT Solutions (Devnagri) - Devnagri is an AI-powered Human translation Platform to help businesses reach 1B + Indian Internet users in their regional languages at scale.
• Medtra - Medtra innovative technologies is dedicated  in delivering health tech  lifesaving global  products using Embedded- fifth generation technologies.
• Onward Assist - Onward Assist is an advanced cancer prognostics platform that assists Cancer pathologists and Oncologists. Onward provides computer vision and ML-based automated diagnostics tools and treatment decision support tools used by Histopathologists, Radiologists, Oncologists. These are built in collaboration with leading cancer institutes in India and USA.
• Pathpartner Technology - Pathpartner offers ready to go hardware and licensable software packages for interior sensing in-cabin solutions to automotive product makers addressing driver drowsiness, driver distraction, occupancy, driver activity, chid/pet left unattended, object left behind and many more safety critical problems.
• SecurelyShare - Patented technology for data security, data privacy and data enrichment enabling multiple fintech use cases including secure delivery of statements and documents to millions while improving customer experience using personalized AI.
• SecurelyShare - Sequretek is a cyber security company offering solutions in the area of endpoint security, identity governance and security monitoring through its managed detection and response stack.
• Simplify360 - Simplify360 is a leading AI powered Digital customer Service organisation.
• Sixth Sensor Technology - 6th Senser is a revolutionary anti-collision ADAS system that warns and automatically brakes the vehicle in case of a possible accident and is available as an aftermarket product that fits any vehicle at a price point that makes it easily accessible to all users, private or commercial.
• Stylumia Intelligence Technology - A B2B SaaS platform building the future of retail prediction, eliminating guesswork from product decisions in the fashion and lifestyle industry globally through ML, Computer vision and proprietary prediction models.
• Exxar - A Cloud platform for Design Communication & Collaboration; Think of it as Zoom for 3D content & Immersive Visualization using VR/AR.
• Wellthy Therapeutics - Multi-lingual smartphone prescription therapeutic patient application, decision support and intervention ready dashboards for virtual health coaches, physician dashboards and reports, caregiver interfaces, and partner dashboards for population level insights.
• Zappy.ai - ZappyAI provides AI software to automatically identify automation opportunities and generate automations for manual business processes.

So far, the Nasscom DeepTech Club has mentored 78 companies which are the best of the Indian DeepTech product ecosystem curated by Nasscom & Industry Experts and selected at single-digit acceptance rate from 1000+ applications across a dozen cities over the last 2.5 years.

Under Nasscom DeepTech Club - Each selected Start-up companies building on deep technologies such as AI (ML, DL, NLP, CV), AR/VR/MR, IoT, Robotics, Security, Blockchain, Quantum, RPA, among others, undergoes an exclusive 4-month mentoring & connects program.

Nasscom DeepTech Club is working with a large number of technology, product, business, investor and academia mentors & experts spanning 1000s of hours of effort. They represent great diversity of the business application of DeepTech across all business verticals/ sectors. These start-ups are India's best of the best and hold key to India becoming an innovation leader.

Given the high level of curation by Nasscom and Industry Experts, the club encourage all segments of Ecosystem - businesses, investors, academia, tech partners, govt and other ecosystem players to reach out and work with these companies.

Impact of COVID 19 on Deeptech Startups – Survey by CIE-IIIT Hyderabad

• Only 30% of startups able to operate as per their plans


• 75% struggling with sales and market challenges


• 80% startups are optimistic of prospects


• 36% startups found new opportunities

 As the global startup ecosystem gears up to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian ecosystem is also very apprehensive. With rampant speculation on consumer behaviour and market reactions, there was a general sense of foreboding about the adverse effects and diminishing investments in startups.

In order to identify and present a comprehensive understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on deeptech startups, CIE-IIITH conducted an online survey to assess and understand how startups are coping, and what assistance they require. The survey was developed around different aspects encompassing operations-as-usual, financial status, areas of adverse impact, lateral activities adopted, survival actions, support from CIE-IIITH’s initiatives during COVID-19, scope for further support from the ecosystem and prospects in arriving months. 

According to the survey report, the operations are not usual as nearly 70% startups are able to do lesser than earlier planned. Only 30% of the startups are able to run with their routine planned strategies . Short-term cash flow seems to be the biggest worry for startups, medium-term concerns are smaller.  Most startups seem to be struggling with revenue generating activities in sales, marketing and business development. The help sought also is towards connecting with corporates, clients and channels.  Most surprising facet was the future outlook.  80% were optimistic about the future and 30% said they see a better prospect than they did pre-lockdown.





