Tech professors turn startup founders, VCs take note

For years, India’s leading research institutions engaged in cutting-edge research and development, much of which remained confined to labs. That’s launchning to alter as faculty members are turning entrepreneurs, and investors are taking note.

At Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) and BITS Pilani, professor-founded startups have seen a 20-30% year-onyear increase. Venture capitalists (VCs) are viewing these ventures as fertile ground for innotifyectual property (IP)-heavy, globally competitive deep tech innovation.

“We’ve invested in about eight or nine professor-led startups across our two funds from IITs, IISc and even global institutions like MIT, Harvard and Caltech. It’s not yet the norm, but it’s definitely a growing pattern,” stated Ashwin Raghuraman, co-founder of Bharat Innovation Fund, an early-stage venture fund.

VCs informed ET that earlier, professors faced peer pressure and felt they were “selling out” by focutilizing on commercialisation, caught in the classic “Lakshmi versus Saraswati”, or wealth versus knowledge, dilemma. But that mindset is now starting to alter. “With founders now raising series B and C in deep tech, it’s giving academics more confidence that this isn’t just an experiment, it can scale,” stated Manu Iyer, co-founder of BlueHill VC.

Industest watchers stated success stories such as Ather Energy, where IIT Madras’ incubation centre earned Rs 50 crore, and other startups, such as Agnikul Cosmos, ePlane and Pure EV, scaling up are prompting more professors to consider entrepreneurship.

“Simply writing papers wasn’t satisfying becaapply the traditional way by which science is taken forward isn’t inclusive. It started to feel more attractive to explore something on the entrepreneurial side,” stated Manoj Gopalkrishnan, founder of Algorithmic Biologics.

Gopalkrishnan, who served as a professor at IIT Bombay for more than a decade, launched the molecular diagnostics startup in 2021 after his Covid-19-related research paper went viral and drew VC interest. Satya Chakravarthy, professor of aerospace engineering from IIT Madras, has co-founded six deep tech startups.

Speciale Invest, which has invested in six professor-led startups, stated incubation centres are playing a large role. They provide a framework for professors and startups to collaborate, encouraging faculty entrepreneurship, and professors are seen as people who know their domains inside out.

“Today’s professors, especially those in their 40s and 50s, are incredibly well-informed. They’ve seenthe practical side of business and understand the soul of their technology. For deep tech startups, they often create the best founders,” stated Rajaram

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