Tech Innovation Grants

Most deep tech startups do not fail in the lab. They fail in the funding gap. You need years of research, experiments, and prototypes before anyone pays you. Investors want traction in 12 to 18 months. Your science needs 5 to 7 years. The result is predictable: Founders reshape their story just to survive. They reframe long R&D roadmaps as short GTM plans. They accept dilution that would be unthinkable in a software company at the same stage. But there is a capital that was built for this exact situation: 𝙉𝙤𝙣-𝙙𝙞𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙨. Grants are not rare. They're just hard to see. Programs are scattered across agencies and regions. Criteria are written in policy language, not founder language. Key calls open and close quietly, and most teams hear about them too late. From an investor's perspective, this is a lost opportunity. Well-targeted grants can extend runway, de-risk core science, and improve the quality of future equity rounds. Used well, they do not replace strong fundraising ambition. They strengthen it. They buy time, increase leverage, and help you raise the next round on better terms. So we pulled some structure into the chaos. We put together a concise bundle of 𝟮𝟬 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝘀 that we see strong teams actually using to fund R&D: ✅ What each grant really funds ✅ Typical ticket size ✅ Geography and eligibility ✅ Link to the grant If you are building deep tech, this is upside you cannot afford to leave untouched. Comment 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗦 and I will share the bundle with you.   Follow us at APEX Ventures and subscribe to our newsletter for exclusive content on groundbreaking Deep Tech startups:   🔗 https://t2m.io/EV2qHQuo

₹77,080 Crores allocated by the Government of India for startups and manufacturing in 2025. Yet most founders are still chasing VC money. I work with startups daily, and it surprises me how many don't even know these schemes exist. Here's what's available right now The Big Picture: → Deep Tech & Startup Fund: ₹30,000 Cr → MSME Budget Outlay: ₹23,168 Cr → Startup India Fund of Funds: ₹10,000 Cr → PLI Electronics & IT: ₹9,000 Cr → PLI Auto Components: ₹2,819 Cr → PLI Textiles: ₹1,148 Cr → Startup India Seed Fund: ₹945 Cr This is just the major allocations - there's more buried in smaller schemes. Let me break down what you can actually access based on your stage [1] For Early Stage Startups: 👉🏼 Startup India Seed Fund: Up to ₹50L per startup 👉🏼 SAMRIDH Scheme: Up to ₹40L grants 👉🏼 Atal Innovation Mission: Up to ₹15L for prototypes Most founders think these are too small. But remember, this is non-dilutive capital that can get you to revenue stage. [2] For Revenue Stage Companies: 👉🏼 CGTMSE: Up to ₹2 Cr collateral-free loans 👉🏼 Stand-Up India: ₹10L to ₹1 Cr for SC/ST/Women entrepreneurs 👉🏼 Multiplier Grants: Up to ₹10 Cr for R&D projects This is where it gets interesting. Revenue-stage companies have the best shot at accessing larger amounts. [3] For Manufacturing: 👉🏼 PLI schemes across 14+ sectors 👉🏼 Significant incentives for domestic production 👉🏼 Focus on electronics, auto, textiles If you're in manufacturing, you're literally sitting on a goldmine of incentives. The challenge? Most founders don't know how to navigate the application process. Here's where to start: - Startup India Portal [https://lnkd.in/gBdAH52D] - myScheme Portal [myscheme.gov.in] - SIDBI Portal [sidbi.in] - AIM Portal [aim.gov.in] - MeitY Startup Hub [msh.meity.gov.in] What you actually need: ✓ DPIIT registration for startups ✓ Proper documentation ✓ Clear business plan ✓ Compliance records ✓ Incubator partnerships (for some schemes) I've seen founders spend months preparing pitch decks for VCs, but won't spend a week getting their documentation ready for government schemes. The reality is Government funding is often cheaper, comes with less dilution, and has better terms than VC money. But it requires patience and proper documentation. #startupfunding #manufacturing #debtfunding

Worth applying. Almost $2.1B in funding for climate and ESG technologies! Nine funding routes worth knowing if you're building in clean tech, sustainability or ESG right now. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programme - up to around $1.6 million across Phase I and II, recently reauthorised through 2031 after a five month lapse. https://lnkd.in/en3AziQe National Science Foundation (NSF) America's Seed Fund - up to $305,000 for Phase I, a strong low-friction entry point via their Project Pitch process. https://seedfund.nsf.gov Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) - non-dilutive funding for high risk, high reward energy technology, often several million dollars per award. https://lnkd.in/eBdJRt_K Third Derivative - RMI and New Energy Nexus's global climate tech accelerator, connecting hard tech startups to investors and corporate partners rather than writing a fixed cheque. https://lnkd.in/eHr55UtC European Union Innovation Fund - one of the world's largest clean tech programmes, with individual grants ranging from tens of millions to over a billion euros. https://lnkd.in/ew3KXYGn EIC - European Innovation Council Accelerator - pairs a grant of up to 2.5 million euros with optional equity investment of up to 10 million euros for deep tech SMEs. https://lnkd.in/ej-qXnHK Breakthrough Energy Fellows - catalytic, non-dilutive funding from $50,000 to $500,000 for early stage climate innovators. https://lnkd.in/e__iKQ49 Elemental Impact - a non-profit climate investor backing companies from pre-seed to Series C, including a Data Center Innovation Initiative funded by Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft. https://lnkd.in/ekPnxNRK New South Wales Clean Technology Innovation Grant - up to 5 million Australian dollars for Australian businesses piloting lab-proven clean technologies, applications close 8 September 2026. https://lnkd.in/ejSr4WzD A few things worth knowing before applying: some of these are non-dilutive grants as well as equity investments, deadlines and open/closed status shift constantly, and a handful (like the EU Innovation Fund) operate on a completely different scale to early stage programmes, so it's worth matching the opportunity to your stage rather than chasing the biggest number on the page.

