India Tech Report

Hari Arakali

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Technology

This is a podcast dedicated to chronicling and supporting the growth of India's deep tech and climate tech startup ecosystems. One conversation at a time.

3h ago

Deep tech: Ideaspring Capital's founders on investing with conviction, eyes wide open (Part 1)

Today is the first day of the second year of this podcast. And in today’s episode of Conversations, I’m really happy to bring you part 1 of an interview with Naganand Doreswamy, partner, and Suryaprakash Konanuru, CTO, at Ideaspring Capital.They are among those few VC investors in India who were backing deep tech startups long before the government’s massive research and development and innovation fund prompted everyone to want to grab a share of the pie.This was a rich conversation for me to record, with plenty of plain speak without jargon that’s characteristic of these two VCs. We jumped right in, with Ideaspring’s latest investment, the $13 million Series A round that they led at the semiconductor company HrdWyr, how that reflects their views on deep tech investing today in India, what the RDIF has done and challenges that remain.I hope you enjoy listening to this as much as I did recording it.Catch the second half of this conversation on Tuesday next week, where we talk about what might represent the Flipkart moment of India’s deep tech sector, and Ideaspring’s next fund.

38 min
4d ago

Mitti Labs founders on helping rice farmers cut methane, make money (Preview)

One could think of ‘Mitti’ — the Hindi word for soil — as representing the grounded foundation of a cooler future. And for us in India while rice that grows in our soil is a daily staple, its traditional cultivation is a hidden climate hazard. Rice cultivation worldwide is responsible for 10-12 percent of human-caused methane emissions. It also consumes staggering amounts of water.Coming up next on Conversations at India Tech Report, Devdut Dalal, Xavier Laguarta Soler, and Nathan Torbick, co-founders of Mitti Labs talk about how they are turning rice farming into a powerful vehicle for climate action – specifically targeting methane emissions from rice fields.Since launching in late 2023, this “full stack” climate-tech startup has scaled from an idea that Harvard alumni Dev and Xavi had to a VC-funded startup (investors include Lightspeed) touching some 70,000 small-holder farmers in India today. Mitti Labs is helping the farmers change how they water their rice crops in a manner that reduces methane emissions, cuts water use and even makes the crops hardier, the entrepreneurs say.Nate, a distinguished scientist, adds the science and tech experience, helping Mitti Labs tap satellite remote sensing and data analytics to build a digital Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (dMRV) system, to track methane reductions at the field level. By converting these environmental wins into high-quality carbon credits, Mitti Labs aims to provide direct financial incentives and free advisory services to the farmers.Catch the episode on June 5, World Environment Day, right here, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here’s a preview with Xavi and Dev laying out their basic thesis.#deeptech #startup #climatechange Mitti Labshttps://www.mittilabs.earth/about Lightspeed's investmenthttps://lsvp.com/stories/lightspeeds-investment-in-mitti-labs/

4 min
5d ago · Bonus

Founder journeys: Ravi Kulkarni at Moonrider on the importance of the right partner — bonus episode

Welcome to this bonus episode in which I’m following up with a quick interview with Ravi Kulkarni, founder and COO of Moonrider, an electric tractor venture in Bengaluru. In the previous episode, I brought you a detailed sit-down conversation with Anoop Srikantaswamy, Ravi’s fellow founder and CEO. Ravi is also a mechanical engineer by training, with a career spanning auto industry giants such as Tata Motors and Volvo. In this conversation, Ravi reflected on his innate drive to listen to the environment and solve real-world problems. Before joining forces with Anoop, Ravi co-founded an electric three-wheeler venture, and he brings that vital execution experience to Moonrider’s mission to build tractors for the world. In this episode, Ravi gives us a simple description of how Moonrider's proprietary refrigerated battery packs work, maintaining cell temperatures low enough to ensure that high-torque electric tractors can handle the harshest field conditions while aiming for price parity with diesel. He also touches upon topics such as selling tractors to small-holder farmers in India on the one hand to the potential for global collaborations on the other, and the critical importance of finding the right partner if an entrepreneur wants to go from idea to successful business.

