Nvidia Joins India Deep Tech Alliance to Mentor AI Start-ups

US chipmaker Nvidia has become a founding strategic adviser to the India Deep Tech Alliance (IDTA), a consortium launched in September to back deep-tech start-ups in India.

The alliance announced over $850 million in new capital commitments, including from Qualcomm Ventures, Activate AI, InfoEdge Ventures, Chirate Ventures and Kalaari Capital. 

The group was inspired to fill a funding gap in India’s deep-tech ecosystem — areas like space, semiconductors, AI and robotics — which raised only about one-fifth of the $7.4 billion raised by Indian start-ups last year. 

Nvidia will bring more than money. As an adviser, it will provide technical guidance, training and policy input, helping Indian start-ups adopt its computing and AI tools. 

According to initiative co-founder Celesta Capital’s managing partner Sriram Viswanathan, “there’s no better time for India to look at deep tech.” 

The Indian government recently rolled out a $12 billion R&D initiative aimed at boosting local tech innovation. The alliance and Nvidia’s role tie into those national ambitions.