How India can Foster More Innovation in Deeptech

While consumer tech startups and deeptech startups use technology to connect problems to potential solutions; deeptech startup solutions build on scientific discoveries and/or engineering innovations.

- DR RAJ KRISHNAN SHANKAR

A few Characteristics that Separate Deeptech Startups from Others –

• Startups are built on foundational discoveries at the frontiers of science and technologies

• To engineer their new ideas, they need significant capital to build at scale

• Founders and their ventures are largely mission-driven

• They create a portfolio of options.

Challenges

Though these characteristics give rise to spectacular competitive advantages, they also come with a range of challenges -

• Information asymmetry

• High capital intensity

• Hard to scale

• Need strong talent and infrastructure

• Optionality

It is therefore, not uncommon to see deeptech startups work on complex and grand societal challenges. These high-risk startups come with much higher requirements for infrastructure, require funders who are more patient than usual with expectations and need access to high quality science/technology talent to realize the potential of their basic discoveries.