Latest news with #DeepTech
Arab News
2 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
9 teams make finals of Jameel Deep Tech Initiative startup contest
RIYADH: Nine teams have advanced to the finals of the SR2.25 million ($600,000) Jameel Deep Tech Initiative startup competition, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday. The teams that advanced are Plansulin, Queed, iRama, Quantasphere Ltd., Advanced Future Technology, Novo Genomics, Larimar, Visi Ground, and iBoat. The King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology hosted the semifinal stage at its Academy 32 facility, the SPA reported. The event was set up to support 30 teams in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics to transform research projects into market-ready startups. Jameel, organized by StartSmart Entrepreneurship Center, and implemented through partnerships with KACST, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and the Research, Development and Innovation Authority. It targets deep tech innovations in the health, energy, environment and climate sectors, aligning with Saudi Vision 2030 objectives to empower research-based startups. The semifinal event featured sector-specific training sessions, interactive product development challenges within fixed timeframes, cross-disciplinary workshops and business model refinement exercises. Participants received specialized mentorship to overcome technical and commercial hurdles. Radwan Noor, KACST's general manager of Venture Attraction, said in a statement that they are enabling researchers to convert scientific outputs into viable tech companies with tangible market impact. KACST supports this through scientific expertise, mentorship, judging, and access to laboratories and research infrastructure. He said several participating startups graduated from KACST's Ventures Program, demonstrating successful pathways from national labs to market solutions. Mohammed Abdulghaffar, senior general manager at Community Jameel, added that this collaboration empowers scientists and innovators to commercialize research.
Arabian Post
4 days ago
- Business
- Arabian Post
India Unveils ₹1 Lakh Crore Fund for DeepTech Research
The Indian government has launched a substantial ₹1 lakh crore initiative aimed at advancing research and development in DeepTech sectors, which include artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and clean energy. The move seeks to position India at the forefront of technological innovation while addressing pressing global challenges, such as climate change and health issues, through groundbreaking advancements. The scheme, which is the largest of its kind in the country, provides financial support through low-interest loans and grants to organisations engaged in pioneering research within these high-tech fields. This initiative is designed to fuel India's transition to a knowledge-based economy, empowering domestic companies to compete on the global stage. The programme has been met with widespread enthusiasm across industries, particularly for its potential to create high-skilled jobs and promote sustainable growth. Industry experts believe that the government's focus on DeepTech will provide the necessary infrastructure for start-ups and established companies to undertake transformative research, particularly in AI and biotechnology, areas that are expected to revolutionise industries globally. ADVERTISEMENT The scheme is structured to benefit both large-scale enterprises and smaller start-ups, ensuring a wide distribution of opportunities across the technology ecosystem. By offering loans with highly favourable interest rates, the government is incentivising private investment in research and innovation. These funds can be used for a variety of purposes, including product development, infrastructure creation, and collaboration with academic institutions. The emphasis on clean energy projects is particularly timely, given the global push towards sustainability and reducing carbon footprints. Aimed at fostering a more robust R&D culture, this initiative also ties into broader national objectives, such as strengthening India's technological independence and making strides towards self-reliance. By facilitating the creation of homegrown technologies, the government hopes to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign technologies and build a self-sustaining innovation ecosystem. The programme is expected to bring a ripple effect, spurring greater investment in the country's deep-tech space. This comes at a time when global investors are showing increasing interest in emerging markets like India, particularly in sectors that address environmental concerns and healthcare challenges. Experts suggest that this initiative could make India a major player in AI, clean energy, and biotech, which have seen explosive growth globally. This initiative builds upon earlier steps taken by the government to boost technological