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Business Standard
29-07-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Electronics City Shines Bright: ELCIA Tech Summit 2025 Raises the Bar for Innovation in India's Silicon Hub
VMPL New Delhi [India], July 29: The ELCIA Tech Summit 2025, held in the heart of Electronics City, concluded with resounding success, firmly establishing itself as one of the most influential deep-tech gatherings in the country. Themed "Humans, Machines and Meaning 2.0," this year's summit built upon its strong legacy while pushing boundaries in thought leadership, product innovation, and technological transformation. Organized by the Electronics City Industries Association (ELCIA), the summit saw an overwhelming response from technologists, entrepreneurs, policy thinkers, and business leaders from across India. With the main auditorium quickly reaching capacity, organizers arranged an additional livecast room, while the event's livestream drew more than 1,000 online viewers -- a testament to the growing influence and reach of this annual gathering. A Visionary Start The summit was inaugurated by none other than Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-founder of Infosys and a guiding force behind India's IT revolution. His keynote address, "Innovation from Electronics City to the World," drew a standing ovation from a packed audience. Gopalakrishnan's speech traced the journey of Electronics City from its modest beginnings in 1992 to becoming the highest GDP-per-square-foot hub in the country today. "The time has come to build and scale Indian products for the global stage," he emphasized, urging the ecosystem to think beyond services and BPO, and instead channel its energy toward product innovation, deep tech, and intellectual property. He highlighted the critical role that collaborative innovation, skilling, and startup incubation will play in shaping India's global tech leadership. The Bangalore Paradigm: From Back Office to Product Nation The summit's flagship session, "The Bangalore Paradigm," proved to be one of its most talked-about moments. Sharad Sharma, Co-founder of iSPIRT Foundation and a well-known public policy advocate, delivered an insightful address outlining how India's position on the global technology map is shifting from being the world's back office to becoming a true product nation. In a powerful presentation, Sharma explained how strategic thinking, geopolitics, and a rising appetite for intellectual ownership are enabling Indian innovators to take bold steps forward. He emphasized the growing relevance of Bangalore -- and by extension, Electronics City -- as a launchpad for globally relevant, India-first solutions. "India must now own its narrative, its IP, and its future," Sharma declared, reinforcing the summit's broader theme of meaning-making at the intersection of humanity and machines. A Stellar Speaker Line-Up Beyond the marquee sessions, ELCIA Tech Summit 2025 offered attendees a rich, immersive learning experience through multiple panels, talks, and workshops. The speaker line-up included luminaries such as: -Dr. Sirous Etemadi, renowned AI ethicist and advisor on human-machine interaction - Mr. Klaas Oskam, a global thought leader in Industry 5.0 - Dr. Venkat Padmanabhan, a key contributor to Microsoft Research - Ms. Swathi Shyam Sunder, advocate for tech-enabled social innovation These thought leaders offered deep perspectives on emerging technologies including AI, robotics, quantum computing, and the evolving relationship between humans and intelligent machines. The Experience Zone: Tech That Speaks to the Future A major crowd-puller at the summit was the Experience Zone, where futuristic demos and tech displays captivated both seasoned professionals and young innovators. The exhibits came from established organizations and emerging startups alike, including: - ArtPark, showcasing cutting-edge AI applications - Infosys Springboard, presenting skilling platforms for tomorrow's workforce - Yaskawa, demonstrating precision robotics - C-DAC, unveiling advances in indigenous supercomputing - LAPA, Flying Wedge, and ELCIA Tech Hub-SPB, highlighting industry-ready innovations in smart manufacturing, data analytics, and automation Attendees had the rare chance to engage with Industry 5.0 technologies in real-time, offering a glimpse into a future where collaboration between humans and machines is seamless, ethical, and meaningful. Hackathon Sparks Grassroots Innovation One of the most exciting aspects of the summit was the ELCIA Sense 2 Scale Hackathon, which attracted 70 teams from across India, including student innovators, early-stage startups, and corporate R & D groups. Participants were challenged to solve real-world problems using sensors, AI, and machine learning. The winning team, Senso Health, impressed judges with a breakthrough in remote diagnostics using wearable tech. They received a cash prize of INR 50,000 and, more significantly, a commitment from the ELCIA Tech Hub to incubate their idea and support its journey to market. This initiative reinforced ELCIA's commitment to supporting grassroots innovation and nurturing a new generation of product-centric entrepreneurs. A Summit with Purpose and Impact Commenting on the event's overall success, Sriram Kumar V., President of ELCIA, said: "The Tech Summit reflects the ambition and spirit of Electronics City. With packed sessions, visionary talks, and a thriving hackathon, we've not just celebrated innovation but created a platform that inspires India to lead in the era of products and deep tech." As the curtains fall on the 2025 edition of the ELCIA Tech Summit, the message is clear: Electronics City is no longer just a center of IT services -- it is emerging as a crucible for product innovation, global tech leadership, and meaningful collaboration between humans and machines.