28 min
May 19

High voltage harvest: Anoop Srikantaswamy’s electric vision for the future of Indian agriculture

In this episode, I bring you a conversation with Anoop Srikantaswamy, founder and CEO of Moonrider, an electric tractor startup in Bengaluru. Anoop and his fellow founder Ravi Kulkarni bring deep background in the industry, having previously worked at automotive giants such as Toyota and Volvo Group. Mechanical engineers by training, the two are entrepreneurs at heart, with Anoop having previously attempted a hyper-local medicine delivery venture while Ravi co-founded another electric mobility venture that he exited. Anoop recalled that the idea for Moonrider was sparked by a conversation with a progressive farmer, who noted that while diesel is expensive, farm electricity is often free. Today, Moonrider is a vertically integrated leader, developing proprietary battery technology and power electronics in-house to achieve price parity with diesel. In this conversation, we explore their moonshot journey — named in honour of the Chandrayaan launch — and discuss the future of connected and autonomous farming. Join us for an inside look at how Moonrider aims to drive the global shift toward sustainable, electric mechanization. Chapters (00:41) Introduction to Moonrider and the vision for a global electric vehicle platform. (01:45) The Chandrayaan inspiration and the eureka moment for electric tractors. (07:57) Disrupting India’s million-tractor market and improving energy security. (09:27) Reimagining ownership through rental models and compressed biogas partnerships. (15:19) Analyzing the economics of electric versus diesel farming costs. (17:17) Driving vertical integration and R&D to reach price parity with diesel. (29:31) Leveraging connected technology and computer vision for higher farm yields. (36:05) Navigating the global roadmap toward autonomous agricultural pods. (42:26) Building a high-voltage hardware ecosystem for entrepreneurs in India. (51:38) Personal reflections on early entrepreneurial side-gigs and founding lessons.

57 min
May 16

Autonomous tractors: Anoop Srikantaswamy at Moonrider on the bigger picture — full interview coming soon

Coming up, a conversation with Anoop Srikantaswamy, founder and CEO of Moonrider, an electric tractor maker in Bengaluru. Catch the full interview on Tuesday, May 19th right here, or wherever you get your podcasts.Here’s a short preview, in which Anoop talks about the state of commercialisation of autonomous tractors and what they might be like in the future. He also talks about the bigger picture in agriculture in which autonomous gear will be important, but one of multiple factors.

3 min
May 13

Polsky Center selects 20 Indian deep tech startups, new funding rounds at Flo Mobility, HrdWyr

The first cohort of the India deep tech accelerator at University of Chicago’s Polsky Center. Image courtesy Polsky Center. (00:00) Just the headlines, if you only have a minute (01:26) The Polsky Center selects 20 Indian startups for first accelerator The University of Chicago’s Polsky Center has named 20 startups to the first cohort of its India Deep Tech Accelerator, a global programme for IIT-affiliated ventures. The 10-week accelerator is designed to help founders turn research-heavy ideas into market-ready companies through workshops, coaching, and access to customers, partners and investors in India and the US. The cohort spans AI, robotics, climate and energy, healthtech, semiconductors, space and industrial software. Selected companies include Adaapt, Augle.AI, BioSky Space Innovations, Curium Life, Folium Sensing, NXPEC Technologies, Timble AI and Zodhya Technologies. (02:20) C-CAMP opens applications for NBEC 2026 C-CAMP has opened applications for the 9th National Bio Entrepreneurship Competition, a platform for bio-entrepreneurs, startups, student teams, researchers and innovators in the life sciences. The programme will offer mentorship, industry exposure and funding support, with selected startups and individuals eligible for cash prizes and investment opportunities of up to INR 20 crore. Student teams can win up to INR 10 lakh, and shortlisted applicants will attend a two-day bootcamp led by experts from IIM Ahmedabad. The competition was launched by Karnataka IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge at C-CAMP. (03:15) IIT Madras opens California hub for Indian deep-tech startups IIT Madras Global Research Foundation has launched its first US centre in Menlo Park, California, to help Indian deep-tech startups scale internationally. The hub, established with CA Startups, will focus on research, startup incubation, commercialisation and access to global capital, markets and partnerships. The project carries a planned investment of $7.5 million, including a $4.5 million greenfield investment from IITM Global. The centre is positioned near Silicon Valley and is intended to strengthen India–US innovation ties, with a second US centre planned for the East Coast. (04:02) IIT Bombay launches India’s first CCUS field lab IIT Bombay has inaugurated an integrated pilot facility for carbon capture, utilisation and storage, marking India’s first end-to-end CCUS field laboratory. The project combines an indigenous carbon capture plant with geological CO2 sequestration in Deccan basalt formations, and was launched by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan under the Bharat Innovates 2026 initiative. The institute said the facility uses a patented aqueous CO2 capture technology and is meant to support India’s long-term net-zero goals through a self-reliant carbon mitigation model. (04:49) Government maps climate risk in 651 farm districts The Centre has assessed climate vulnerability across 651 predominantly agricultural districts and found 310 to be at risk, including 109 classified as very highly vulnerable and 201 as highly vulnerable. The assessment, carried out under ICAR’s National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture programme using IPCC protocols, is being used to scale up climate-resilient farming practices, district agriculture contingency plans and farmer support measures across India. ICAR has also expanded climate-resilient technologies through model villages, KVKs and training programmes, while the government is promoting crop insurance, water-efficient irrigation and resilient seed varieties to help farmers cope with droughts, floods and heat stress. (05:52) India’s clean energy transition bolsters economic resilience Clean energy transition is now central to India’s economic resilience and growth strategy, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi said at the CII Green Business Summit 2026. He highlighted that India has achieved 47 percent of its power capacity from non-fossil sources, ahead of schedule for the 2030 target of 50 percent, with renewables growing at 15.4 percent annually against 4.1 percent for fossil fuels. Minister Joshi emphasised investments in green hydrogen, battery storage and nuclear energy as key to energy security and net-zero goals by 2070. (06:41) Flo Mobility raises $2.5 million in pre-Series A Bengaluru-based construction robotics startup Flo Mobility has raised $2.5 million in a pre-Series A round co-led by Mela Ventures and Arali Ventures. The funding will scale manufacturing, enhance its AI and autonomy stack, expand deployments across India and enter international markets, particularly the Middle East. The company builds autonomous robots for material movement on construction sites, addressing labour shortages and improving efficiency. Flo Mobility’s robots are already deployed across 10 Indian states with clients including Larsen & Toubro, Godrej Properties and Sobha. (07:28) HrdWyr raises $13 million Series A to build AI-native chipsRamamurthy Sivakumar and Ganesh Guruswamy, founders of HrdWyr, have just announced a $13 million Series A investment led by Indeaspring Capital. Image courtesy: Sivakumar.