innovation. A notable example is the government's push for AI adoption across industries, with initiatives such as the National AI Strategy. Moreover, India's growing digital infrastructure, which includes expanding internet access and cloud capabilities, is seen as a foundation for the country to lead in cutting-edge research and development. With AI poised to reshape industries such as healthcare, agriculture, and education, the government's focus on AI-driven projects through this scheme could significantly enhance the country's global competitiveness. For example, AI technologies are expected to play a critical role in optimising supply chains, improving healthcare diagnostics, and even contributing to smarter urban planning and infrastructure. ADVERTISEMENT Similarly, India's biotechnology sector, which has been a cornerstone of the nation's medical advancements, stands to benefit enormously from the new scheme. Biotechnology holds promise for breakthroughs in disease treatment, diagnostics, and sustainable agricultural practices. With government backing, researchers and innovators will have access to the necessary resources to push the boundaries of what is currently possible in life sciences. The clean energy component of the scheme is particularly crucial in the context of global environmental concerns. India, as one of the world's largest emitters of carbon dioxide, has made ambitious commitments to reduce its carbon footprint, and this initiative is aligned with those goals. By providing financial incentives for renewable energy projects, including solar, wind, and hydrogen energy, the government is fostering an ecosystem conducive to green innovation. The scheme also complements India's broader economic reforms aimed at boosting manufacturing and technological self-sufficiency under the 'Make in India' programme. By nurturing DeepTech innovation, India could develop indigenous solutions that cater not just to domestic needs but also to international markets, enhancing its stature as a hub for cutting-edge technology. As part of its effort to ensure the programme's success, the government is also facilitating partnerships between industry players and academia. This collaborative approach is intended to strengthen the research base and bridge the gap between innovation and practical application. Partnerships with international research bodies are also expected to enhance India's global position in deep-tech innovation.
Time of India
25-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
ET X Tracxn to unveil Andhra Pradesh-Telangana's next-gen startups and strategic sectors at Soonicorns Sundowner Hyderabad
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills P0 sectors – Denoting mature industries with a high number of unique active investors, indicating strong validation and stability. P1 sectors – Sectors that are still nascent but attracting high-conviction funding despite a smaller investor base, pointing to deep belief in future growth. Startup formation rates Capital flow trends and investor activity Exit pathways and acquisition dynamics Sectoral maturity vs momentum across AP and Telangana Venture-backed disruptors: NxtWave (EdTech): $232M valuation on $35.8M raised—an early signal of national reach and sector relevance. DhruvaSpace (NewSpace): Valued over $104M—reflecting long-term investor faith in capital-heavy DeepTech. Revenue-first engines: Hesa (Rural FinTech): $126M in reported revenue—proof of scale with deep Bharat roots. Next Education: $73M in capital raised across multiple rounds, signalling product-market fit and monetisation success. Which sectors are peaking vs. bubbling Where the next unicorns may emerge And how India's innovation geography is rapidly shifting On July 31, 2025, The Economic Times, in collaboration with leading data intelligence platform Tracxn, will unveil the much-anticipated 'ET Top Soonicorns and Minicorns X Top Sectors AP-Telangana 2025' report at the inaugural ET Soonicorns Sundowner in Hyderabad. Startups valued between $100 million and $500 million—popularly dubbed minicorns—may no longer be flying under the radar. In a strategic shift from focusing solely on unicorn-bound startups, the report brings to light the surge of minicorns, dominating the startup-innovation economy in Andhra Pradesh-Telangana across sectors such as electric vehicles (EVs), NewSpace, EdTech, and direct-to-consumer (D2C). This report promises to be a turning point in how South India's innovation corridors are mapped, measured, and be formally launched by Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Special Chief Secretary, Government of Telangana, the report signals the start of a new city-focused spin-off from India's largest congregation of soonicorns—the ET Soonicorns Summit. Now in its fourth year, the Summit is extending its geographic lens to spotlight India's undercelebrated but high-performance innovation corridors, with Hyderabad taking centre localised