Naganand Doraswamy, managing partner, and Suryaprakash Konanuru, CTO at Ideaspring Capital, a well known deep tech VC firm in Bengaluru, sat down with me recently for an interview, which I’m publishing in two parts.
Catch Part 2, the concluding part, tomorrow, in which they talk about the raise-invest-grow-exit imperative of venture investing, and what that means for investing in deep tech startups in India. What’s happening in India’s top science and engineering schools when it comes to the lab-to-market journey? How is AI changing VC in deep tech and the ‘Flipkart moment’ of deep tech in India.
(00:22) Microsoft clarifies stance on carbon credits purchases
Microsoft issued a clarification after reports earlier this month that it had informed carbon credit developers of a temporary halt in new purchases. That news, reported first by Heatmap News, had caused immediate ripples in the carbon removal sector, as Microsoft has been the market’s dominant force, representing roughly 90 percent of global durable carbon removal purchases in 2025.
Microsoft Chief Sustainability Officer Melanie Nakagawa clarified that the “carbon removal program has not ended,” according to reports including those from ESG Dive and ESG Today. The company remains committed to its goal of becoming carbon negative by 2030.
(01:20) Fission startup X-energy files for $800 million IPO
Nuclear energy startup X-energy has officially launched its investor roadshow, filing for an initial public offering to raise up to $800 million, TechCrunch reports. The Maryland-based company is targeting a valuation of approximately $7.5 billion, with shares priced between $16 and $19.
(02:13) Inertia partners US national lab to commercialise fusion science
Inertia Enterprises has signed a landmark strategic partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to transition experimental fusion science into a commercial energy source. The collaboration includes a licensing agreement for nearly 200 patents and joint research focused on scaling the laser-driven technology used to achieve “ignition” at the National Ignition Facility.
(03:30) Battery recycler Ascend Elements files for bankruptcy
Ascend Elements, a leading U.S. battery recycling startup, has officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to address a critical liquidity crisis, MLQ.ai reports. Despite raising over $500 million from high-profile investors like Honda and SK On, the company faced insurmountable financial pressure from plummeting lithium-ion material prices and significant construction delays at its primary facilities.
(04:47) US Department of Energy restores $1.2 billion for carbon removal
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has reversed its decision to cancel funding for major climate initiatives, restoring support for carbon direct air capture (DAC) projects previously awarded under the Biden administration, World Energy News reports. The move, confirmed in a report to Congress, ensures that nearly 2,000 projects will retain their funding after a period of intense review by the current administration.
(05:37) India officially withdraws bid to host UN climate summit in 2028
The Indian government has formally rescinded its offer to host the 33rd United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP33) in 2028, Reuters reports. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirmed the withdrawal after a press briefing on Friday last, stating that “several issues” were considered following a review of the country’s commitments for that year.
(06:26) Steel emissions reduction target
India’s own efforts continue, towards meeting its target of hitting net zero by 2070. The Indian government has drafted a comprehensive National Steel Policy roadmap aiming to double the nation’s crude steel capacity to 400 million tonnes by 2035-36. According to internal documents and recent ministry briefings at the Bharat Steel 2026 summit, this expansion will be paired with a mandatory 25% reduction in carbon emissions intensity, Reuters reported earlier this month.
(07:37) World Bank shareholders seek solution to preserve climate strategy
International shareholders of the World Bank, led by France, are urgently seeking ways to maintain the lender’s climate change financing strategy after its official expiration in June, Reuters reports. French development minister Éléonore Caroit stated during the IMF-World Bank spring meetings in Washington that letting the current action plan lapse is “unacceptable.”
Once upon a time, it used to be a popular joke in many industry speeches in India — one that government leaders used to sportively join in — that the IT services industry grew “despite the government.” Of course, it was untrue. Several forward-thinking officials and technocrats in governments both at the central and state levels played a strong role in helping that industry grow. As did many top political leaders.
Today, with deep tech, while micro-procedural frustrations still very much remain, no one needs to say they need to grow despite the government. Public support is visible and hundreds of thousands of crores of rupees are being committed in mission mode to R&D and Innovation.
In a recent conversation with India Tech Report, Gokul NA, founder of CynLr, a robotics venture based in Bengaluru, spoke about the other side of the table — those representing private industry, and what they need to do if India’s deep tech ventures are to have a serious chance in the long term.
Catch the full conversation by clicking on the the related post link below. Here’s two minutes on the need for exporting “homegrown IP,” building world-class research clusters and more.
In today’s episode, Ganapathy ‘Gani’ Subramaniam, founding managing partner of Yali Capital, a deep-tech VC firm in Bengaluru, joins me to discuss the firm’s debut fund, which had its final close about two months ago.
