Capital, customer validation, governance and scale emerge as critical priorities for India’s next generation of DeepTech startups
Kochi : The second edition of PIVOT 2026, the DeepTech Innovation and Venture Summit organised by IIMK LIVE, the business incubator of the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIM Kozhikode), concluded in Kochi with investors, founders and ecosystem leaders turning the spotlight on one of the most critical questions facing India’s DeepTech ambitions—how to fund, build and scale ventures that often require longer gestation periods and significant technological investment.
Held at SmartCity Kochi, the concluding day of the two-day summit focused on capital, investment readiness and venture growth, bringing together investors and industry leaders to examine what DeepTech ventures need to demonstrate at different stages of their journey—from proving the technology and product to establishing market fit and building businesses capable of scaling.
Speaking on the success of the event, Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, Director, IIM Kozhikode and Chairman, IIMK LIVE, remarked: “PIVOT 2026 has shown that DeepTech is not only about creating breakthrough technologies, but also about creating the ecosystem, capital and conviction needed to take those technologies to the world. As India enters its next chapter of innovation, our task is to create the conditions in which bold ideas can endure, evolve and create meaningful impact,”
Opening the day, Kunal Upadhyay, Co-founder of IIMA Ventures and Managing Partner, Bharat Innovation Fund, traced the origins of venture capital and DeepTech to academia and the commercialisation of technology emerging from research institutions. Describing DeepTech as India’s “third wave of entrepreneurship”, he noted that the ecosystem is now being shaped by four major forces—geopolitics, changing supply chains, the integration of AI and the evolution of capital. Pointing to ventures such as ideaForge, Detect Technologies, Airbound and Nabhdrishti Aerospace, he highlighted how entrepreneurial opportunities are emerging from technological capabilities and research. In DeepTech, he observed, the best growth investor can often be found within a venture’s own value chain, with the customer potentially being the most important investor.
Taking an early-stage investor’s perspective, Vishnu Rajeev, Partner, Speciale Invest, challenged founders to confront some of the fundamental questions around building a technology venture: how equity is distributed among technical founders, whether an incumbent could replicate the solution, where the technological moat lies, and how large the opportunity can become if the venture succeeds.
The discussion on scaling brought another dimension to the conversation. Sheeba D’Mello, Head of Private Markets, Pratithi Investments, outlined the different expectations attached to successive funding stages. While the seed stage is about proving the product, Series A is about establishing the market and Series B about demonstrating that the business can travel across markets, she noted that not every business needs to scale—and businesses that do not have the characteristics for venture-scale growth may not be suited to venture capital.She identified governance, clarity within the founding team, compliance, the cap table and the ability to adapt to changing markets among the key stumbling blocks for startups seeking to scale.
An investors’ forum featuring Pratekk Agarwal, Anil Joshi, Yash Jain and Vinod Keni further examined how risk is assessed and priced in DeepTech ventures. The summit concluded with a product-focused panel featuring Arvind Saraf, Nitesh Aggarwal, Tushar Jadhav and Prof. Arqum Mateen, which explored the relationship between technological capability and the underlying problem being solved, with the discussion emphasising that conviction about the problem is as important as technical expertise.
Across the two days, PIVOT 2026 brought together founders, investors, researchers, corporates, policymakers and technology leaders to examine the emerging DeepTech ecosystem—from foundational technologies and research commercialisation to capital, customer validation and scale. The summit sought to create a common platform for the different stakeholders required to build ventures in sectors where technology, markets and applications often evolve simultaneously.
For IIMK LIVE – Laboratory for Innovation, Venturing and Entrepreneurship, PIVOT 2026, led by IIMK LIVE Executive Director Prof. Ashutosh Sarkar, marks another step in its decade-long journey of supporting innovation and entrepreneurship. As the business incubator of IIM Kozhikode enters its second decade, its focus remains on nurturing technology-driven and high-potential ventures while strengthening connections among entrepreneurs, investors, industry, researchers and other ecosystem stakeholders.
About IIMK LIVE: IIMK LIVE – Laboratory for Innovation, Venturing and Entrepreneurship, the business incubator of the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIM Kozhikode), is marking a decade of enabling innovation and entrepreneurship. Over the past ten years, IIMK LIVE has supported aspiring entrepreneurs and startups through incubation, mentorship, industry partnerships, funding opportunities, capacity-building programmes and ecosystem initiatives. The Centre has worked towards strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem by connecting innovators and startups with industry, investors, mentors and other key stakeholders. As IIMK LIVE enters its second decade, it continues to focus on nurturing technology-driven and high-potential ventures and creating meaningful opportunities for entrepreneurs across sectors. The 10-year milestone also marks a new chapter in IIMK LIVE’s journey, with PIVOT 2026 bringing together founders, investors, industry leaders, researchers and DeepTech innovators to explore opportunities at the intersection of technology, innovation and entrepreneurship.