IIT Madras and Unicorn India Ventures launch Rs 600-crore deeptech fund with Rs 400-crore greenshoe option

Key facts

• IIT Madras and Unicorn India Ventures have launched the IITM Unicorn Frontier Fund I with a corpus of Rs 600 crore and an additional Rs 400 crore greenshoe option.
• The fund will invest Rs 8-10 crore each in over 25 early-stage, IP-led deeptech startups.
• Target sectors include robotics, space technology, defence tech, semiconductors, and medical technology.
• Most investments will target startups at Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 3-4, with some follow-on backing up to TRL 7-9.
• The 10-year fund, with a two-year extension option, will deploy around 60% of the corpus for initial portfolio and 40% for follow-on rounds.
• A large portion of investments will focus on startups emerging from the IIT Madras ecosystem, including those incubated at the IIT Madras Research Park and the IIT Madras Incubation Cell.