India showcases 37 deep tech startups to BRICS investors at innovation expo

The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs, is showcasing 37 Indian deep technology startups at the BRICS Bharat Innovates Exposition in New Delhi. The event aims to build connections between domestic technology enterprises and investors, companies, and business leaders from BRICS nations.

The two-day exposition runs on September 11–12, parallel to the BRICS Business Forum. According to the ministry, the event is designed to facilitate discussions on investment issues, foster technological partnerships, establish business contacts, and provide startups access to international markets.

These 37 companies were selected from an initial group of 120 that participated in the Bharat Innovates exhibition in Nice, France, in June. The startups cover strategic areas such as space technology, semiconductors, quantum computing, renewable energy, battery materials, critical minerals, robotics, biotechnology, and healthcare.

The ministry noted that the exhibition will create opportunities for B2B interactions, technological cooperation, investment discussions, networking, and market expansion. Furthermore, the exposition promotes the BRICS educational track priority—'Strengthening research, innovation, and startup ecosystems,' which is one of five priorities defined under India's BRICS presidency in 2026.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister of Education Pravin Joshi, along with BRICS leaders, senior delegates, CEOs, and investors are expected to attend the exhibition.

Overview of Technological Areas

The companies present a wide range of strategic technologies, with space and semiconductor projects taking a prominent place. Among the space companies are Dhruva Space, GalaxEye Space Solutions, EON Space Labs, and TM2Space Technologies. In terms of telecommunications and semiconductors, the list includes WiSig Networks, Vervesemi, and Netrasemi. The company QpiAI demonstrates its superconducting qubit-based quantum computing systems, while robotics and industrial machinery companies like Unbox Robotics and IInderpro Dynamics are also part of this cohort.

The exhibition in New Delhi continues a series of events initiated by the first Bharat Innovates event in France as part of the India-France Year of Innovation 2026. That event gathered over 2000 participants from 29 countries and led to the signing of more than 30 cooperation and partnership agreements. According to the Ministry of Education, Indian startups and enterprises attracted $254.5 million in funding commitments after conducting 1350 B2B meetings.

Healthcare and Scientific Research

A significant portion of the exposition comprises companies working in healthcare and life sciences. These companies focus on AI-based diagnostics, remote monitoring, and cell and gene therapy. This segment includes Periwinkle Technologies, Janitri Innovations, 5C Network, HaystackAnalytics, Turtle Shell Technologies (Dozee), Niramai Health Analytix, Curium Life, Tricog, and ImmunoACT. Their developments range from AI-powered cervical cancer screening and maternal-fetal monitoring to clinical genomics, contactless patient observation, breast cancer screening, surgical intelligence, and cardiac diagnostics.

The government stated that the BRICS exhibition will give participants access to CEOs, investors, and senior business leaders from BRICS countries, with structured matchmaking being organized. This coordination is carried out in conjunction with industry bodies such as the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and ASSOCHAM. The event is also linked to the BRICS educational track priority of strengthening startup ecosystems.

The broader Bharat Innovates program aims to connect Indian startups with higher education institutions, research laboratories and parks, as well as global investors, companies, universities, and governments.

Energy and Sustainable Development

The cohort also features a strong component related to energy, climate technologies, and supply chain sustainability. e-TRNL Energy develops a three-dimensional architecture stack for lithium-ion batteries, while Altmin creates an in-house platform for LFP cathode active material and battery-grade lithium carbonate. Lohum Clean Tech focuses on the recycling and purification of critical minerals, and Chara Technologies works on developing electric power plants that do not contain rare earth elements. Other startups in this sector include Quantsolar Technologies, ABX3 PV, Trinano Technologies, Kritsnam Technologies, and UrjanovaC, which work on floating solar energy, solar panel coatings, smart water management, and carbon capture.

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yourstory.comAugust 31, 12:47

Bharat Innovates Promotes the Development of India's Deep Technology Ecosystem

India's journey in deep technology is rapidly evolving, moving from early prospects to global significance. Currently, over 4000 active deep technology startups operate in the country. This growth is driven by a favorable policy environment, increased industrial participation, the presence of world-class research institutions, a developing capital architecture, and the emergence of a new generation of entrepreneurs creating intellectual property-based technologies, which strengthens the resilience of critical sectors for both India and the world.

The recent national platform, Bharat Innovates 2026, aimed at accelerating deep technology entrepreneurship, demonstrated this growing momentum. This platform was organized with the support of the Department of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India in partnership with more than 15 higher educational institutions, key policy stakeholders including the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Biotechnology, IN-SPACe, DPIIT, and NITI Aayog, the Ministry of External Affairs, as well as over 175 investors, industry leaders, and ecosystem participants.

