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Published on: Tuesday, Tue, 02 Sep 2025 ● 7 Min Read
NEW DELHI, Sept. 2, 2025 -- A coalition of venture capital and private equity firms from the U.S. and India today announced the formation of the India Deep Tech Investment Alliance (IDTA), a new industry group to mobilize private capital and expertise for deep tech companies in India that will strengthen U.S. - India deep tech collaboration. Founding IDTA members include Celesta Capital, Accel, Blume Ventures, Gaja Capital, Ideaspring Capital, Premji Invest, Tenacity Ventures, and Venture Catalysts.
The IDTA's mission is to accelerate entrepreneurship and ecosystem development within key technology sectors throughout the India - U.S. corridor, aligning with the TRUST (Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology) initiative that was announced by President Trump and Prime Minister Modi in February this year. The IDTA launch builds on the momentum of the recent approval by the Union Cabinet of the Government of India's Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) Scheme which will direct a corpus of ₹1,00,000 crore to scale R&D and innovation in strategic sectors within India.
IDTA members have committed to make long‑term, thesis‑driven investments in Indian‑incorporated startups and scale‑ups operating across semiconductors, space, quantum, robotics, artificial intelligence, biotech, medical devices, energy and climate, and the digital economy.
IDTA Overview and Member Commitments
"Deep tech represents the next frontier of global innovation and we expect great companies to emerge and lead in this space from the U.S.-India corridor," said Sriram Viswanathan, Founding Managing Partner at Celesta Capital. "With the catalytic support mobilized under the RDI Scheme, this is a historic opportunity to deepen U.S. - India partnership and power the next wave of transformative global companies and unlock growth opportunities that will benefit both India and the U.S."
TK Kurien, Premji Invest CEO said: "At Premji Invest, we believe India's deep tech ecosystem will define the next wave of strategic innovation, if nurtured appropriately. We are excited to collaborate with the Indian government in achieving its aim of scaling up research, development, and innovation in strategic and sunrise domains. We will bring our investment expertise and intend to invest our risk capital over the next 7-10 years in backing innovative companies in these sectors of strategic national importance. Together with government funding under the RDI scheme, we are confident of creating a globally competitive ecosystem in these critical areas."
Anand Daniel, Partner at Accel said: "We're structurally bullish on India's deep-tech founders. Over the next decade, startups will build in India and export breakthrough solutions to the world. The tailwinds are in place: ambition, talent, policy intent, and patient capital. At Accel, we're excited and humbled to partner with exceptional teams and support the long arcs of R&D needed to build world-class companies."
Dr. Apoorva Rajan Sharma, Managing Director at General Catalysts said: "Semiconductors, deep tech, and AI are India's chance to script the next IT revolution—one that can create millions of jobs at home and open global opportunities. With 3,600+ startups making India the world's 6th largest deep tech hub, 74% of them AI-led, and the government committing ₹20,000 crore alongside new semiconductor projects under the India Semiconductor Mission, the momentum is undeniable. India is moving from consumer to creator, with talent, policy and public–private partnerships placing the country on track to lead the next wave of deep tech and AI innovation—shaping not just chips and code, but the future of work and national competitiveness."
IDTA will be governed by an Advisory Committee of members to facilitate shared objectives and coordination, while preserving member independence over individual funds, strategies, and investments. Celesta Capital Managing Partner and former CEO of KPMG India Arun Kumar will serve as the inaugural IDTA Chair. Other members of the Advisory Committee will include representatives from Accel, Premji Invest, and Venture Catalysts.
The IDTA will expand membership significantly over time by adding global and Indian investors who make the requisite commitments to collaboration and capital deployment.
Announcement of the IDTA took place at SEMICON India, alongside public‑ and private‑sector stakeholders throughout the India deep tech ecosystem. IDTA is being guided by global strategic legal advisors Nishith Desai Associates.
Media Contact
Trevor DeWitt
Head of Marketing, Celesta Capital
trevor@celesta.vc
Additional Founding IDTA Member Quotes
Arpit Agarwal, Investment Partner at Blume Ventures said: "Blume has been proudly associated with a wide range of deep tech companies over our entire 14-year journey, from Grey Orange (warehouse automation) and CarbonClean (carbon capture) back in 2011-13 to Pixxel (satellite constellation) and Optimized Electrotech (optical products for defense) over the last few years. We have been doggedly pursuing what we believed were the biggest problems of India and are happy to see some of these companies setting global standards in technology in their respective domains. With a massive transformation in India's R&D landscape on the horizon via the RDI fund, we're happy to play our part in making the mission successful. This is the need of the hour for India on the path to Viksit Bharat 2047 and an imperative for all of us to join hands."
Gopal Jain, CEO and Managing Director at Gaja Capital said: "India's deep tech moment is here, and we're proud to join this alliance to support innovation – the most enduring source of national competitive advantage. With two decades of scale-up expertise, Gaja Capital is committed to help build a globally competitive ecosystem in India of scaled, sustainable, and technology-driven companies."
Nanganand Doraswamy, Managing Partner at Ideaspring Capital said: "Ideaspring Capital has been one of the earliest backers of deep tech innovation from India. We are seeing a transformational change in India's deep tech landscape, powered by bold entrepreneurs, visionary policy, and collaborative global capital. As the RDI Scheme lays a robust foundation for innovation, we are committed to backing visionary founders to turn transformative ideas into scalable, global solutions. We are eager to collaborate with our partners at IDTA to accelerate entrepreneurship in the deep tech sector and strengthen the development of a vibrant, interconnected ecosystem."
Rohit Razdan, Co-founder at Tenacity Ventures said: "Tenacity Ventures was set up to invest in technology companies that are being built on the intersection of deep domain knowledge combined with cutting edge technology. We are looking to play a meaningful role in growth stage deep tech companies that wish to see their products in the hands of global customers. We feel excited about partnering with the government alongside other IDTA founding members. Such a deep policy push has created other technology-based nations and we are excited to see India take its rightful place amongst these. We have been investing in artificial intelligence, genomics and cyber-security from our first fund, and with our upcoming fund-2 we feel the investment opportunities are growing multifold."
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