By Puran Choudhary
For years, India鈥檚 leading research institutions engaged in cutting-edge research and development, much of which remained confined to labs. That鈥檚 beginning to change 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 intellectual property (IP)-heavy, globally competitive deep tech innovation.鈥淲e鈥檝e 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鈥檚 not yet the norm, but it鈥檚 definitely a growing pattern,鈥 said Ashwin Raghuraman, co-founder of Bharat Innovation Fund, an early-stage venture fund.ETtech
VCs told ET that earlier, professors faced peer pressure and felt they were 鈥渟elling out鈥 by focusing on commercialisation, caught in the classic 鈥淟akshmi versus Saraswati”, or wealth versus knowledge, dilemma. But that mindset is now starting to change. 鈥淲ith founders now raising series B and C in deep tech, it鈥檚 giving academics more confidence that this isn鈥檛 just an experiment, it can scale,鈥 said Manu Iyer, co-founder of BlueHill VC.Industry watchers said success stories such as Ather Energy, where IIT Madras鈥 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.鈥淪imply writing papers wasn鈥檛 satisfying because the traditional way by which science is taken forward isn鈥檛 inclusive. It started to feel more attractive to explore something on the entrepreneurial side,鈥 said 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, said incubation centres are playing a big 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.鈥淭oday鈥檚 professors, especially those in their 40s and 50s, are incredibly well-informed. They鈥檝e seenthe practical side of business and understand the soul of their technology. For deep tech startups, they often make the best founders,鈥 said Rajaram