unveiling not only sets the tone for regional spotlighting but kicks off a new chapter in decoding India's startup heatmap with sharper granularity and sectoral report's findings are based on startup activity from January 1, 2020 to May 20, 2025, tracked via Tracxn's proprietary data. The report uses Tracxn's classification model to segment sectors into:Unlike previous editions that largely tracked soonicorns—startups nearing the $1B valuation mark—the latest report expands its scope to highlight both soonicorns and minicorns, offering insights into sectoral hotspots, capital flows, and business models poised to scale. The methodology anchors itself in a multi-dimensional ecosystem-first framework powered by Tracxn's proprietary data engine. It analyses:Against this dual-lens framework, the report identifies not just where money is flowing, but why. What emerges is a story of emerging sectoral champions, city-wise momentum, and next-gen minicorns that are becoming the backbone of India's future innovation centrepiece of this analysis is a curated list of 28 minicorns, primarily concentrated in Hyderabad. These aren't just valuation winners—they're category creators and deep-domain disruptors across EdTech, EVs, NewSpace, HRTech, and Digital unicorns that often emerge from later-stage funding and global market playbooks, these minicorns are tackling foundational Indian challenges—from digitising rural commerce to democratising access to education and space these minicorns follow two clear paths:This duality reflects the maturity of Hyderabad's startup base, where both high-burn tech bets and revenue-generating models are thriving side by report's P0 and P1 sectors reflect Hyderabad's strategic shift from being an outsourcing IT centre to a multi-sector innovation capital. Sectors such as Electric Vehicles, K-12 EdTech, and NewSpace are not only represented in the minicorns list but are also leading in active investor interest (P0) and deep funding concentration (P1).This convergence of capital, capability, and conviction marks Telangana's emergence as a minicorn breeding ET Soonicorns X Tracxn AP-Telangana report is not just a city ranking—it's a mirror to India's next growth wave. By moving beyond Bengaluru and Mumbai, the report underscores how cities such as Hyderabad are becoming critical to India's $1T digital economy also provides investors, policymakers, and founders with sharp insights into:The Hyderabad Sundowner is the first in a new regional spin-off of the flagship ET Soonicorns Summit, which returns to Bengaluru in August launching the city-focused data series at these intimate networking evenings, The Economic Times aims to build a year-round pulse on India's startup landscape, unlocking high-value insights from the ground July 31, the city's top founders, investors, policymakers, and operators will gather at the Sundowner for the exclusive unveiling, where the data meets the deal flow.360 One is the presenting partner of the ET Soonicorns Summit 2025.
Forbes
22-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Leading Futurist's New Book Proposes Bold Solutions To Humanity's Greatest Challenges
Pablos Holman releases 'Deep Future: Creating Technology That Matters,' with Forbes Books. NEW YORK (July 22, 2025)—Deep Future: Creating Technology That Matters by Pablos Holman is now available on Amazon. The book is published with Forbes Books, the exclusive business book publishing imprint of Forbes. Pablos Holman is a hacker turned inventor whose unconventional career has taken him from working on cryptocurrency in the 1990s to spacecraft for Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin. In Deep Future: Creating Technology That Matters, Pablos—a renowned technologist—urges readers to shift their focus from shallow digital novelties to bold technological solutions aimed at solving the world's most urgent problems. The book is Pablos' call to action for builders, thinkers, and investors to pursue 'Deep Tech'—innovations that expand what's possible, improve human life, and address planetary-scale issues like climate change, energy availability, and disease mitigation. Pablos argues that the real frontier lies not in another photo-sharing app but in rethinking civilization's physical infrastructure: self-sailing cargo ships, nuclear reactors powered by nuclear waste, carbon-negative materials, and AI-driven disease modeling. 'If you take one thing away from this book, please understand that nobody is smart enough to guess what will be successful in the future,' Pablos said. 