The 30-member DeepVerse platform brings together investors, technology companies, and industry players to strengthen India’s deeptech ecosystem and support innovation in advanced technologies.
India’s deeptech ecosystem is getting a new industry platform as Accel, Meta, Intel and Ather Energy join DeepVerse, an initiative designed to bring startups, investors, technology companies, policymakers and academia together to support innovation in advanced technologies.
Launched by the Startup Policy Forum (SPF), DeepVerse will focus on ecosystem collaboration, policy dialogue and research across 10 sectors, including semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, spacetech, quantum technology, defence technology, biotechnology, healthtech, clean energy, drones, aerospace, electric vehicles and robotics.
An 18-member advisory board comprising investors, founders, policymakers, academics and global technology executives will guide the initiative. SPF also plans to publish a detailed report outlining policy recommendations across the sectors.
S. Krishnan, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), welcomed the launch, saying collaboration among founders, investors, academia and government would be important to advancing India’s deeptech ambitions.
SPF President and CEO Shweta Rajpal Kohli said the platform aims to give businesses with long development cycles a stronger voice in policymaking. Deeptech companies often spend years developing products before reaching commercial scale, making predictable regulations and access to capital important for their growth.
Accel, Intel, Meta and Ather Among 30 Members
DeepVerse has 30 members divided into three groups: Deep Core, Deep Circle and Patrons. Members will contribute industry perspectives to policy consultations and ecosystem initiatives.
The 15-member Deep Core group includes venture capital firms Accel, Lightspeed, Bessemer Venture Partners, Avaana Capital, Crane Ventures, Endiya Partners, Iron Pillar, Speciale Invest, and Stride Asset Management. Other members include Intel, Ather Energy, Cars24, drone startup Airbound, space technology company Digantar, and Dayananda Sagar University.
The Deep Circle group includes Alteon, Aspera, Beenext, Gabit, General Autonomy, Meta, Newtrace, Pronto, River and Yulu. The five patrons are CarDekho Group, Global Education Lab, Sarvam, Scaler and SQ1.
The advisory board brings together nine investors, four founders and five representatives from policy, academia and global technology companies. Its members include Accel India’s Prashanth Prakash, Avaana Capital’s Anjali Bansal, Airbound founder Naman Pushp, Ather Energy co-founder Tarun Mehta and Digantara founder Anirudh Sharma.
Other members include Pawan Chandana, co-founder and CEO of Skyroot Aerospace; Panneerselvam Madanagopal, CEO of MeitY Startup Hub; B. Chagun Basha, Chief Policy Adviser in the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser; and Intel India’s Aditi Nanda, Director of Ecosystem and Industry.
DeepVerse Builds on the #100DesiDeepTechs Initiative.
The new platform builds on SPF’s #100DesiDeepTechs initiative, developed with MeitY Startup Hub, Startup India under DPIIT, and IIT Madras.
Applications opened in July 2025, and the initiative was formally launched at TiECON Delhi on October 29, 2025. Following an eight-month selection process, SPF announced 100 founders in May 2026 across 10 sectors.
Biotechnology and healthtech accounted for the largest share, with 24 startups, followed by spacetech with 16, clean technology and energy with 12, and semiconductors with 10. The cohort includes Dozee, Eka Care, String Bio, Mindgrove, Bharat Semi, AGNIT, Kazam EV Tech, Ultraviolette, CynLr, QNu Labs and General Autonomy.
During the selection period, SPF organised Deeptech Baatcheet sessions in innovation hubs such as Delhi and Bengaluru. Advisory board members led discussions with founders on regulation, capital access, talent and international expansion.
Feedback from these discussions is also feeding into a policy whitepaper being prepared with technology policy firm Ikigai Law. DeepVerse will provide a permanent platform for this work, according to SPF.
Deeptech Drive Aligns With India’s Rs 1 Lakh Crore RDI Scheme
The launch comes as the government advances its Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Scheme, approved by the Union Cabinet in July 2025 with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore.
The scheme is designed to support private-sector research through long-term loans at low or zero interest via second-level fund managers. It also allows equity funding for startups and supports the creation of a Deeptech Fund of Funds.
SPF intends to use its deeptech network to provide direct industry feedback to these national programmes, connecting the challenges faced by founders with policy discussions.
The forum has also expanded its industry representation. At its TiECON Delhi launch in October 2025, SPF represented more than 60 startups with a combined valuation exceeding $90 billion. It now represents over 75 new-age technology companies valued at more than $100 billion collectively, spanning fintech, deeptech, consumer technology, healthtech and edtech.
Its members include Groww, Zerodha, Razorpay, Pine Labs, Sarvam, CRED, Meesho, Digantara, Airbound, Snabbit, Pronto and Cars24.
With DeepVerse, SPF aims to establish a stronger channel between India’s deeptech founders and policymakers, particularly in sectors where research, product development, and commercialisation can take years.
