Exclusive: Celesta Capital To Launch ₹2,000 Cr India-Focused Deeptech Fund

VC firm Celesta Capital is planning to launch an India-focused deeptech fund with a target corpus of ₹2,000 Cr, sources told Inc42.

Celesta Capital has begun discussions with limited partners to raise the capital for the Category II AIF, which has received SEBI’s approval. 

It plans to back early-stage deeptech startups, mostly at Series A and B stages, with the fund. The average ticket size is expected to be around $3 Mn to $7 Mn, the sources added.  

Questions sent to Celesta Capital about the launch of the new fund remained unanswered till the time of publishing the story.

The San Francisco-based VC firm has investments across the US, Israel, the UK, India, and China. Its India portfolio includes the likes of ideaForge, Agnikul, 5C Network, Brick&Bolt, Pixis, among others. 

Overall, Celesta Capital claims to have made more than 100 investments to date and manage assets worth $1.1Bn. The VC firm is also a member of India Deep Tech Alliance (IDTA), which was founded in September 2025 to infuse more than $1 Bn in the country’s deeptech startups over the next decade.

Accel, Blume Ventures, Gaja Capital, Ideaspring Capital, Premji Invest, Tenacity Ventures, and Venture Catalysts are among the other members of the IDTA. 

At the launch of the alliance, Celesta Capital’s founding managing partner Sriram Viswanathan said that each member of the alliance will invest capital in the Indian deeptech segment over the next 5-10 years across sectors like semiconductors, spacetech, quantum computing, robotics, AI, biotech and medical devices, energy and climate, and more. 

India’s Deeptech Gains Ground 

While India’s deeptech sector has historically lagged in funding, it is witnessing renewed investor interest in recent times. This change has been led by the Centre’s initiatives to promote R&D and make the country ‘self-reliant’.

Last month, the Centre notified a revised definition of startups, as per which deeptech entities would qualify for recognition and benefits for up to 20 years — a long-standing demand of homegrown startups operating in the sector. The government also increased the turnover threshold to ₹300 Cr from ₹200 Cr for deeptech startups to be eligible for various schemes and incentives. 

Besides, the last two Union Budgets saw announcements of new initiatives to boost the deeptech sector. Last year, the Centre announced a dedicated research development and innovation (RDI) scheme with a corpus of ₹1 Lakh Cr. 

In the Union Budget 2026-27 speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0 to produce equipment and materials, design fullstack Indian IP, and fortify supply chains.

As a result of these initiatives, the number of funding deals in the deeptech sector rose to 87 in 2025 from 76 in 2024. Besides, VC firms like Speciale Invest, 888VC, Riceberg Ventures and Chiratae Ventures also launched new funds last year to invest in deeptech startups.  

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