'In business, in government, in life, we need to run a lot of experiments and throw out what doesn't work.' Drawing on stories from his work with Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and the Intellectual Ventures Lab, Pablos brings readers behind the scenes of a wild career spent implementing what would have once been science fiction. The future isn't guaranteed to be better, but in Pablos' view, it absolutely can be. Deep Future shows us how to build that future. This release is posted on behalf of Forbes Books (operated by Advantage Media Group under license). A hacker turned inventor, Pablos Holman has spent his career on the leading edge, from cryptocurrency in the 1990s to AI for stock market trading to building spaceships at Blue Origin for Jeff Bezos. Pablos helped start the Intellectual Ventures Lab for Nathan Myhrvold where his team was awarded 6,000 patents on their own inventions including a machine to suppress hurricanes, a nuclear reactor powered by nuclear waste, and a laser that can shoot mosquitoes out of the sky—part of an impact invention effort to eradicate malaria with Bill Gates. A sought-after speaker and thought leader, Pablos Holman is one of the most trusted technologists in the world. In some of the most popular TED Talks of all time, he ranges from how to steal passwords, hack smartphones, and pick locks live on stage to hacking the future with inventions to help solve the biggest problems in the world. Currently based on Earth, Pablos leads Deep Future, an Invention Capital firm that backs the kind of mad scientists, rogue inventors, and maverick entrepreneurs who are crazy enough to try building a better future. Founded in 2016 in partnership with Advantage Media Group, Forbes Books is the exclusive book publishing imprint of Forbes Media. Forbes Books offers business and thought leaders a way to share their ideas and expertise with the world. Authors are carefully vetted to ensure their stories and insights align with the Forbes mission of driving success through innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. For more information, visit Tate Causey, tcausey@
Entrepreneur
17-07-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
India's Tech Startups See 2.1X Growth, Rise in Deeptech: NASSCOM
Even amid cautious global capital flows, Indian startups attracted diversified funding in CY24, with investors showing increasing conviction in DeepTech, ClimateTech, and AI-enabled solutions. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. India's thriving digital economy and strategic reforms have propelled its GDP growth rate to 6.4 per cent, but beneath this macroeconomic stability lies a vibrant tech startup ecosystem that is rapidly evolving, said a NASSCOM report. In Calendar Year 2024 (CY24), India witnessed a 2.1X growth in new tech startup creation over CY23, with tier-2 and tier-3 cities emerging as hotbeds of innovation. A key pillar driving this surge: changing trends in startup funding. Even amid cautious global capital flows, Indian startups attracted diversified funding in CY24, with investors showing increasing conviction in DeepTech, ClimateTech, and AI-enabled solutions. Traditional favorites like fintech and edtech saw tempered enthusiasm, while sectors aligned with national priorities, such as healthtech, agri-tech, and sustainability, gained prominence. This shift has seen capital moving towards solutions rooted in infrastructure resilience, digital public goods (DPGs), and advanced manufacturing, rather than pure consumer-centric plays. CY24 also witnessed a maturing investor base in India. While global VC participation remained significant, domestic capital, from family offices, corporates, and alternative investment funds (AIFs), grew in prominence. India's investors are becoming more strategic, with a focus on sustainable, long-term value creation over quick exits. The DeepTech funding landscape, previously underserved, is now gaining structured support through specialized funds, government-backed schemes, and corporate innovation programs. This comes at a time when investors are willing to take longer bets on technologies that could power India's next decade, such as quantum computing, space tech, and biotech, said the report. India's startup ecosystem now hosts 800+ incubators and accelerators, a ~1.5X growth since CY19. Notably, corporates have also increased their involvement in early-stage support, offering mentorship, market access, and pilot opportunities through CVC arms and innovation labs. This has helped build founder confidence and bridge the infamous "valley of death" in funding. One of the bright spots in CY24 has been the renewed momentum in startup exits, through both secondary sales and strategic acquisitions. With increasing domestic IPO ambition and rising M&A activity, investors are regaining confidence in achieving liquidity, even in a more cautious funding climate. According to the report, a majority of Indian tech startups surveyed in CY24 indicated that they outperformed their growth projections and remained optimistic about revenue and fundraising opportunities in CY25. Despite the upward trends, challenges remain, especially around follow-on funding, slow due diligence cycles, and valuation mismatches. Founders are increasingly vocal about the need for patient capital, more localized funds, and reduced regulatory friction.
