How Pre-Seed Funding Is Powering India’s DeepTech Ecosystem in 2025

India’s deeptech landscape is no longer just promising, it’s thriving.

In 2025, India is being recognized as one of the world’s fastest-growing deeptech hubs, driven by a rare confluence of factors: policy tailwinds, domestic and global investor interest, academic-commercial collaborations, and the return of highly skilled talent.

At Seafund, a venture capital firm at the heart of India’s early-stage tech ecosystem, we’re witnessing this shift firsthand. Our conviction in deeptech is based not on buzzwords, but on the emergence of defensible IP, scalable business models, and founders building for global impact from India.

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What is Deeptech and Why It Matters in the Indian Context
Deeptech refers to innovations rooted in advanced science and engineering, including artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, robotics, semiconductors, space tech, and next-gen materials. Unlike incremental tech upgrades, deeptech innovations aim to solve complex, high-impact problems, often with a significant research and development (R&D) lifecycle.

For India, this matters deeply. Whether it’s climate resilience, defense modernization, or energy transformation, deeptech ventures offers scalable, cost-effective, and indigenous solutions.

India’s Deeptech Startup Ecosystem Is Rapidly Expanding
India is now home to 3,600+ deeptech startups, with over 500 new ones founded in the past year alone. This makes India one of the top 6 nations globally in terms of deeptech emergence. This emergence is driven by a combination of:

  • R&D capacity: Increased spending by academia and private sector on R&D
  • Global returnees: Founders with backgrounds in ISRO, DRDO, CERN, and international research labs returning to India
  • IP orientation: Surge in patent filings across quantum, AI, materials science, and space

 

Several verticals are showing significant traction in India’s deeptech space:

  • Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning – Vision AI, Voice models, and edge AI for defense, finance, and health

  • SpaceTech – Reusable Launch vehicles, advanced satellite constellations, modular propulsion systems, orbit debris management, in-orbit experimentation and multispectral earth observation systems

  • Drone Tech – Swarm drones, Anti-drone systems, surveillance, Agri-spraying, and terrain mapping

  • IoT and Robotics – Industrial automation, smart infrastructure, robotics foundational models and operating systems

  • Semiconductors and Advanced Materials – Packaging, embedded design, and AI-native chips, new materials chips, HPC and specialized compute chips, advanced algorithms 

  • Quantum Computing & Cybersecurity – space based QKD, post-quantum cryptography, quantum simulations, quantum sensing

These sectors are no longer experimental—they are receiving sustained investment, scaling into viable commercial solutions.

A Record Surge in Deeptech Funding
India’s deeptech ecosystem is witnessing a sharp inflection point, driven by global macro shifts and domestic readiness. In just the first four months of 2025, Indian deeptech startups raised $324 million across 35 deals, doubling the amount raised in the same time last year. This momentum is fueled by a rising demand for productized, IP-driven solutions in areas like climate-tech, healthcare automation, smart infrastructure, and aerospace. Investors are backing ventures led by PhDs, ex-ISRO engineers, and industry technologists who are building indigenous IP. India’s push toward self-reliance in strategic sectors, backed by policy missions in semiconductors, AI, quantum, and energy, is accelerating both capital inflows and startup formation.

This new wave of deeptech startups in India is characterized by an IP-first mindset, solving hard engineering problems in sectors like healthcare, mobility, space tech, climate resilience, and advanced manufacturing. These ventures are increasingly powered by returning global talent, academic spinouts, and collaborations between industry and research institutions. With access to maturing prototyping infrastructure, government-backed funding missions, and a rising appetite for patient capital, India now offers a fertile ground for deep science ventures. As startups file international patents, achieve global certifications, and tap into cross-border supply chains, the country is emerging not just as a hub of innovation, but also as a global destination for scalable, science-driven entrepreneurship.

Policy Tailwinds: India’s Government is All-In on Deeptech
In 2025, India’s government made a pronounced leap in advancing its deeptech ecosystem through strategic policy interventions. The Union Cabinet launched the ₹1 lakh crore Research, Development & Innovation (RDI) Scheme, offering long-duration, low-to-zero interest funding to private-sector ventures engaged in deeptech, AI, biotech, clean energy, and strategic technologies, markedly easing the “valley of death” funding challenges such startups often face. Complementing this, a ₹1,000 crore Venture Capital Fund has been earmarked for private commercial space tech ventures, underscoring India’s intent to foster indigenous space innovation. 