₹50 LAKHS GRANT FOR STARTUPS - YET 99% ENTREPRENEURS MISS IT As someone who has built businesses both from scratch and with institutional support, I can tell you one thing: knowing how to raise funds is just as important as having a strong idea. Right now, the Indian government is offering up to ₹50 lakhs to early-stage startups under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS). This is not a loan. This is not equity. This is a pure grant. Yet, most startup founders I meet are either unaware of this or believe it’s too complicated to apply for. Here’s what every serious founder needs to know: 🔹 You don’t need a market-ready product. You can apply even if you're at the idea or MVP stage. 🔹 You must be an Indian citizen with a startup registered in India, under 10 years old, and working on a tech-first or innovation-first model. 🔹 You must not have received prior government funding under any other central scheme. 🔹 To apply, your startup needs DPIIT recognition (which is free and easy to get at startupindia.gov.in) 🔹 Once recognised, go to https://lnkd.in/g66vuPaf, choose three incubators, upload your pitch deck and necessary documents, and submit your application. As an entrepreneur, I’ve often seen amazing ideas collapse due to a lack of funds and access. What I’ve also seen is that those who invest time in understanding government systems and startup policies go a lot further than those who wait for VCs to knock on their door. If you're working on an idea that solves a real problem, don’t let the lack of capital hold you back. 🔹 Pitch clearly. 🔹 Show why your idea is innovative. 🔹 Prove that your team can build it. 🔹 Keep your documents and vision sorted. India has never been more startup-friendly than it is today. But this window will only benefit those who are proactive and informed. If you’re building, I strongly recommend exploring this scheme. Every founder should know this. Every startup should at least try. A good pitch can open a ₹50 lakh door. Sometimes, that’s all you need to go from idea to execution. Watch this space for more such insights. And if you're someone working on a strong idea, now is the time to build. #startupindia #founders #entrepreneurship #startupfunding #SISFS #governmentgrants #businessstrategy

In just three years, AI’s share of U.S. venture capital has surged to 71% in Q1 2025. This is more than a funding trend. It’s a capital reallocation event. Entire sectors are now competing with AI for oxygen. Foundational models dominate the dollars, but platforms and infrastructure are rising fast, signaling that investors see AI not as a product but as the next layer of economic infrastructure. The deeper question is what this means for other critical sectors, from healthcare to advanced manufacturing. Is this concentration a fleeting bubble, or a structural reset of the innovation economy?  Leaders must prepare for both the opportunities created by AI as infrastructure and the risks created by underfunded adjacent sectors that may be critical to long-term strategy. 

A quiet but potentially historic shift in how the U.S. funds science was announced last week. NSF TIP has announced its Tech Labs Initiative, an experiment in funding independent, full-time research organizations that sit outside the traditional university grant model. This is less about incremental papers and more about breaking real technical bottlenecks that stall entire fields. Why this is such an important idea: 🔬 From projects to missions: Instead of short-term grants to individual PIs, Tech Labs fund coordinated, interdisciplinary teams built to tackle hard, system-level problems that no single lab can solve alone. 🚀 Speed and flexibility by design: Milestone-based funding and operational autonomy mean teams can move quickly, adapt as they learn, and spend less time writing grants and more time doing science. 🏗️ Built for translation, not just publication: The goal is to carry ideas from early concepts and prototypes all the way to scalable, investment-ready platforms, bridging the gap between discovery and deployment. 💰 Meaningful scale and runway: NSF anticipates large, multi-year awards, with potential funding in the range of $10M to $50M per team per year. That level of sustained support is what modern breakthrough science often requires. 🎯 Initial areas of focus include: AI, Quantum, Biotechnology, Critical materials, Semiconductor manufacturing. Why this matters more broadly: The science funding system we built in the 20th century was optimized for individual brilliance and small teams. Many of today’s breakthroughs depend on shared infrastructure, long time horizons, and tightly integrated teams. Philanthropy has been piloting this model for years. Tech Labs brings it into the federal toolkit at scale. NSF is actively seeking input through an RFI from researchers, startups, philanthropy, policymakers, states, and investors. Link in the comments.

