Chennai, September 26: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has announced the first close of its deep-tech venture capital fund, marking a step towards strengthening funding support for technology-intensive startups emerging from and supported by its ecosystem.
According to an official spokesperson of the country’s premier institution, the IIT Madras Unicorn Frontier Fund I, launched by IIT Madras Research Park and Unicorn India Ventures, is targeting a corpus of ₹600–1,000 crore.
The fund is designed to provide patient capital, technical mentorship and access to institutional networks to deep-tech startups that typically require longer development and commercialisation cycles.
Prof V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, announced the startups selected to receive funding during Sangam 2026, the annual alumni conference of the IIT Madras Alumni Association (IITMAA), held in Bengaluru on Saturday.
“Viksit Bharat 2047 as envisaged by Hon’ble Prime Minister will be a Startup Nation. This VC Fund is a humble attempt by IIT Madras and Unicorn India to support promising startups cross their respective valleys of Hope and rise up to become an Unicorn,” Kamakoti said.
The initiative seeks to address what IIT Madras described as a gap in the availability of patient capital for deep-tech ventures, where technology development often requires substantial time, domain expertise and technical support before commercialisation.
Alumni have shown strong interest in the initiative, with investments from IIT Madras alumni exceeding ₹150 crore.
Prof Ashwin Mahalingam, Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Madras, said the fund would provide alumni an opportunity to invest directly in the growth of the Institute’s innovation ecosystem.
“Initiatives such as the VC fund provide an opportunity for our alumni to go a step beyond contributing to IIT Madras and actively invest in the growth and success of its innovation ecosystem. The fund will also play a pivotal role in bridging the ‘patient capital’ gap that is critical to the success of deep-tech startups,” he said.
Natarajan Malupillai, Group CEO, IIT Madras Research Park and Incubation Cell, said the fund would support the scaling up of deep-tech startups alongside research and industry partnerships.
“This 600+ cr IITM Unicorn Fund will support 24-30 companies that will be support India’s growth agenda and also win global acclaim,” he said, adding that the initiative would also seek to strengthen India’s technology capabilities and support development in critical sectors.
The fund will focus on intellectual-property-led and engineering-intensive startups working in areas including robotics, space technology, defence technology and semiconductors.
A significant portion of the portfolio is expected to be sourced from the broader IIT Madras ecosystem, while the remaining investments will come from the wider Indian deep-tech ecosystem.
The majority of the portfolio will focus on early-stage deep-tech companies that have reached Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 3–4. About 60 per cent of the corpus is expected to be deployed towards building the portfolio, while the remaining amount will be reserved for follow-on investment rounds.
Structured as a 10-plus-2-year fund, the initiative is intended to support startups through the longer development and commercialisation cycles associated with deep-tech ventures.
Spokesperson further stated that the initiative builds on IIT Madras’ announcement at last year’s Sangam of its intention to establish a venture capital fund dedicated to deep-tech startups. Under the partnership, IIT Madras Research Park and Unicorn India Ventures will work on strategic portfolio construction and investment.
Sangam 2026, the seventh edition of IITMAA’s annual conference, is being organised in collaboration with IIT Madras around the theme “Atmanirbhar Bharat – Building a Self-Reliant India”. The conference brings together alumni, faculty, students, industry leaders and other stakeholders to discuss technology, innovation and entrepreneurship.
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