Why India-specific deeptech innovation is necessary
At TechSparks 2025, Speciale Invest’s partners spoke about India’s growing deeptech ecosystem, calling for the need for India-first innovation, mid-stage research funding and patience
In 2019, not many would have known of Agnikul Cosmos’ potential. The spacetech startup was yet to launch the world’s first rocket with a single-piece 3D-printed engine. It also hadn't launched India's first rocket from its private launch pad, Dhanush, which it built at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Deeptech-focused VC firm Speciale Invest wrote the startup its first cheque even before it showed any concrete results. Years later, its Managing Partner Vishesh Rajaram, and General Partner Arjun Rao beam with pride when they talk about Agnikul Cosmos’ journey, outcomes, and valuation.
On day 2 of TechSparks 2025, the duo was in conversation with Prabhu Rangarajan, Co-founder, M2P Fintech, and Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO, YourStory.
Discussing India’s deeptech ecosystem, Rajaram called for more India-specific innovations. “Right now, much of what we do is about importing western technology and trying to ‘Indianise’ it. But India for India innovation doesn’t come from adaptation; it comes from creation,” he said.
He reminded the audience that in deeptech, the growth curve isn’t always linear. “It jumps in steps, creating value in spurts rather than in a straight line. That’s why both sides of the ecosystem—investors and entrepreneurs—need to communicate better.
The learning, Rajaram said, is to stay open and optimistic. “When someone says they’re building rockets, we don’t react with scepticism about feasibility; we assess the risk bottom-up. If it succeeds, each stage offers a step-up opportunity,” he added.
A few other companies in Speciale’s portfolio include ePlane, which works on urban air mobility solutions; Ultraviolette, which focuses on electric mobility, and CynLr, which builds vision-guided robotic arms.
Emphasising the importance of research and academia-industry collaboration in deeptech, Rao spoke about how half a dozen of their founders are professors. “And the number of PhDs is much higher than that,” he added.
He also spoke about the need to fund mid-stage Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 4, 5, and 6 research. TRLs range from 1 to 9, where 1–3 is early-stage lab research and 7–9 is closer to commercialisation.
“We were at a roundtable where this conversation happened about the funding gap in this stage, where the research is too advanced for grants but still too early for most investors,” said Rao, adding how he made a point on how a few VCs, including Speciale Invest, fund such startups.
“The idea is to help these innovations progress toward 7–9, where they can become market-ready products. Of course, that approach isn’t common. The perception is that early-stage funding must come only from academia, philanthropy, or government grants. But if we bring in a layer of commercial thinking even at that stage, it can accelerate the journey from lab to market,” he added.
To emphasise the point, he cited the example of QNu Labs, a quantum cryptography startup in Speciale’s portfolio, which was identified among the few Indian companies driving key innovations in quantum technology, after his co-panellist Rangarajan nudged him about this recent development.
To this, Rajaram added, “Most of our founders are, by default, visionaries, not mercenaries.”
While the conversation also touched upon the need to spend time on good research, Rangarajan recalled a period between 2016 and 2018, post-demonetisation, when his company did not acquire any new clients, but rather spent time on research. M2P Finance builds API-driven technology, enabling banks, NBFCs, and fintech startups to launch and manage digital financial products.
“Back then, some people asked why we were spending our life savings on building something others could rent or get for free. But today, we can proudly say we’ve built something unique. Anyone can build AI, but only we could build this specific component,” said Rangarajan, emphasising the journey to success and the importance of patience.
Edited by Suman Singh