IIT Madras deep-tech fund raises ₹450 crore in first close, backs rocket and quantum startups

A venture fund built around IIT Madras has raised ₹450 crore in its first close and has already backed four deep-tech startups, among them a rocket-engine maker and a quantum-instrument company.

The IITM Unicorn Frontier Fund I, set up by IIT Madras Research Park and managed by Unicorn India Ventures, was unveiled on 26 September at Sangam 2026, the annual conference of the IIT Madras Alumni Association, in Bengaluru. IIT Madras director V Kamakoti announced the startups selected for funding in the presence of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The fund is aiming for ₹1,000 crore in all: a base of ₹600 crore, with the option to take in ₹400 crore more. Its managers expect to finish raising money by December.

What the fund will back

The plan is to invest in about 25 early-stage deep-tech companies, with cheques of ₹15 crore to ₹25 crore each. The fund is looking at technology at readiness levels 3 and 4: ideas that have been shown to work in a laboratory but are still some way from becoming products.

Its target sectors are defence, space, semiconductors, manufacturing technology, robotics and automation, AI infrastructure and healthcare technology. Each investment will be weighed on whether it can replace imports, open export markets or build up India's own technological capability, the fund said.

About 60 per cent of the money is set aside for first investments, and the rest is held back for follow-on rounds in the companies that do well. The fund will run for 10 years, with an option to extend it by two.

The first four startups

The fund has put ₹55 crore into its first four companies:

• Hathor, which is building rocket engines
• Quanastra, which makes quantum instruments
• Triolt Energy, which makes battery cells
• Carbelim, which captures carbon using microalgae

Who is putting in the money

So far the money has come from IIT Madras alumni and family offices, with alumni alone committing more than ₹150 crore, according to figures shared at the launch. Institutional investors and banks are expected to join before the final close.

Kamakoti said the fund was meant to carry young companies past the obstacles that stall most deep-tech startups, so that more of them can grow into unicorns, in line with India's development goals for 2047.

A bigger plan

This year's Sangam, the seventh, ran on the theme "Atmanirbhar Bharat – Building a Self-Reliant India". Besides Sitharaman, the programme listed Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, Chief of Defence Staff General NS Raja Subramani and Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan among its speakers.

The fund is one part of a larger ambition: IIT Madras has said it wants 1,000 startups under its fold by 2032.