By all accounts, deeptech investing in India is a long game. Unlike the rapid sprints of SaaS or fintech, where traction can be tracked on dashboards and customer metrics, deep tech is about belief, in physics, in people, and in time.
It’s about betting on companies that may take nearly a decade before they find commercial validation. For investors like Inflexor Ventures and Celesta Capital, that patience isn’t hesitation, it’s conviction.
“Conviction is the first currency,” said Pratip Mazumdar, co-founder and partner at Inflexor Ventures. “We are not here to give grants or charity. We deploy commercial capital, but in companies where we believe the product will achieve commercial acceptance and scale.”
Inflexor manages over ₹1,000 crore in assets and has quietly built one of India’s most distinct portfolios across emerging technologies, from satellite propulsion systems (Bellatrix Aerospace) to biological inputs that make crops resilient to heat (Bioprime), to nanomaterials at Nopo Technologies. Each investment shares a defining characteristic: a long feedback loop.
“When we invested in Atomberg Technologies nearly a decade ago, they were building motors with embedded electronics for energy efficiency, a deep R&D-heavy product. Today, they’re a household consumer brand with over $150 million in revenue,” Mazumdar notes. “That transition took time. But that’s how conviction compounds.”
The Anatomy of Patience
For Mazumdar, patience is not passive. It is engineered through portfolio construction and early validation. “We don’t invest at the idea stage. We enter when there’s early proof, a pilot with a large client or a working prototype with technical validation. Even if the revenue is small, the signal is clear.”
The test, he says, is to distinguish between a good-to-have product and a must-have product. “If it’s a good-to-have, we pass. But if it’s a must-have, a core technology that the world will need regardless of timing, we stay, even through the long gestation.”
Patience also extends to how Inflexor interacts with its founders. “We understand that deep-tech founders are not just building a company; they are building knowledge. The timeframes are longer because the learning curve itself creates defensibility.”
Senthil Kumar, CTO of Slate Technologies and advisor at Celesta Capital, told AIM, “backing a deep-tech company is an act of informed conviction.”
“Patience is not the absence of urgency, it’s the presence of understanding,” he said.
One of the recurring challenges in deep tech is helping founders transition from the lab to the market. Many are scientists or engineers who’ve spent years perfecting their research rather than pitching to investors.
Mazumdar recalls how Inflexor’s material science portfolio company, Nopo Technologies, scaled from a single nanotube reactor to multiple industrial-grade systems validated by clients across Japan and Europe.
“The initial focus wasn’t on sales, but on testing and validation across multiple sectors. Only after understanding the segment that offered the best commercial readiness did they narrow their focus,” he says.
Kumar agrees that trying to turn scientists into operators too early is a mistake. “A PhD who spent a decade decoding quantum materials shouldn’t be pushed into sales calls,” he explains.
“You build around them, bring in technical translators who can bridge the lab and the market. Deep-tech founders need sequencing: prove the science, prove it outside the lab, prove someone will pay for it, then scale it profitably,” he added further.
The Role of the Venture Ecosystem
India’s deep-tech ecosystem is still evolving its support mechanisms. Kumar said that Bengaluru thrives on private capital dynamism. “It’s perfect for software-first ventures where time-to-market matters.”
Hyderabad, with T-Hub and Indian School of Business (ISB), provides the breathing room deeptech needs, he said. “India will need both the speed of venture capital and the patience of scientific inquiry.”
For startups like Neurowand AI, which operates at the convergence of edge AI and quantum cryptography, sustaining deeptech R&D is less about speed and more about structure. Founder Mayank Chawla agreed that chances of failure are higher with deeptech being an R&D-focused sector.
Chawla stressed that the sector, in India or elsewhere, requires patient capital as revenue generation takes longer than other sectors, maybe even half a decade or more.
Parishrut Jassal, co-founder of GovernAI and advisor with Future Shift Lab, agreed: “A hybrid model is the only viable path.”
The capital-heavy model fuels long R&D cycles as an engine, while the mentorship-led model provides crucial strategic guidance as a GPS, “to ensure the fuel isn’t burned chasing dead ends,” said Jassal.
Creating a Culture of Patient Capital
Mazumdar believes patient capital already exists in India, but it’s often misunderstood. “Capital becomes impatient only when the output doesn’t align with intent,” he said.
“If companies show steady progress, even with delays, investors stay patient. The real issue arises when founders overpromise and underdeliver.”
He added that India’s capital landscape is maturing, with institutional investors such as HDFC AMC coming in as Limited Partners in Inflexor’s ₹280 crore Opportunity Fund. “When legacy financial institutions back tech-first VCs, it sends a strong signal that deeptech is no longer fringe, it’s foundational.”
Jassal suggested that founders use a two-stage approach to balance their efforts. They must first utilise government grants for high-risk scientific research while simultaneously developing a simplified commercial application to demonstrate market viability. This early validation attracts private venture capitalists for scaling, he emphasised.
Inflexor’s conviction is that India’s next unicorns won’t be defined by app downloads or user growth but by scientific breakthroughs. “Space propulsion, quantum materials, biologicals, these are the sectors where India has both depth and demand,” said Mazumdar.
The Decade Arc
Mazumdar pointed at SpaceX’s 18-year journey as a reminder that even in mature ecosystems, deeptech success is a marathon. “India’s ecosystem will take time, too. Our job as investors is to identify and support such talent with the capital and trust they deserve.”
Jassal summarises it best: “Deep tech founders build the technology; they expect VCs to build the business. Grants and mentorship ignite the idea, but conviction-led investors sustain it.”
India’s deep-tech journey is a generational relay where conviction, not just capital, determines who carries the baton into the future.
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