Mint
25-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Yali Capital raises $104 million in debut deep-tech fund
Yali Capital, a deep tech-focused venture capital firm, has closed its ₹ 893 crore (~$104 million) maiden fund. The firm had set out to raise ₹ 500 crore with a ₹ 310 crore greenshoe option but managed to raise more than that from its limited partners, which the founders believe is a sign that India's appetite for deep tech is growing. In fact, the firm raised 78% of its maiden fund from Indian firms and individuals, while the rest was raised from outside sources. Yali Capital's investor base includes corporate entities like Infosys Ltd, Qualcomm Ventures, Tata AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd, Madhusudhan Kela's Singularity Fund of Funds, Kris Gopalakrishnan's family office Pratithi Investments and notable individuals like ideaForge founders Ankit Mehta and Rahul Singh. 'The involvement of family offices has been a significant tailwind,' said Vishesh Rajaram, managing partner at deep-tech-focused venture capital firm Speciale Invest. 'Their longer capital horizon does make them good partners for deep tech founders. Many are moving beyond traditional sectors, actively co-investing in batteries, space, dual-use defense applications, and more.' Overall, Yali Capital is bullish on six sectors within deep tech: chip design, aerospace and surveillance, robotics, genomics, artificial intelligence, and smart manufacturing. The firm is allocating 50% of the fund to chip design and aerospace, while the other 50% will go towards the remaining four sectors mentioned above. The firm's cheque sizes will range from $2 million to $10 million. 'We're allocating 70% of the fund towards early stage (pre-seed, seed and Series A) investments and 30% will go towards late stage (Series D and beyond) companies from the fund,' Yali Capital's founding managing partner Ganapathy Subramaniam told Mint in an interview. He founded the firm with Mathew Cyriac, the former co-head of Blackstone India PE, which managed $3 billion in assets. The $104 million fund is the largest deep tech-focused fund to close so far this year. According to private company data platform Venture Intelligence, Endiya Partners and Triton Fund have raised $92 million and $14 million, respectively, in 2025 for their new deep tech-focused funds. Other than these two, there are five other firms working on raising capital for the sector, including Speciale Invest ($35 million), Mela Ventures ($117 million) and IIMA-CIE's Bharat Innovation Fund II, which is targeting a $150 million fund. India has only about 50 or so deep tech-focused venture capital firms, according to data from market research and data platform Tracxn. The largest deep-tech deals happened in 2023, Venture Intelligence data showed. Hyperspectral satellite imaging firm Pixxel raised the most at $36 million, followed by drone startup NewSpace at $33 million and AgniKul Cosmos at $25 million that year. Yali believes that the government's 2021 Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme to boost semiconductor chip design will help push more and more startups in the chip design and surveillance sectors. 'The DLI scheme is crucial to attract talent back to India to build an Indian chip company. The scheme has a very important role to play,' said Subramaniam. One of Yali Capital's investments, C2i Semiconductors, a fabless chip company, received DLI approval from the ministry of electronics and information technology earlier in January. For deep-tech firms such as Yali Capital, entering at the seed and pre-seed stage allows them to exit companies having made a large return on their investment. 