As IIT Madras Incubation Cell’s (IITMIC) portfolio crossed 567 startups with a combined valuation of 74,100 crore, it aims to focus on repeating its success in building unicorns and helping companies tap the public markets, says its chief executive, Dr Tamaswati Ghosh. In an interview, she said the focus is shifting from scale and consolidation to facilitating diversified funding pathways, including investments that combine funding with commercial work orders. Excerpts: How was the performance of the incubation cell last year?During 2025-26, the institute incubated 112 startups. This takes our total portfolio to 567 startups, of which 266 have graduated. The startups earned a cumulative revenue of `4,300 crore and have a combined valuation of `74,100 crore, up from about `55,000 crore last fiscal. What led to the surge?It was largely due to investments in space-tech companies such as Agnikul and the IPO of Ather Energy, coupled with older companies raising very large rounds. We believe this is still an underestimation, because it only includes startups that have raised capital, based on their last round or merger/acquisition. Just 50% of our portfolio has raised VC capital, cumulatively at `17,550 crore. What’s your target this year?We have incubated 100-plus startups for the past two years. FY26 has been a year of streamlining and consolidation. Our focus is on outcomes, supporting more startups to generate revenue and supporting wealth creators. Bringing out unicorns and IPOs should be regular outcomes. We expect at least two IPOs this year. Has the funding scenario improved?Deep-tech ventures long had a pre-seed funding gap, but that is changing. Large, traditional VCs are making deep-tech bets and sometimes carving out dedicated sub-funds to raise $5,00,000 to $2 million focused on defence, space, and robotics, something they previously would not consider. We also see increasing interest from high net worth individuals (HNIs), family offices, and micro VC funds in pre-seed and pre-series investments, deploying patient capital. The RDI programme is expected to further attract newer, non-traditional funders by absorbing early technology risk. What about market access? One of the key challenges in deep-tech is convincing large customers and selling products in the early stages. We are witnessing corporations setting up venture arms that are betting on deep-tech startups. We are working with a few such cases, where it becomes a combination of proof-of-concept work orders with investment, or vice versa. It is a great combo for our companies. Global capital is flowing in too, with UAE and Dubai-based NRI investors, European and Japanese VCs now operating full India arms with local sourcing teams focused on deep-tech. Some of these funds get involved at the R&D stage itself. Diverse capital sources help founders get the right type of money and support at each stage. What other challenges do they still face?The ease of doing business in key sectors such as defence, semiconductors, robotics, and healthcare is still limited. These are capital-intensive sectors where accessing working capital itself is a challenge. And then you have sectors driven by PSUs, where the processes, timelines for contracts, and payments put tremendous pressure on companies. We need the banking system to take more risks on startup financing. What are your focus sectors?The bulk of new intake remains in engineering, fintech, robotics, industrial automation, and healthcare, alongside a surge in agriculture and climate-tech startups and a steady flow of space, defence, and aerospace ventures from across the country. Emerging bets in quantum and semiconductors are still small in number but already drawing VC interest.