 

Parallelly, the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme, under the broader Semicon India Program, has approved 23 chip-design projects (totaling ₹803 crore) involving 278 academic institutions and 72 startups. These initiatives provide crucial financial incentives and tool-access for domestic chip design and prototyping capabilities. In quantum technologies, the government has allocated ₹6,004 crore under the National Quantum Mission (NQM) to develop quantum computing, secure communication, sensing, and materials across four thematic hubs spanning premier institutions like IISc Bengaluru and IITs Madras, Bombay, and Delhi. Rolling grant calls under NQM further support startups seeking infrastructure, mentorship, and lab access.

 

Agencies like the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) are scaling grassroots innovation by setting up over 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs and 72 incubation centers, nurturing deeptech startups and creating a robust pipeline of early-stage innovation across sectors such as healthtech, drone, and space technologies.

Talent Is Returning and Building
India’s brain drain is rapidly reversing, with highly skilled professionals, including PhDs, former ISRO and DRDO engineers, and global research entrepreneurs, coming back to launch deeptech ventures. A recent Business Insider report profiled founders like Nithin Hassan, who returned to Bengaluru after 16 years in Silicon Valley to launch startups, citing favorable startup ecosystems and cultural ties as decision drivers. 

This trend is supported by broader data: over 25% of Indian startups are founded by returnee professionals, bringing global expertise and networks home. 

Meanwhile, premier Indian institutions like IIT Madras are transforming into innovation powerhouses, filing more than one patent per day, incubating over 500 startups, and launching a world-class Research Park with 200+ resident startups, 100+ market-stage companies, and 100+ patents filed.

Global Mindset + IP Creation = Scalable Ventures
Indian deeptech startups are no longer simply adapting existing ideas from developed markets, they are creating globally differentiated IP inhouse. Many universities now fuel this shift: for instance, the combined valuation of the startups incubated by the Incubation Cell at IIT Madras, is over ₹50,000 crore. Centers like BETIC at IIT Bombay have licensed numerous medical-tech innovations to industry, showing academia’s growing role in technology transfer.

These ventures are solving high-impact global problems, ranging from low-cost diagnostics, quantum-safe security, drone-enabled logistics, and climate resilience solutions, with the intent to qualify for global certifications and international supply chains. Their interdisciplinary, IP-focused approach positions them perfectly for the global sourcing strategy.

Why Seafund is Doubling Down on Deeptech in 2025 At Seafund, our core investment philosophy is anchored in supporting founders solving complex, systemic, and large-scale problems through innovation. Deeptech is not a fleeting trend for us, it is an inevitable pathway to future resilience, strategic sovereignty, and economic competitiveness. As India transitions from a service-driven tech ecosystem to an IP-driven innovation engine, Seafund is strategically increasing its focus on early-stage deeptech ventures that demonstrate both technical defensibility and commercial viability.
  • A New Wave of Founders Is Emerging What excites us is the profile of the emerging deeptech founders in India in 2025. They are not building ‘yet another app’ rather they are designing solutions at the intersection of science, hardware, and data intelligence. Many are PhDs, ex-ISRO engineers, IIT alumni, and global researchers who are:
    • Innovating in AI for Sustainability: Developing models to optimize energy use, waste management, water security, and decarbonization.
    • Building Robotics for Agriculture & Urban Infrastructure: Real time processing solutions from precision farming robots to sewer-cleaning bots (like our portfolio company Genrobotics) that enhance safety and efficiency in sanitation.
    • Creating Autonomous Logistics & Drones: Companies like Redwing, one of our portfolio startups, are leveraging autonomous aerial systems for last-mile healthcare delivery and Agricultural spraying in underserved regions. Leveraging advanced engineering and algorithmic innovations to fly in difficult terrains, autonomous take-off and landing, and avoidance of electrical lines.
    • Developing Semiconductor IP & Design Systems: Deeptech founders are working to localize chip design and building advanced chips for specialized use cases (like our portfolio company Calligo Technologies), addressing India’s strategic need for fabless chip innovation.
    This founder shift is underpinned by India’s growing base of deeptech talent, with engineering institutions and defense research labs serving as breeding grounds for enterprise-ready innovation.
  • More Than Capital: Strategic Support for Deeptech Builders Deeptech startups require longer gestation cycles, high R&D spend, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Seafund actively supports this by providing:
    • Research-backed Evaluation Frameworks: Our investment diligence goes beyond traction metrics – we evaluate technology feasibility, IP defensibility, TRL (Technology Readiness Levels), market readiness and founder-market fit.
    • Academic and Institutional Partnerships: We closely collaborate with IIT Madras, IISc Bangalore, IIIT-Hyderabad, and national incubators to both discover and mentor founders from labs and research institutions. We further provide founders access to various research institutions, faculty and facilities to speed up growth. 
    • Business Model & Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy: We help deeptech ventures navigate GTM complexity – whether it’s regulatory clearance, customer adoption, or certification (drones, energy tech).
    • Access to Industrial and Government Networks: Through our growing partner base, we help deeptech companies unlock pilot opportunities, sandbox trials, and ecosystem visibility.
    Seafund acts as a bridge between high-potential innovation and sustainable commercialization.
  • Our Deeptech Portfolio Reflects This Conviction We’ve built a deeptech portfolio across multiple verticals that are solving for not just India’s future challenges, but also global opportunities:
    Focus Area Seafund Portfolio Company Solution Snapshot
    Impact-Centric AI Consint.ai AI-native platform automating complex health insurance claims—impacting payer-provider economics in real time.
    Climate & Infrastructure Robotics Genrobotics Building sanitation and pipeline inspection robots to eliminate hazardous manual work and optimize city infrastructure.
    Space-as-a-Service Takeme2Space Democratizing access to space through low-cost payload launches and mission integration services. Building data centers in space with applications running on the satellite network in real time, offering a fee based pay per use access to space.
    Charging Innovation Simactricals Developing next-gen wireless charging systems for Indian EVs.
    AI for Consumer Behavior Clootrack Real-time consumer analytics platform using unsupervised NLP to deliver precision insights to brands and enterprises.
    Autonomous robotics Swapp Design Machine learning enabled autonomous swapping of batteries in EVs using a fleet of micro-robots.
    Port and Maritime Intelligence Docker Vision AI-powered port and yard automation that optimize logistics, reduce turnaround times, and support smart maritime infrastructure.
    High Performance Computing CalligoTech Advanced semiconductor chips indigenously designed using POSIT for High Performance Computing applications. These increase accuracy, while reducing cost, power and time over floating point-based compute.
    Drone Logistics & Delivery Redwing Drone-based precision delivery systems built for healthcare and agriculture, for adverse climatic and geographical conditions. Already deployed in Tier-II/III regions.
    Each of these ventures exemplifies what Seafund stands for: solving for India, scaling for the world.

