Ropes in Intel, Cisco, Zinnov, NetApp  as partners to uplift India’s tech start-up ecosystem, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) has launched the second edition for its DeepTech Mentoring program.

The DTC program’s central focus is to act as a catalyst in empowering pioneers in India-based deep technology startups and connect them with industry leaders, investors, academia, researchers, and government regulators to establish a global deep tech ecosystem impacting physical and digital transformation.

To accomplish this, in its first stage NASSCOM DTC has formed exclusive partnerships on the global front with Advanced Telecommunications Research Institite (ATR), Japan and Dallas VC, USA. On the domestic front, NASSCOM has partnered with industry and academia leaders, including Intel, Cisco Launchpad, NetApp, IIT-Kanpur, Sine (IIT-B), T-Hub and ZINNOV. The program seeks to drastically increase the number of partnerships in stage 2, accelerating the growth of the Indian DeepTech ecosystem.

Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM, said, “With the advent of hyper-digitalization in the next normal, we expect a higher integration of AI, ML, AR, VR, IoT, Robotics, Blockchain, NLP and similar technologies. The start-up ecosystem of our country is strong and robust and is already ahead in solving many global challenges. In this era of digital, it is essential for these start-ups to continue to digitalize and integrate deep technologies in order to constantly evolve and be globally competitive."

As of 2020, more than 2,100 Indian startups have adopted deep technologies, up from 1,600 in 2019. There has been a spurt in deep tech startups funding, as investor interest in niche products and platforms has increased significantly, resulting in over 14% of the total Startup investments in deep-tech ventures in 2020, which is 11% higher than in 2019.

Driving an impact-driven agenda in its first edition of four cohorts of 78 companies with a 7 per cent acceptance ratio, and through 1150+ Hrs personalized mentoring, 2000+ industry connects via 6 DeepTech Confluences, DTC inspired corporate and Investor led accelerators to focus on deep tech; building first of its kind support mechanism for deep tech companies (Mentoring coupled with Enterprise and Investor connect). Over the years, DTC has helped companies raise $70 million and has brought the deep tech Startup companies from the lab to market-ready global ground.

Speaking on the launch, Anupam Saronwala, lead- DeepTech Club, Ex Director at IBM Research, said, "Deeptech ecosystem will play a critical role in marching towards a trillion-dollar digital economy. Having a strong and robust ecosystem comprising of academia, incubators/accelerators and enterprises will be critical. NASSCOM Deeptech Club 2.0 aims to achieve, and I am very happy to be part of the club and for 2.0 launch with our key partners!”