Venture studio IndusDC commits Rs 100 crore for deeptech startups working on clean-energy solutions

IndusDC Venture Studio sets aside INR 100 crore for deeptech startups

Deeptech focussed-venture studio IndusDC has announced a financial commitment of Rs 100 crore for startups building in clean technology to “cut down one gigaton of carbon dioxide emissions by 2035”.

This funding is intended to identify and co-build hard tech startups across India for the fiscal year 2024-25, the venture studio said in a statement on July 15.

The studio has already received a commitment agreement for the first five startups from Mirik Gogri of Spectrum Impact, the family office of Aarti Industries Ltd’s promoters.

"Each startup founded by IndusDC will have access to Rs 20 crore ($2.4 million) in capital as a combination of grants for tech development, equity for early revenue till profitability and debt/working capital for scaling beyond profitability," the statement said.

Founded in 2023, IndusDC is driven by serial entrepreneur and alumni of IIT-Madras and University of Southern California Kushant Uppal, Satyanarayanan Seshadri, a professor at IIT-M and founder of the IIT Madras initiative 'Energy Consortium', and Kaustubh Hanmantgad, an expert in behaviour analytics and building teams.

"At IndusDC, we are building platforms to address each stage of the startup as they scale from lab to market. Our team is deeply committed to establishing the benchmarks for an IP-focused decarbonisation venture studio and making it an attractive asset class for investors. We are delighted to welcome our investment partners who share our vision of building a sustainable future," said Uppal, who is also CEO of IndusDC.

IndusDC is also backed by entrepreneurs and angel investors including Ashish Gupta of Helion Venture Partners and Sri Myneni of Knoah solutions.

The studio will sign additional commitment agreements with strategic investors for grants, equity and debt over the course of FY25, the company said.