The main advisory committee, chaired by the Honorable PSAI, reviewed over 3000 applications and ultimately selected 120 innovative enterprises. These companies cover areas such as energy, supply chains, mobility, advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, new materials, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, space, healthcare, and climate technologies.

The scientific capabilities and entrepreneurial potential of the applicants testify to the maturity of the deep technology ecosystem, which has gone far beyond isolated success stories. Founders are developing globally competitive, differentiated technologies designed to compete on a world stage in terms of performance, reliability, and cost from the outset.

Bharat Innovates 2026 identified three key themes that will define the further evolution of India's deep technology ecosystem.

The first theme concerned the vital role of academia in generating deep technology ventures. Bharat Innovates affirmed the depth of scientific capability and research-based entrepreneurship emerging from the Indian academic environment. This transition is supported by an extensive network of over 21,400 research institutions, R&D organizations, and technical institutes, collectively providing a talent pool of over ten million STEM students.

Institutions like IIT Madras are increasingly demonstrating how the academic environment can transform from merely generating knowledge into a catalyst for translational research and technology commercialization. During the program, leading universities, including IIT Bombay and IIT Gandhinagar, played a crucial role in managing the evaluation process and conducting preliminary meetings before the summit, which brought together deep technology ecosystem stakeholders to identify opportunities, challenges, and collaborative solutions.

Enterprises showcased at the event, such as Agnikul, Ather Energy, BacAlt, Brainsight AI, IdeaForge, and Sarvam AI, each originating from the academic environment, serve as examples of how scientific breakthroughs can be transformed into globally competitive deep technology enterprises in fields like advanced manufacturing, mobility, new materials, medical technology, defense, and AI. There is now an opportunity to strengthen our research infrastructure to turn scientific discoveries into world-scale enterprises through technology transfer, translational research, founder-friendly intellectual property frameworks, validation infrastructure, and closer collaboration between researchers, entrepreneurs, and industry.

Secondly, the program highlighted the critical role of industry participation in accelerating deep technology commercialization. Evaluations, preliminary summits, and industry roundtables noted strong consensus that structured co-development, paid pilot projects, key customers, and long-term procurement channels provide the technical validation, operational experience, and commercial authority that can only be gained through real implementation.

Many enterprises presented at Bharat Innovates have shown how early industry adoption can accelerate the path to commercial scale. AmpereHour Energy, now the largest BESS operator in India, is implementing grid-scale energy storage in partnership with leading companies such as ReNew Power, IndiGrid, and Serentica Renewables.

Tsuyo commercializes indigenous electric power plant technologies free of rare earth elements in collaboration with leading OEMs such as Volvo, Mahindra, and Sonalika Group. Intello Labs uses Physical AI to transform quality assessment in fresh produce supply chains in partnership with market leaders like Reliance Fresh and Adani.

The advanced manufacturing platform Ethereal Machines supplies high-precision components to major aerospace clients such as HAL, BEL, and Collins Aerospace. Lohum leads the lithium-ion battery recycling sector in India, working with global players like Mercedes-Benz Energy, MG Motor India, and Glencore.

The scale of commercial deployment is already measurable: national data indicates that over 300 large corporations are actively investing in, acquiring, or collaborating with technology startups, leading to a 30% year-on-year increase in open innovation pathways between corporations and startups.

Amperehour and Tsuyo were also selected to represent India at VivaTech 2026—their recognition at Europe's largest technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship platform is a strong confirmation of India's growing capacity to create world-class deep technology solutions.

The current task is to deepen industry adoption of domestic innovations, creating commercial pathways that allow deep technology startups to scale while strengthening strategic capabilities in India's critical value chains.

Finally, Bharat Innovates reflected the need for a specially designed capital architecture suited to the longer development cycles of scientific innovation. India's capital is beginning to mature to support this shift. Landmark initiatives, such as the ₹1 lakh crore Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) Scheme, the Anusandhan National Research Foundation, and the ₹10,000 crore Deep Tech Fund, are stimulating the long-term strategic capital architecture necessary to bolster India's deep technology innovation economy.

As more companies move from discovery to commercialization and production scaling, this architecture must continue to deepen, integrating patient public funding, venture capital, specialized debt, working capital, catalytic financing, as well as domestic and international institutional capital to support every stage of the deep technology journey.

Engagement with the exceptional winning cohort at Bharat Innovates reinforced our conviction that the next generation of Indian deep tech founders is building internationally scaled products from day one—developing technologies that can surpass foreign competitors in performance, efficiency, reliability, and cost. Their ambitions must be supported by equally favorable institutional backing built on interdisciplinary collaboration among policy, academia, industry, and capital. With world-class scientific talent and a unified ecosystem, India is well-positioned to lead the world in deep technology, placing growth, sustainability, and global technological leadership at the center of the nation's growth story.