The IIT Madras Research Park and Unicorn India Ventures have raised ₹450 crore in their first funding tranche for a new deep-tech investment vehicle, aiming to catalyse advanced technology start-ups across India’s most capital-intensive sectors.
IIT Madras, the IIT Madras Research Park and Unicorn India Ventures have raised the first tranche of their deep-tech fund at ₹450 crore, putting the vehicle on track to back a new generation of technology start-ups in India’s most capital-intensive sectors. The fund, known as the IITM Unicorn Frontier Fund I, has a target corpus of ₹1,000 crore and is designed to support companies building proprietary technology rather than software-only products.
According to the institutions behind the fund, the first close was completed within three months of receiving approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The money has come from a broad mix of IIT Madras alumni, family offices, institutions, corporates and banks, with Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys and chairperson of Axilor Ventures, among those backing the initiative. The final close is expected by December 2026.
The fund has already deployed capital into four start-ups, including Chennai-based Hathor, which is developing semi-cryogenic and cryogenic rocket engines for small and medium satellite launch vehicles. Other early recipients include Carbelim, which is working on nature-based decarbonisation technologies for buildings and infrastructure, Quanstra, which is developing single-photon detection systems and quantum instrumentation, and Triolt Energy, which is building next-generation lithium and lithium energy storage solutions.
Unicorn India Ventures and IIT Madras are targeting IP-led, engineering-heavy companies that have already moved beyond the earliest research stage. Most of the portfolio is expected to consist of start-ups at Technology Readiness Level 3 to 4, a stage at which concepts have been validated in the lab but are not yet commercially mature. The fund plans to build a portfolio of about 25 companies, with cheque sizes of roughly ₹15 crore to ₹25 crore each, while focusing on defence technology, space technology, semiconductors, manufacturing technology, robotics and automation, AI infrastructure and health tech.
IIT Madras director V. Kamakoti said the fund was a modest effort to help promising start-ups move through what he described as their “valleys of hope” and grow into large companies. Natarajan Malupillai, group chief executive of the research park and incubation cell, said the broader aim was to strengthen India’s technological self-reliance and build capability in frontier industries. Ashwin Mahalingam, dean for alumni and corporate relations at IIT Madras, said the initiative would allow alumni to do more than support the institution itself, by directly investing in the success of its innovation ecosystem and helping close the patient-capital gap that deep-tech founders often face.
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