India Deep Tech Alliance Issues Inaugural Report Showing AI Funding Jumps 58% in 2025, Fast-Tracks $1B USD Investment to AI Startup Funding

• Report maps India AI and deep tech investment surge and next wave of ecosystem funding priorities.
• Total IDTA Capital Commitments Now More Than $2.5 Billion USD to Date

NEW DELHI, Feb. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The India Deep Tech Alliance (IDTA) today announced the release of AI and Deep Tech Investments Landscape: 2026 Edition, a new research report analyzing investment activity, sector trends, and ecosystem enablers across India's AI and deep tech landscape. Further, IDTA announced a dedicated $1B USD in funding to Indian AI startups to be deployed over the next three years, within the broader $2.5B USD capital commitment that IDTA members have allocated towards deep tech investment in India.

The report highlights a clear inflection: AI funding within India rose 58% year-over-year in 2025, and deep tech now represents ~15% of India's overall VC–PE activity, signaling a structural shift from "emerging category" to core allocation.

Key report insights include:

• AI surged in 2025 with 188 deals totaling $1.22B, a 58% YoY increase in funding value.
• Beyond AI, other deep tech sectors recorded 147 deals in 2025 totaling $1.19B.
• Deep tech startups attracted $2.1B across 289 deals in 2025.
• Over the past decade, deep tech investments aggregated $27.9B across 2,178 deals (1,217 companies), with deep tech's share of total VC–PE funding rising from 4% (2016) to 15% (2025).
• AI's share of VC funding rose from ~4.5% (2020) to ~12.3% (2025).

The report also underscores the growing role of policy as a catalyst – particularly the Government of India's ₹1 lakh crore Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund – and the need to translate capital momentum into deeper research capacity, faster commercialization pathways, and scaled growth-stage funding.

Since launching in September 2025, IDTA has worked to mobilize long-term, thesis-driven capital and ecosystem support for India's deep tech founders. The IDTA has expanded to a total commitment of more than $2.5B USD in in funding to Indian deep tech startups over the next five years and IDTA members have already deployed $110M USD into 50+ companies over the past six months.

Arun Kumar, India Managing Partner, Celesta Capital and Chair of IDTA, said: "India's AI and deep tech breakout is now measurable: the IDTA's inaugural report shows AI funding jumped 58% in 2025 and deep tech is rapidly becoming a core allocation in India's venture market. But this moment demands more than optimism; it requires decisive execution. That's why, within IDTA members' more than $2.5B in deep tech commitments, we're fast-tracking a dedicated $1B allocation specifically for India's AI ecosystem to be deployed over the next three years—concentrated firepower to help Indian AI companies scale faster, commercialize breakthrough IP, and compete globally at every layer of the stack."

Sudhir Sethi, Founder and Chairman, Chiratae Ventures, said: "Deep tech is now a defining engine of India's next wave of value creation, across semiconductors, AI, robotics, space, and advanced manufacturing. This report makes the opportunity clear, and it also makes the bottlenecks clear: growth capital, adoption pathways, and ecosystem coordination."

The AI and Deep Tech Investments Landscape: 2026 Edition is available for download via the idtalliance.org website.

About the India Deep Tech Alliance (IDTA)

The India Deep Tech Alliance is an industry-led consortium of investors, corporates, technology partners, and ecosystem stakeholders focused on accelerating India's deep tech companies across AI, semiconductors, advanced computing, robotics, biotech, and more. IDTA convenes capital access, technical mentorship, market linkages, and policy engagement to help founders build globally competitive technology companies from India. Learn more at http://idtalliance.org.

Media Contact
Trevor DeWitt, Celesta Capital
[email protected]