India will see manufacturing unicorns within 3-4 yrs, says Accel’s Prashanth Prakash

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India could see its first unicorns in advanced manufacturing within the next three to four years, according to partners at Accel, one of the country’s most prominent venture capital firms.

Speaking during a panel discussion at Accel's Advanced Manufacturing Summit in Bengaluru, the venture capital (VC) partners Prashanth Prakash and Prayank Swaroop said the ecosystem has reached a turning point.

Prakash said the VC industry has undergone a clear shift in the last six to nine months, with investors increasingly open to backing companies in asset-heavy, complex sectors such as defence, robotics, semiconductors, and aerospace.

“There is something that shifted in the last six to nine months where VCs don’t seem to be viewing these as old-world, asset-heavy businesses anymore,” he said. “I would guess that in the next three to four years, we will see a unicorn in advanced manufacturing.”

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His colleague, Prayank Swaroop, echoed the view.

He said that growing founder interest, government support, and a maturing domestic market have created the right conditions for companies to emerge in deep tech. “We believe the next unicorns will come from areas like defence and aerospace. Some of them are already on the path,” Swaroop added.

Both partners highlighted that India’s next wave of successful startups will likely be defined not by consumer scale, but by proprietary intellectual property (IP) and engineering-led innovation.

Swaroop explained Accel’s investment thesis, describing a focus on startups building first-of-its-kind products, AI-driven processes, or proprietary equipment, technologies that are defensible, globally relevant, and capable of generating long-term value.

Accel’s renewed focus on advanced manufacturing comes after years of backing consumer internet and SaaS giants, including Flipkart and Swiggy. The firm has now launched a new initiative, Atoms for X, aimed at scouting early-stage ventures in robotics, industrial AI, defence technology, etc.

The partners cited increased global demand for diversified supply chains, rising interest in sovereign technologies, and greater IP development within India’s universities and startups as signs that the deep tech ecosystem is ready to scale.

“People think these companies burn more capital, but we’ve seen consumer startups raise hundreds of millions and still struggle to be profitable,” Prakash said. “Once deep tech companies reach the market, they can reach profitability much faster.”

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