In this episode, I’m joined by Manish Singhal, founding partner of pi Ventures, a Bengaluru-based early-stage venture capital firm backing some of India’s most ambitious deep tech startups.
India’s start-up story is often told through software and services. Yet a quieter transformation is under way in laboratories, machine shops and clean rooms. And Manish has been one of the earliest investors consistently supporting this gradual change, first as an angel investor and then through pi Ventures.
Over the past decade, pi Ventures has gone from backing AI-led software plays to financing startups in sectors such as space, semiconductors, robotics, clean energy and electric mobility. From its first fund, pi Ventures backed companies such as Zenatix, Niramai, Sigtuple, Locus, and Wysa, but also Agnikul Cosmos.
The firm is currently investing from its second fund, which, at $85 million, is almost three times the first fund. Its portfolio now includes startups building 3D-printed rocket engines, optical interconnects for data centres, electric tractors designed from first principles and in-orbit satellite “jetpacks” that extend the life of multi-million-dollar assets.
“Founders in India are dreaming big. Founders in India are not thinking India. Founders in India are thinking global from day one.”
Manish Singhal
Prior to pi Ventures, which turns 10 in March, Manish started out as an electrical engineer from IIT Kanpur, and accumulated two decades of operating experience – building products and teams at companies including Motorola, Ittiam Systems, and Sling Media, where he helped scale the company’s India R&D centre.
His firm’s recent investments such as Moonrider (electric tractors), LightSpeed Photonics (optical interconnects for AI data centers), and Aule Space (in-orbit satellite servicing) reflect Manish’s conviction that Indian startups can build globally relevant deep tech products.
He is not unaware of the still entrenched and considerable challenges in the way those dreaming of deep tech success from India. And he’s also clear-eyed about the limits of industrial policy, and wary of fads in “indigenous” technology.
But Manish is optimistic, when he talks about how deep tech founders in India are becoming more audacious in their aspirations and how India is on the cusp of being seen as a genuine deep-tech nation.
Chapters
(01:16) India Tech Report intro and Pi Ventures as a deep tech VC in India.
(03:08) Manish’s journey into deep tech and the evolution from software to space, semiconductors, and robotics.
(07:12) Why India is on the cusp of becoming a deep tech nation and the long build-up behind today’s momentum.
(11:06) How Pi Ventures’ investment thesis evolved from AI to materials and deep tech across sectors.
(16:25) Inside recent bets: MoonRider, Lightspeed Photonics, and early space as case studies in Indian deep tech.
(23:12) Founders dreaming global, defense as a demand driver, and the shifting role of Indian universities.
(31:04) Scale constraints, policy friction, and where India can truly lead in frontier technologies.
(37:09) Building for the world vs “indigenous for its own sake” and Manish’s views on fundamental innovation from India.
(41:25) The future of Pi Ventures, need for scale-stage deep tech capital, and a caution on shallow “deep tech” investing.
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