Commenting on the report, Prof Ramesh Loganathan, Chief Operating Officer of CIE-IIITH said, "The positive outlook towards the future that many startups have is extremely encouraging.  We are very glad that through our ResilienceUnlocked series of activities during lockdown, CIE-IIITH has been able to help some.  Specifically towards accelerating COVID-19 related innovations, connecting startups with markets, investor pitches  and startup peer experiences sharing”.

NMDC, IIT Hyderabad's Joint Incubation Prog to Support Deep-Tech Start-Ups

State-run NMDC and i-TIC Foundation, IIT Hyderabad on Monday signed an agreement to support start-ups through a collaborative joint incubation programme, the NMDC Innovation and Incubation Centre (NICE).

As part of the Centres "Startup India" initiative, the collaborative agreement was signed by P KSatpathy, Director (Production) NMDC and B S Murty, Director, IIT Hyderabad and President, i-TIC Foundation in the presence ofN Baijendra Kumar, CMD of NMDCat the NMDC headquarters here, a press
release said.

NMDC in partnership with i-TIC Foundation, IIT Hyderabad would establish the start-up eco system in the
premises of IIT Hyderabad with a focus to foster, nurture and incubate start-up companies with new and innovative ideas in deep technology.

NMDC would contribute tentatively Rs 10 crore for the five year joint incubation program and intends to support at least 15 start-ups, it said.

The objective of NICE is to promote the spirit of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the country.

Baijendra Kumar said "the programme aims to promote innovation and entrepreneurship across pan India by converting and translating technological ideas and innovation in various disciplines of science and engineering into products, processes and services for commercial exploitation and the benefit of society". PTI VVK

IIT Delhi to Invest in Deep Technology Startups; Plans to Invest Over $361 Mn

The Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-Delhi) is starting a program to back deep technology startups including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to boost its research ecosystem, reported LiveMint quoting V. Ramgopal Rao, Director of IIT-Delhi.

With the upcoming program, IIT-Delhi aims to get benefits from startups' research output, patent and to boost industry-academia collaborations.

The institute will select startups not older than 3 years and will provide them a comprehensive support for converting their idea into a startup, seed funding and connecting them with venture funds.

Startups focusing on connected intelligent systems, mixed reality, advanced materials, drug discovery and medical research, will be taken on board following a selection process by IIT-Delhi. The institute will prefer startups whose founders have a doctorate degree though the other founders with masters in technology, medicine, pharmaceuticals are invited by the institute.

Besides free workspaces and mentoring, the program offerings also include a fellowship and accommodation to the budding entrepreneur as well as funds for the development of proof of concept (PoC).

The institute has recently invited applications from innovators or startups working in deep technology domains for admission to Platform for Harnessing Deep technologies (PHD) incubation programme based out of IIT Delhi’s TechnoPark at the Sonipat Campus. The institute will support emerging futuristic technologies including connected intelligent systems (CIS), mixed reality, advanced materials, nanorobotics, drugs and vaccines; drug delivery systems) requiring advanced research and development.

Notably, IIT-Delhi has been talking about spending over spending ₹ 2500 crore (~ US$ 361.5 million) including the ₹ 1,000 crore IoE (Institute of Eminence) grant in enhancing its research facilities, physical infrastructure and outreach in the next five years. IIT Delhi was ranked third best institutions in India by a government ranking and has a place among top 200 universities in the world as per the QS World University Ranking.

It was in July last year when IIT Delhi -- along with 5 other institutes including IIT Bombay -- was put in the special category called "Institute of Eminence" by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry. Under the "Institute of Eminence" status, each institute will get a grant of ₹ 1000 crore over the next five years.

In August last year, IIT Delhi Alumni Association partnered with Venture Catalysts, an India's first integrated startup incubator, to offer a holistic investor facilitation ecosystem to present and future investors from the institute.

In October, Clensta International, a Delhi-based biotechnology startup having shareholding with IIT-Delhi, had raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Indian Angel Network (IAN) and its maiden VC Fund, IAN Fund

[Top Image - source:Reuters | Via - Zeebusiness.com]

IIT Delhi Invites Applications from Innovators, Startups working in Deep Technology for Incubation Program

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi has invited applications from innovators or start-ups working in deep technology domains for admission to Platform for Harnessing Deep technologies (PHD) incubation programme. The institute will support emerging futuristic technologies including connected intelligent systems (CIS), mixed reality, advanced materials, nanorobotics, drugs and vaccines; drug delivery systems) requiring advanced research and development.