At Rs. 893 crore (about $104 million), this is perhaps India’s biggest deep-tech-only fund currently, backed by Marquee names such as Qualcomm, India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Infosys Innovation Fund, The Tata Group, and Intel Corp. CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who’s an advisor to the fund.
Gani’s career traces a journey from semiconductor design engineer, starting with Texas Instruments, to building his own block-level chip design startup Cosmic Circuits, which was later acquired by Cadence Design Systems, to VC investor through several years at Celesta Capital, a well-known multinational deep tech fund, before starting Yali.
As many of you would know, Yali’s founding partners, Gani and Mathew Cyriac, partner Karthikeyan Madathil and CFO Sunil S Patil bring formidable industry experience to their endeavour – collectively over a century of experience in semiconductors, aerospace and of course VC and private equity.
In this conversation, we cover Yali’s approach to deep tech in India, which includes investing not only in early stage startups but also, selectively, some advanced late stage ventures. Gani also gives us a quick overview of the investments they’ve already made.
The conversation also offers some context on how Indian deep tech startups are navigating challenges of scale and commercialization, and why Yali Capital is betting on the next decade of deep tech innovation.
Early-stage VC firms partnering universities to identify and back promising deep-tech startups is a well-established practice in the US. What lessons does that hold for India’s nascent deep tech sector? Recently, I spoke about this with Karthee Madasamy, founding managing partner at MFV Partners in the US. MFV has just established a new fund – Harper Court Ventures Fund I – dedicated to supporting pre-seed deep science startups coming out of University of Chicago.
Here are five important takeaways from our conversation.
Smart funding is crucial for early-stage deep tech startups
Harper Court Ventures was created to fill a critical gap in the University of Chicago’s ecosystem: the need for “smart funding” at the pre-seed stage. This means providing not just capital, but also hands-on support—helping founders build teams, set milestones, and connect with syndicate partners. Such proactive involvement is especially vital for deep tech startups, where technical risk and commercialisation challenges are high.
2. University research is a powerful driver of tech ecosystems
The fund’s model is inspired by the historic role of US universities in powering innovation hubs like Silicon Valley. By translating academic research into startups, universities can become engines of economic growth. Harper Court Ventures aims to unlock this potential within the Chicago ecosystem, focusing on areas where the university has world-leading expertise, such as quantum engineering and health sciences.
3. Sector focus leverages university strengths and national assets
The fund targets four strategic sectors — quantum engineering, energy, life sciences, and data science — where the University of Chicago and its partnerships with famous labs such as Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory) have unique capabilities. This focused approach enables deeper support and de-risks investments, a lesson for India to align deep tech funding with institutional and national strengths.
4. A locally relevant partnership holds the key to success
Harper Court Ventures is an independent fund with a formal cooperation agreement to invest exclusively in University of Chicago deep tech startups. This structure ensures a strong pipeline of investable companies and aligns the incentives of the university, the fund, and the founders. In India, Karthee sees promise in a different model. A fund that can be drawn upon by multiple top universities such as the IITs and BITS might be a better model for India, he says.
5. India’s deep tech ecosystem is growing, but structural gaps remain
While India is seeing more deep tech activity, including government focus and new funds, the pipeline of university spinouts and formal VC-university partnerships is still limited. Karthee notes that incentives, infrastructure, and mindset in Indian academia are improving, but a dedicated, large-scale approach — possibly spanning multiple top institutes — is needed for this sector to really flourish in India.
My guest today is Karthee Madasamy, founding managing partner at MFV Partners, a US-based early-stage deep-tech focused VC firm.
In this episode, Karthee gives us a quick overview of MFV’s $25 million Harper Court Ventures Fund 1 – a specialized vehicle bridging academic research and commercial viability for the deep tech startups coming out of University of Chicago.
He talks about how the fund addresses critical gaps in early-stage ecosystems through “smart funding,” meaning combining capital with hands-on operational support, to translate lab breakthroughs into viable companies.
The model focuses on high-impact sectors where UChicago holds world-class capabilities, including quantum computing, life sciences, energy, and artificial intelligence. Unlike traditional VC, the fund embeds itself in the university’s innovation pipeline – collaborating with accelerators, tapping extensive alumni networks, and guiding startups from IP validation to Series A readiness.
Early bets include Flow Medical, which is developing a next-generation catheter-based therapy to treat acute pulmonary embolism,
SimCare AI, which is developing a platform for clinical skills training and evaluation, and Beacon, which is developing technology that eliminates viruses, bacteria, and molds from air and surfaces.
Karthee also briefly discusses potential takeaways and best practices from partnerships such as the Harper Court fund, which are not new in the US, for India’s emerging deep tech ecosystem. MFV’s investments in India include Ati Motors, an autonomous mobile robots company in Bengaluru, and EV energy infrastructure company Sun Mobility.
