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The deeptech sector in the Indian startup ecosystem has emerged out of the shadows and carved a niche for itself. Many aspects are falling in place for the growth of deeptech startups, and despite various challenges companies from India must cultivate global ambitions, concurred experts at a panel discussion at TechSparks, YourStory’s tech-startup summit. The panel comprised founders from the domains of robotics, precision manufacturing, and semiconductors, and an executive from a policy think-tank. The session was moderated by Shivani Muthanna, Senior Director - Strategic Content & Video, YourStory. Despite the challenges in the sector, the panellists agreed that the overall environment was changing for the better. Kaushik Mudda, Founder & CEO, Ethereal Machines, a high precision manufacturing startup, said, “We have most things in place that enable us to compete globally.” According to Shweta Rajpal Kohli, President & CEO of Startup Policy Forum, the deeptech ecosystem has found its rightful place with the government making key contributions in terms of capital and policies. “I think the government's done a lot of things right in terms of providing that enabling environment. This is India's moment to push deeptech.” Today, the deeptech sector is keen on building or possessing technologies that are critical to the sovereignty of the country. Agnit Semiconductors’ co-founder and CEO Hareesh Chandrasekar said, “We need to build across the ecosystem but this will only be built over time.” Agnit Semiconductors is India’s first vertically integrated gallium nitride semiconductor product startup. Challenges in the sector Commenting on the challenges that deeptech startups are facing in the country, Gokul N A, the founder of robotics startup CynLr said, especially in the space they are present in, the ecosystem is still absent. There is also a shortage of talent, especially at the mid-management level, he added. “We don’t churn that much volume of quality engineers in the country as we are still very service oriented,” he remarked. The panellists were of the view that the country needs to have clear focus areas in the deeptech segment, which is a fairly vast subject. “We need to start building the basic building block of what it takes to become a manufacturing superpower,” Mudda said. Chandrasekar remarked that, in the current environment where semiconductors have been weaponised, it is important for the country to develop sovereign capability. Availability of capital is another roadblock, although the situation is much better now than in the past. According to Gokul, while seed-stage funding has improved, a lot needs to be done to get patient capital into the segment. Kohli said the capital challenge is being solved, especially with the government coming out with a Rs 1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation Fund. Mudda opined that funding up to $5 million is not much of a challenge for deeptech startups but there is still a scarcity when it comes to the next level of fundraise—$10million to $15 million. Deeptech needs a global market On the government as a customer for deeptech startups in the country, the panellists said the government can be an enabler but startups should look at global markets. “That demand generation and the government as the first buyer is a big boost for any sector,” said Kohli. But the government’s procurement process is a bit complicated, he added. According to Chandrasekhar, while startups would like the government to be their first customer, it cannot be the only customer. Deep technology needs a global market, and cannot have India alone as its focus, said Gokul. According to Kohli, self-belief among participants in the ecosystem needs to improve to ensure deeptech grows bigger. “India has the talent, scale and everything going for it. We just need to accelerate it at a feverish pace now,” she remarked.
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