InfoEdge co-founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani said that the company has invested in 18 Deep Tech companies over the past five years and will continue to invest in one or two companies every quarter, highlighting growing interest from venture capitalists (VCs). “The range is diverse—from drug discovery to mental health to materials to space technology and many other areas. The unified theme is around frontier knowledge being converted into companies,” Bikhchandani wrote in a post on X.

Bikhchandani said that InfoEdge initially invested in Deep Tech companies via Red Start—a subsidiary of Info Edge—and subsequently through its second VC fund, Capital2B. Some of the companies that Bikhchandani has invested in include BrainSight AI—a startup that uses AI to interpret brain MRIs, ePlaneCo—which is working towards developing electric flying taxis, and Aarogya AI—a startup developing genomics for drug-resistance against tuberculosis. 

His comments come at a time when the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said it will allocate a major part of its ₹10,000-crore fund of funds scheme for startups working in new-age technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, according to PTI. “We are going to dedicate a lot of this ₹10,000 crore fund of funds largely for the new age tech, AI, and machine building,” the official was quoted saying. In February, in the budget speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman revealed a fresh outlay of ₹10,000 crore to the “fund of funds” scheme. “The alternate investment funds for startups have received commitments of more than ₹91,000 crore. These are supported by the fund of funds set up with a government contribution of ₹10,000 crore. Now, a new fund of funds, with expanded scope and a fresh contribution of another ₹10,000 crore will be set up,” Sitharaman said.

According to Bikhchandani, deep tech companies are important from a national strategic priority perspective that, “you do need (for) India to progress in science and technology.” However, he adds a caveat that deep tech companies in India are far and few between because of its capital-intensive nature, and little to no visibility in its infancy. 

The funding conundrum for deep tech companies is something that the industry and government need to work in tandem, “without prospects of profit in the short or even medium term, without even visibility as to how that profit will be made or how revenue will be earned."

He also said that the onus of funding these companies cannot be only on the startups. “It can't just be the responsibility of the startup world to build deep tech because the funds required may be far too large, the time horizon is far too long, and this needs to be thought through."

Bikhchandani also said that the Indian government—particularly the Ministry of Electronics and IT and the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade—is aware of all the prevailing issues and is taking appropriate steps as best as possible, “but we have a long distance to traverse."