9 min
May 13

Coming up: Anoop Srikantaswamy on e-tractor innovations at Moonrider

Coming up on Tuesday, 19th May, Anoop Srikantaswamy, founder and CEO of Moonrider, a electric tractor startup on Bengaluru, talks about a range of topics — from product innovation to reducing dependence on China to what tractors will be like in the future as they go autonomous. Catch the full conversation right here or wherever you get your podcasts. Here’s a short preview.

3 min
Apr 30

Eka Robotics bets on force, not language, to teach robots dexterity

Pulkit Agrawal, Co-Founder of Eka Robotics. Image souce: Agrawal’s website. Eka Robotics has emerged from stealth with a Vision-Force-Action model that it says can push robots beyond the long-standing trade-off between generality and speed in manipulation tasks. The Cambridge, Massachusetts startup was co-founded in 2025 by MIT’s Pulkit Agrawal and former DeepMind researcher Tuomas Haarnoja. The deep tech entrepreneurs are pitching force sensing and simulation as the route to more capable machines. In robotics, much of the recent excitement has centred on vision-language-action systems, which treat language as a bridge to physical control. Eka says that is too indirect for the contact-rich realities of the physical world. Its approach instead tries to make robots learn mass, friction and inertia through practice in high-fidelity simulation, then transfer those skills to the messier settings of factories and homes. Across the robotics industry, the race is on to build foundation models that can scale across tasks, rather than brittle systems tuned for one environment, and the prize is a larger share of warehouse work, light manufacturing and household assistance. The strategic question is whether the winning path is imitation from human data, reinforcement learning in the real world, or simulation-first training that seeks to compress years of trial and error into computational time. “We’re building intelligence for the physical world in its native language: forces,” Pulkit Agrawal wrote on LinkedIn. In the same post, he added that robotics has long faced a trade-off between “generality” and “speed,” and that “the real world requires both”. Eka’s presentation suggests confidence that force-aware control can do more than sort objects or pick up toys. The company has highlighted tasks such as screwing in a light bulb and handling slippery items, small feats that still define the frontier of robotic manipulation. For now, the message is as important as the model: the next leap in robotics, Eka is arguing, will come not from making machines more verbal, but from making them more physical.

3 min

This is a podcast dedicated to chronicling and supporting the growth of India's deep tech and climate tech startup ecosystems. One conversation at a time.

Creator

Hari Arakali
Years Active

2025 - 2026
Episodes

134
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© Hari Arakali
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India Tech Report