Looking Ahead: Deeptech as a Strategic Moat
In a decade where resilience, sustainability, and autonomy will define global competitiveness, we see deeptech as India’s strategic moat. At Seafund, our goal is to identify and nurture builders who are not just developing products, but are: 

  • Creating defensible IP 
  • Targeting global challenges and supply chains 
  • Reducing import dependency in critical tech 
  • Designing inclusive technology for real-world problems 

Our conviction is long-term, and our role is collaborative. As investors, mentors, and ecosystem enablers, we are committed to making India the launchpad for globally recognized, IP-led innovation. 

FAQs

  1. What makes deeptech different from other startup sectors?
    Deeptech startups are rooted in advanced science and engineering, developing innovations that require extensive R&D and technical expertise. Unlike app-based or software startups, deeptech ventures create defensible IP, solve complex global problems, and have longer gestation cycles before commercialization.

  2. Why is India emerging as a major deeptech hub?
    India’s strong academic institutions, returning global talent, and government-backed missions in AI, semiconductors, space, and quantum technologies are fueling the rise of deeptech. With 3,600+ startups, India now ranks among the top global deeptech ecosystems.

  3. How does Seafund support deeptech startups beyond capital?
    Seafund provides strategic mentorship, connects founders to institutional partners like IITs and IISc, helps refine business models and GTM strategies, and enables access to industry networks, pilot programs, and regulatory support — bridging innovation and commercialization.

  4. What types of deeptech ventures does Seafund invest in?
    Seafund invests in early-stage startups across domains such as robotics, AI, semiconductors, space tech, quantum, and advanced materials — focusing on ventures with strong IP, scalable models, and real-world impact potential.

  5. How can deeptech shape India’s future economy?
    Deeptech drives self-reliance, innovation-led growth, and global competitiveness. By fostering indigenous R&D and IP creation, it strengthens India’s position in critical sectors like defense, energy, healthcare, and infrastructure — paving the way for sustainable, future-ready industries.

Have insights or bold ideas? Drop your thoughts, and let’s shape the next wave of innovation together!

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Table of Content

  • 1. What is Deeptech and Why It Matters in the Indian Context
  • 2. India’s Deeptech Startup Ecosystem Is Rapidly Expanding
  • 3. A Record Surge in Deeptech Funding
  • 4. Policy Tailwinds: India’s Government is All-In on Deeptech
  • 5. Talent Is Returning and Building
  • 6. Global Mindset + IP Creation = Scalable Ventures
  • 7. Why Seafund is Doubling Down on Deeptech in 2025
  • 8. Looking Ahead: Deeptech as a Strategic Moat
  • 9. FAQs
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