Nvidia joins India Deep Tech Alliance as group adds new members, $850 million pledge

The move is the latest effort to tackle what founders and analysts describe as chronic underfunding of the research-driven startups, which struggle to draw venture capital given their long development timelines and uncertain paths to profitability.

It comes days after the Indian government launched a $12 billion initiative to spur research and development in a country that is a services giant but still trails in manufacturing.

Deep-tech startup funding in India surged 78% to $1.6 billion last year, but still accounted for only about one-fifth of the $7.4 billion raised overall, according to a report by industry body Nasscom.

An Indian minister's call in April for startups to emulate China by focusing on high-end technology rather than grocery deliveries had drawn backlash from entrepreneurs, who said the government needed to do more to support innovation.

Experts have said deep-tech investment is vital to build core technologies such chips and artificial intelligence that secure economic and strategic independence.

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".

Celesta, which has invested in startups including space-tech firm Agnikul Cosmos and drone maker IdeaForge, was among the investors that launched the alliance along with Accel, Blume Ventures, Gaja Capital, Premji Invest, among others.

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.

"There's no real pooling of capital. It's voluntary," Viswanathan said, drawing parallels to Nasscom.