'We believe that India's deep tech ecosystem has matured and, as a result, exit cycles have also shifted. An exit in 7-8 years is highly possible,' Subramaniam said. Yali Capital has made two other investments apart from C2i Semiconductos, robotics startup Perceptyne and oncology genomics startup 4baseCare. Two more are in the pipeline, with the firm planning to make eight investments by the end of the year. Overall, through the fund's lifecycle, the firm plans to make 18 investments: 15 early-stage startups and three late-stage startups. While entering late-stage startups, Yali Capital plans to put in at least $10 million, mostly targeting primary deals and not secondaries. 'If I stay with my late-stage investments for two to three years, then I will almost return the entire capital to investors,' said Subramaniam. Traditionally, deep-tech firms need to give their investments time to mature since timelines for their portfolio companies are longer than traditional bets in sectors like fintech or consumer tech. On average, deep tech startups take between 9 to 10 years to really get going, having spent the years prior investing in their intellectual property and technology. Many investors in the deep-tech sector allude to a phenomenon called the 'Valley of Death', where startups achieve proof-of-concept of their ideas but fail to commercialize them, making it harder for them to get funding after a Series A round. 'What's been missing in deep tech has been scale and monetization because startups haven't found enough domestic customers yet. The government as a customer is still a new phenomenon. Once these patterns are better established and deep-tech firms start generating predictable revenue like peers in SaaS or fintech, growth capital will become available," said Pranav Pai, founding partner and chief investment officer at3one4Capital. Speciale Invest's Rajaram highlighted the need for more patient capital at the Series B and C stage from sovereign funds and corporate VCs, public procurement and anchor customers, and more policy-enabled demand aggregation, similar to the government's Innovations for Defence Excellence programme. 'Bridging this gap is not just about helping startups survive—it's about enabling India to build sovereign capabilities in areas that matter for the future," he said.
The Hindu
19-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
OTT platform to learn Sanskrit launched
A first-of-its-kind OTT platform that teaches Sanskrit, developed by Vyoma Linguistic Labs Foundation, was launched in Bengaluru on Saturday. The platform, available at features an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered user interface that allows users to explore videos, podcasts, audiobooks, games, and e-books. It is designed to help people of all ages and proficiency levels learn Sanskrit. Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys, who launched the platform said, 'Leveraging technology will help preserve our timeless knowledge and make it universally accessible. This is a creative, open, and joyful space for learners from across the world. This is a powerful way to bring ancient Indian intellectual traditions to the global stage.' The launch of the initiative brought together scholars, technologists, educators, and cultural enthusiasts of Sanskrit and Indian knowledge systems. The programme also had a panel discussion on the theme 'Indian Knowledge Systems: Towards Democracy Through Technology.' B. Mahadevan, a distinguished Sanskrit scholar and former IIM Bangalore professor, noted that technology should serve as a bridge to make India's knowledge traditions more accessible and meaningful to everyone. The platform is free, but also has a subscription model on monthly and yearly basis which will provide extra features.