Private Thoughts From My Desk……. #45 Health Tech Is Eating Private Markets’ Lunch   When people think of private equity, they still picture buyout kings gobbling up logistics, B2B services and software. But if you are not watching what is happening in healthcare, and especially health tech, you are missing the next power move.   According to the Barclays Private Markets Annual Report 2025, healthcare focused private equity funds raised nearly three quarters of their entire 2024 total in the first half of 2025. That isn’t just momentum. That’s a category making its presence felt.   Look at the first chart below. Capital is sprinting into healthcare like it is chasing weight loss drugs on IPO day. This is what happens when demographic inevitability meets system dysfunction meets tech enablement. Populations are aging, budgets are strained, and politicians cannot cut their way to sustainability. Someone has to fund the upgrade. This trend has been driving healthcare deals for some time, and it is continuing.   Now look at the second chart. Health tech deal value has not just crept higher, it has surged. The action is coming from buyouts more than from early-stage bets. Private equity smells margin where legacy systems still smell of fax machines and clipboards. Hospitals and insurers are realizing that workforce management, compliance and even diagnostics cannot run on spreadsheets forever.   The interesting part is that these are not wild science projects. The money is flowing into businesses that fix ugly everyday problems. Scheduling nurses. Getting claims coded correctly. Making sure the right drug goes to the right patient. Boring is beautiful when it throws off cash.   The exit side is starting to cooperate as well. Median exit values in health tech have moved up, helped by larger strategics who would rather buy a working platform than build one from scratch. That gives sponsors a clearer path from thesis to realization, not just a nice story in an investment committee deck.   Put it together and this does not look like a short-term trade. It looks like a multi-decade rewiring of a ten trillion dollar global industry that has only just begun to digitize. In that world the question for private investors is simple. If your private markets portfolio still behaves as if it is allergic to stethoscopes, how long can you afford to wait? #privateequity #privatemarkets #privatethoughtsfrommydesk

Private equity (PE) funds are acquiring major stakes in tech firms operating in areas like digital engineering and healthcare, Beena Parmar reports for The Economic Times. Technology was the top sector for PE/VC investments in Q1 2025, with $3.1 billion invested across 41 deals — a 265% year-on-year value increase, according to IVCA-EY data. While Kedaara Capital in January invested $350 million in data, analytics, and AI solutions firm Impetus Technologies, H.I.G Capital acquired Converge Technology Solutions for C$1.3 billion earlier this year. Agiltas PE also purchased Tietoevry Tech Services for €300 million. Around 70-80 new buyers have entered the market, says Shobhit Jain, Head of Enterprise, Technology, and Services at Avendus Capital. He adds that there is an increasing interest in large deals, because sub-segments like cloud and analytics have seen a 20-40% growth, even in large-scale businesses. What's driving this surge in mergers and acquisitions (M&As)? The fact that in today's tech landscape, a purely organic growth model doesn't result in significant, double-digit growth, adds the Economic Times report, citing analysts. Gaurav Vasu, founder and CEO of UnearthInsight, adds that there has been a 200% growth in M&A investments by PE-backed IT services firms. In 2024, PE-VC investments rebounded 9% year-on-year to touch almost $43 billion, according to Bain & Company and IVCA's India Private Equity Report 2025. While consumer tech funding saw a nearly 2X increase during the period, healthcare deal volumes also jumped by almost 80%, driven in part by large medtech transactions, according to the report. What trends will shape India's tech M&As in 2025? Share your take in the comments. Source: The Economic Times: https://lnkd.in/gh2gkB79 Bain & Company- Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA): https://lnkd.in/dXAhvwaq IVCA EY: https://lnkd.in/g7M5UwkZ ✍ : Isha Chitnis 📸 : Getty Images #PrivateEquity #VentureCapital #TechInvestments

One of the questions I get most often from FS CEOs and Board Directors is whether rising technology investment is translating into lasting change and improved ROI.      We've just completed research examining how some of the world's largest banks are investing in technology. Average spend rose by 11% in 2025 - and a few things stood out for me: 1️⃣ The scale of investment is not the issue, it’s how it’s spent.     The largest banks now spend on average over US$4bn a year on technology – with some spending multiples of this – but only around 12% goes into revenue-driving transformative change. Most spend is absorbed by keeping existing systems running and meeting mandatory requirements.     2️⃣ The way investment is approved affects what gets delivered.     Most banks operate a 2-year return-on-investment cycle, and 88% say unclear ROI for tech spend makes it difficult to secure approval for longer term projects – even when they’re critical to delivering the bank’s strategic plans.    3️⃣ Legacy systems and skills gaps constrain impact.     More than 80% of banks told us that legacy systems stand in the way of lowering day-to-day spend, and 86% cited them as the primary cause of IT project failures. On talent, 71% of banks spoke of capability gaps in key areas such as cybersecurity and GenAI, which is further constraining transformation.    These findings paint a picture. Technology investment is rising, but high levels of BAU spend, governance structures, the approach to ROI measurement, and legacy systems are limiting the impact of that spend. To unlock more value from technology spend, global banks need to move beyond incremental change – redefining how they prioritise investment, measure value, and build the capabilities to scale transformation.   You can read more here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eEkHwxAD   #Banking #Transformation #ShapeTheFutureWithConfidence