Based out of IIT Delhi’s TechnoPark at the Sonipat Campus, the programme provides comprehensive support for converting your idea into a startup, including free incubation and accommodation to the budding entrepreneur as well as funds for the prototype development/proof of concept.

Selected candidates will get support in the form of infrastructure, mentorship and funding. The programme is inclusive and open to qualified people outside of the IIT system as well. Selected candidates will get lodging for two years, funding support up to Rs 50 lakh to develop Proof of Concept (PoC), technical and business support and access to investors and entrepreneurship support programs.

Eligibility

Innovators intending to initiate a startup or any startup company registered in India after April 1, 2016 working in innovators working in deep science and technology domains as evidenced by IPs/ select publications. Desirable education qualification for project leaders is PhD or MD or equivalent but basic education include either having a masters’ degree such as M.Tech/ MBBS/ M.Des/ M.Pharma/ M.Phil with undergraduate training in science and/ engineering or B.Tech/ M.Sc. graduates with minimum three years startup/ R&D experience can also be considered.

The last date to submit the application is April 30, 2019. Detailed guidelines and application forms are available at IIT Delhi Website https://fitt-iitd.in/harnessing-deep-technologies/.\



Director, IIT-Delhi, Ramgopal Rao, said: “It is time to take the innovation ecosystem in the country to the next level and raise the bar for everyone. If you have a great idea in deep tech space, IIT-D will take care of the rest. The PHD Incubator Program provides comprehensive support for converting your idea into a startup, including a fellowship and accommodation to the budding entrepreneur as well as funds for the development of proof of concept."

Source - Indian Express

Nasscom Selects 22 Startups for 2nd Cohort of its DeepTech Club Program

Nasscom Product Council (NPC), a Nasscom's platform for product-based companies, has announced its second batch of the Nasscom DeepTech Club, which is its flagship program for startups in deep technologies.

The DeepTech club involves start-ups working on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), AR/VR, Robotics, NLP and similar technologies.

Launched in October 2017, Nasscom DeepTech is a 3-month mentor-mentee program where the latter typically is a founder who is passionate about working with cutting edge technology, one who is comfortable reading and applying in journal papers in their chosen area, creates new IP and is keen on adopting latest technologies – AI, ML, Robotics, Algorithms, Drone, AR/VR, Speech/Image, Cyptography etc.

The program provides a platform to foster engagements, enterprise, investor & global connects, global expansion and in process, get a lot of visibility to choose customers & markets.

The startups selected were judged on the combination of the several criteria including -- Technical Depth, Business value, Unique/Idea innovation and adoption of solution.

The startups selected will be recognized, nurtured and promoted by NASSCOM via various programs, platforms and events. The Club has three segments: Lab to Market, Pre-Revenue & Post-Revenue.

The 22 Deep Tech startups selected are --

1. Imaginate Software Labs Pvt Ltd




2. Constems AI Systems Private Limited




3. Artivatic Data Labs private Limited




4. DheeYantra Research Labs




5. Bitonic Technology Labs Private Limited




6. SwitchOn/ Abee research labs




7. Invento robotics




8. Uber Techlabs Pvt Ltd




9. QuNu Labs Private Limited




10. Active Intelligence Pte Ltd




11. CLAP Research




12. CogniCor Technologies




13. Coeo Labs




14. Scapic




15. Horus Intellisys Pvt. Ltd.




16. Clootrack Software Labs Private Limited




17. Wobot Intelligence Private Limited




18. Matisoft Cyber Security Labs




19. Tesseract




20. TRANSERVE TECHNOLOGIES PVT LTD




21. Infrrd




22. FORMCEPT

The first cohort of the DeepTech Club program had 20+ companies who were mentored and supported by industry leaders. Three of the 1st cohort startups got funded and 3 were accepted by Mass Challenge in Israel. Most importantly, almost all participants saw their value proposition, go-to-market and growth rate improve.

Besides Nasscom DeepTech Club program, to catapult India's deep tech startup ecosystem onto the next level, Nasscom recently has also launched Accelerate 10X, a second phase of Nasscom's 10,000 Startups initiative, which was launched 5 years ago. With Accelerate 10X program Nasscom aims to mentor 100 mature stage startups every year.

Nasscom to Nurture 100 Artificial Intelligence, Deeptech Startups Each Year

Building on the success of the 10,000 Startups initiative, India's IT industry body, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), has today announced its second phase, Accelerate 10X, a program that aims to catapult the nation's deep tech startup ecosystem onto the next level.

