Stories
Deeptech Funding Challenge: India's Ecosystem Grows, But Follow-on Capital Lags
- •India's deeptech ecosystem has matured, attracting more seed funding, but securing subsequent capital remains a significant hurdle for startups.
- •Founders at Moneycontrol Startup Conclave 2026 emphasized the need for deeper capital pools, stronger commercialization, and greater domestic capabilities.
- •ePlane Company's Satya Chakravarthy noted improved seed funding but warned of pressure to show revenues for later rounds, highlighting family offices' growing involvement.
- •Skyroot Aerospace's Naga Bharath Daka stressed technological readiness as key for funding, while Pixxel's Kshitij Khandelwal outlined plans for scaling manufacturing and global expansion.
- •Ather Energy's Swapnil Jain pointed out the historical challenge of investors, both private and public, in assessing deeptech businesses in India.
Key Questions Answered
While seed funding has become more accessible, founders at the Moneycontrol Startup Conclave 2026 noted that securing follow-on funding remains a significant challenge. Startups often struggle with the pressure to show early revenues for subsequent rounds, while investors have historically lacked familiarity in assessing complex deep-tech business models.
Pixxel recently secured $100 million in funding, marking the largest funding round within India's space-tech ecosystem. The company plans to utilize this capital to scale its global business and manufacturing capacity from building tens of satellites to handling hundreds of missions in parallel.
Skyroot Aerospace raised $60 million from investors including Ram Shriram's Sherpalo, GIC, and BlackRock, becoming India's first space-tech unicorn. Co-founder Naga Bharath Daka emphasized that demonstrating launch readiness—ensuring the vehicle is qualified and prepared on the launch pad—accounts for 80 percent of the problem in deep-tech funding conversations.
