Venture Catalyst
From lab notebook
to industry champion.
Tech Catalyst's startup accelerator turns deep-tech ideas — emerging from our Centre of Excellence — into Series-A-ready ventures. Lab access. Pilot customers. Seed capital. Operating mentors. End to end.
01 — Why Tech Catalyst
We don't just write cheques.
We build with you.
Tech Catalyst Capital is wired into the same Centre of Excellence that trains India's deep-tech workforce. Founders get production-grade lab access, anchor pilots, and a hands-on operating bench — long before a term-sheet conversation.
Our CoE as your sandbox
Run pilots inside instrumented labs — semis, EV, AI, agri, medtech and more — without burning founder capital on capex.
Operating mentors
Pair with operators who've shipped products at L&T, Tata Elxsi, Wipro, ISRO, IIT, and global silicon majors.
Patient capital
Seed cheques up to ₹5 Cr, milestone-based, with follow-on syndicates ready when product-market fit lands.
02 — The 18-month journey
Four phases.
One unfair advantage.
Spark
Weeks 0 – 4
- Problem-statement validation with CoE mentors
- Tech-stack & IP scoping
- Founder fit + co-founder match-making
Build
Months 1 – 4
- MVP build inside the ACIT lab network
- Industry pilots with anchor partners
- Regulatory & standards alignment (BIS, MeitY, AICTE)
Capital
Months 4 – 8
- Seed cheques from Tech Catalyst Capital
- Grant-in-aid & soft-loan introductions
- Investor-ready data-room & narrative coaching
Scale
Months 8 – 18
- Go-to-market with SkillConnect placements
- Channel partnerships across 12 countries
- Series-A bridge with syndicate of co-investors
03 — Where we invest
Eight deep-tech
investment themes.
We follow the laboratories. Every theme below is anchored by a working CoE, an industry advisory board and a curriculum on our LMS, so founders inherit customers, talent and tooling from day one.
SMPL
Semiconductors
Fab-light, packaging, chiplets
EVFM
EV & Mobility
Battery, charging, BMS, ADAS
MEDL
MedTech
Devices, diagnostics, digital health
AIOF
AI Infra
Edge, accelerators, MLOps
SMIA
Smart Mfg
Industry 4.0, robotics, twin
CIDSA
AgriTech
Sustainable, precision, drones
ESDM
ESDM
PCB, modules, contract mfg
3CI
Cyber & CIP
Critical infra, OT security
Plug into the cohort
Ready to build the next deep-tech champion out of India?
Applications for the next Venture Catalyst cohort are open. We meet founders every Friday at our Pune HQ and on demand in Bengaluru.