By Yashaswi Bairagi
India’s startup ecosystem has long been celebrated for its consumer apps, e-commerce giants, and SaaS unicorns. However, a profound shift is underway. A new breed of founders is taking a more arduous path, building “hard startups” or deep tech companies. These ventures rely on novel scientific discoveries and advanced engineering, ranging from quantum computing and spacetech to advanced materials and synthetic biology. As India transitions from being a technology consumer to a global “Product Nation,” these hard startups are poised to become the ultimate engine of its future economy.
The State of Deep Tech: By the Numbers
Despite recent macroeconomic headwinds and global funding winters, India’s deep tech sector is displaying remarkable resilience. According to industry reports from Nasscom and market analysts, while deep tech historically accounted for about 12% to 14% of cumulative startup funding, it is rapidly gaining mainstream momentum. In the face of a broader market slowdown, Indian deep tech startups recently raised over $870 million in a single year. Remarkably, over 25% of all new tech startups founded in India are now rooted in deep technology.
The potential economic contribution of these ventures is staggering. Recognizing this, the Indian government has introduced the National Deep Tech Startup Policy (NDTSP) framework to foster innovation-led growth. This is backed by massive financial commitments, including a massive ₹1 trillion allocation toward research and development, and a dedicated ₹1,000 crore venture capital fund for the space economy. Looking ahead, Nasscom has outlined an ambitious vision to cultivate an ecosystem of 10,000 world-class deep tech startups in India by 2030.
Why are hard startups the key to a better future? Because they tackle monumental, existential challenges that standard software applications simply cannot solve.
Space and Defense: Companies like Agnikul Cosmos, which successfully developed single-piece 3D-printed rocket engines—are democratizing access to space while boosting national capability and sovereignty.
Climate and Sustainability: Hard startups are pioneering next-generation battery chemistries, clean energy grids, and sustainable material sciences to actively combat climate change.
Affordable Healthcare: Deep tech is revolutionizing medicine through AI-driven drug discovery, genomic sequencing, and predictive healthcare models that make treatments accessible to the masses.
Intelligence: Despite recent successes in AI and successful models like ChatGPT and Gemini, we are far from a Super Intelligence – a god like Intelligence, this will be key to solving all the major problems and challenges which are unfathomably enormous for us.
By solving these fundamental problems, hard startups generate immense economic value while driving societal progress. They create high-skill jobs and trigger massive positive multiplier effects across manufacturing, agriculture, and defense.
The “Ultramarathon” Challenges
Despite the promise, building a hard startup is notoriously difficult. As one space-tech founder aptly noted, “If a startup is a marathon, a deep tech startup is an ultramarathon.”
The most pressing challenge is the need for patient capital. Unlike software platforms that can launch a minimum viable product in weeks, deep tech requires years of rigorous R&D, lab testing, and high capital investment before ever seeing commercial revenue. Many venture capitalists still shy away from hardware, photonics, or quantum computing due to technical uncertainties and long gestation periods.
Furthermore, these startups face hurdles in forging strong R&D partnerships with academic institutions and navigating complex government procurement processes. While the government can serve as a vital “first buyer” to validate unproven technologies, restrictive clauses around intellectual property often make startups less attractive to private investors.
Hard startups are not just businesses; they are strategic national assets. By combining resilient, low-cost engineering methodologies with rigorous scientific breakthroughs, India is uniquely positioned to redefine the global technology landscape. Overcoming the current funding and regulatory bottlenecks will require seamless collaboration between patient investors, academia, and policymakers. If nurtured correctly, deep tech will not only propel India’s transition to a knowledge-driven economy but also deliver the foundational technologies required to make the world a safer, healthier, and more sustainable place.
(The Author is an Assistant Professor, Commerce Department, Advance College, Ujjain)