Mint
17-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Chiratae-backed Uniphore Technologies in talks to raise up to $250 million
Mumbai: Uniphore Technologies, the conversational automation startup backed by Chiratae Ventures and Iron Pillar, is in talks to raise $200–250 million in fresh capital, according to two people familiar with the matter. 'The company has had discussions with several investors, including US-based strategic players, to fund its expansion plans and increase investments in artificial intelligence (AI)," one of the people said. The second person added that discussions on valuation are still underway, but the company is expected to see an uptick from the $2.5 billion valuation it secured in 2022. 'While we are seeing tremendous interest in our Business AI Cloud and are always engaging with potential strategic partners, we don't have anything to share at this time," a spokesperson for the company said. The fundraising comes more than three years after Uniphore raised about $400 million in its Series E round in February 2022, bringing its total funding at the time to around $610 million. That round, led by New Enterprise Associates, also saw participation from March Capital and others, and valued the company at $2.5 billion. Uniphore's other backers include 360 One, IIFL Finance, Sistema Asia, CXO Fund, ITP, Sorenson Capital Partners, the Patni family, and Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan. In 2022, the company said it would use the proceeds to expand its technology and market leadership across voice AI, computer vision, and tonal emotion, while scaling business operations in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. The company reported revenue of ₹313.5 crore in FY24, down from ₹508.2 crore the previous year. Net profit fell to ₹4.9 crore from ₹142.8 crore in FY23, according to data from Tracxn. The company derives the bulk of its revenue from the US. This comes amid a broader slowdown in the SaaS industry, marked by sluggish revenue growth and persistently high costs. As businesses reassess their AI spending, concerns around safety, security, and privacy have taken precedence, amplified by an uncertain global economic environment. Demand for enterprise-grade conversational automation tools has surged in recent years, as companies seek to optimise costs while delivering seamless customer experiences. Uniphore has made key acquisitions to strengthen its technology stack, including Emotion Research Lab for emotion AI capabilities, and Jacada for low-code/no-code solutions. Founded in Chennai in 2008 by Umesh Sachdev and Ravi Saraogi, Uniphore offers a conversational automation platform that integrates conversational AI, workflow automation, and robotic process automation. The company has offices in the US, India, Spain, Israel, the UK, and the UAE, according to its website. India's domestic AI market is projected to more than triple to $17 billion by 2027, according to a BCG report published last month. The country already accounts for 16% of the global AI talent pool—second only to the US—and is home to more than 600,000 AI professionals, a number expected to double to 1.25 million by 2027.
The Hindu
14-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Technology be adopted to evolve businesses: Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan
Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman of CII CIES, Co-Founder of Infosys, and Chairman of Axilor Ventures, during an interaction with entrepreneurs here on Monday, advised young entrepreneurs and start-ups to adopt technology to give a boost and evolve in their business. Technology, a disruptor in almost every sector, was also an important driving factor for upgradation, he added. Though it could be a challenge for the start-ups to bring in the money required for the upgradation, it has become an indispensable change that has to be adopted, Mr. Gopalakrishnan stated. 'But the out of box thinking like roping interns and experienced retirees to get the technologies incorporated into the businesses could be considered. Building a network with the colleges can help address the demand,' he suggested. Commenting that the academics and industries have not worked together as an ecosystem, he said that except for hiring students through placements, a dialogue between the two large sectors was missing. He asked the education institutions to adopt the idea of Indian Institute of Technology to allocate vacant space for the industries to set up their units at the institution. By that way, both the students and the company could benefit from each other. 'As close to 25 lakh engineering graduates come out of colleges every year and with the recent dip of employment in Information Technology sector innovative ways are required to fill the gap in education and employment,' he added. The Karnataka government, to upskill both students and teachers to adapt to the changing needs of the market, has planned to conduct a mass workshop to train teachers on Artificial Intelligence (AI), he pointed out. 'Though students are being updated on the latest technologies, teaching faculties, following their employment, stops learning,' Mr. Gopalakrishnan said. Adopting new systems like dedicating a semester to internships for students and allowing a sabbatical for teachers to improve their industrial knowledge could give leverage in the knowledge acquisition and hiring process, he suggested. With rapid intrusion of AI into the sectors, there was a fear afloat that it would replace humans, but the same fear prevailed when computers were first introduced into banking sectors in 1980s, he noted. Rejecting the fears, he said once the sector grows, employment will eventually grow. Speaking on the academic challenges in inculcating business interest in students, he said in Kerala and Gujarat, the State governments have allocated a separate fund to encourage students to develop and start a business as part of their curriculum. It would not only motivate the students but would also help them think of businesses as an alternative option to job seeking, he noted. 'Only by running a business, we can learn about business,' he said. The CII (Madurai zone) had hosted an exclusive interactive session for the Start-ups, MSMEs and incubation centres. CII (Madurai zone) chairman Ashwin Desai and others spoke.