Over the last decade, India has risen in significance and is the third largest tech startup ecosystem globally with close to a dozen unicorns being created, in future the demand for advanced deep tech and AI-related technologies is expected to unlock a trillion-dollar opportunity. AI has the potential to add US$957 billion, or 15 percent of current gross value added to India’s economy in 2035 and Deep Tech Startups will drive this transformation as well as spearhead the broad structural transformation of the economy.

In the last 5 years, while Nasscom's 10,000 Startups has spread its wings to nurture early stage startups by incubating them in startup warehouses in 10 cities with the support of the State Governments and Sponsors, the Accelerate 10X program is designed to channelize the nation's entrepreneurial zeal into emerging technologies that will catalyse business and economic growth in future. As the Indian public and private sector focusses on the adoption of next generation technologies, the demand for advanced deep tech and AI-related technologies has seen an enormous growth, creating an opportunity for start-ups and tech players to provide innovative products and services. The AI startup sector saw an increase in funding of over 70% in 2017 with Natural Language Processing being one of the major focus areas for investors and estimates suggest that 50% of firms in India are implementing AI in their products. In an effort to build on this momentum and mentor 100 mature stage startups every year, the immersive six-month program divided in phases of 45 days each will focus on three key aspects - Product (Global Acceleration & Mentoring), Technology (Engineering & Deeptech Lab) and access to Patient capital.

100 mature stage startups a year. Building world-class tech products from India.

A look at the #Accelerate10X program and how it builds on the foundation laid down by the 10,000 #Startup initiative to position India on the forefront of the emerging technologies pic.twitter.com/o4BHvDnQol

— NASSCOM (@nasscom) September 18, 2018

Sharing his thoughts, Mr. Rishad Premji, Chairman, NASSCOM, said, "Over the years while India has emerged as the third largest start-up ecosystem, our readiness to ride the next wave of deep tech and AI revolution will determine whether India will be able to unlock the trillion-dollar opportunity. policy makers and business leaders must prepare for, and work toward, the AI revolution as we are endowed with one of most vibrant markets when it comes to innovation and we have all the entrepreneurial foundation to build these deep tech start-ups and achieve quality and scale. A collaborative and coherent effort is pertinent to galvanize India's capabilities in emerging technologies and equip our demographic prowess to power industry 4.0"

Imparting a focused push across key start up sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, education, smart cities & infrastructure could lead to substantial growth of AI in India. Providing a platform for promising DeepTech start-ups to explore, innovate, scale and solve for challenges of the future, the program will forge strategic partnerships with global Leader in Start-up Acceleration and Mentoring, TechStars, technology majors (such as Facebook, Google, IBM, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS)) in setting up Engineering & Deep Tech labs and set up innovation centres across the country. Nurturing in the form of strategic consulting, global acceleration, leadership coaching at every growth stage will be provided in collaboration with partners such as PWC, Xinova and CEOQuest among others. Addressing the key aspect of access to capital the program will work closely with several VC/PE partners (such as Saif Partners, Inventus Capital Partners and AXILOR).

Speaking on the occasion Ms. Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM said, “Prowess in deep tech and artificial intelligence will be one of the main drivers of economic competitiveness in the near future and deep tech startups will drive innovation & spearhead the broad structural transformation of the economy. As the AI revolution sets in, the ecosystem needs to adapt, and more so in our role as an enabler. The Accelerate 10X program, further reaffirms 10,000 start-ups efforts in evangelizing and mentoring India’s latent, untapped talent in emerging technologies. We will continue its drive towards catalysing deep tech start-ups, build category leaders and support start-ups to create not only for India but also scale up and solve for the world.”

The program will have a four-pronged approach -

• Orient - Focus on diagnostic processes, requirements mapping & establishing critical success factors



• Execute - Focus on implementing the vision of startup in phases and achieve target milestones



• Take off - Focus on getting business, creating sustainable users and revenue



• Scale - Focus on creating systems, processes, business models to grow at scale

Startups have not only changed the lives of Indians but have played a pivotal role in laying the right foundations for India’s digital economy to flourish. Startups are poised to become the future engines of growth of the tech ecosystem in India and the Accelerate 10X program will build on the foundation laid down by the 10,000 Startup initiative to position India on the forefront of the emerging technologies revolution.

[Top Image - NASSCOM President Debjani Ghosh, Rishad Premji and Anna Roy discussing ‘the power of Deeptech start-ups and how it can unlock the trillion dollar industry’ at the #Accelerate10X program. | Via ~ Twitter.com/Nasscom]