Nanomaterials for energy storage. Has developed ion-selective membranes that serve as critical components for electrolysers used in green hydrogen production and for redox flow batteries in long duration energy storage (LDES) systems. Existing membranes fall short in durability, efficiency or cost-effectiveness - solving these is critical for the clean energy transition. ₹25CR seed round - Ankur Capital's first deal from Fund III. The startup is Philadelphia and BLR based. The founders are material scientists. Murari has been working on this for the last six years, almost straight out of U-Penn; Nagesh spent 10 years at Thermax and was Founder in Residence at Entrepreneur First.

AI-integrated medical device for early disease detection - scans a person's health in 60 seconds without the need for a doctor. 700 biomarkers are monitored with patents in India (US pending). ₹6.6CR (~$770K) seed round. Other investors in the round: Sanchi Connect. Both founders are engineers: Saniya started almost straight out of the Symbiosis University of Applied Sciences; Lokant out of IIM-Lucknow. (BTech at IET DAVV Indore). Comps: Prantae Solutions (IAN); Neuranics (IPV) - much more specific use cases.

Aerospace startup developing advanced propulsion and power systems. Its first three engine prototypes will undergo trials with local UAV manufacturers, reducing India's dependence on imported propulsion systems. Its small gas turbines also have uses cases for decentralised power generation for the oil & gas and manufacturing industries. $3M seed round. All three founders are ex Rolls Royce and GE.

Humanoid robotics startup. Has developed Tara Gen-1, a semi-humanoid robot, for use in hospitality and customer service roles. ₹4.3CR pre-seed round, investors undisclosed. The three founders are from the Akshaya College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore and started soon after graduating.

Laser weeding - an AI-powered laser weeder (pre-launch) attaches to tractors, cameras and AI models detect weeds, and robotic actuators burn them with high-power lasers. This reduces costs for farmers, boosts yields and promotes organic farming. ₹5CR seed round. Both founders are from Mahindra University, the CEO was a robotics researcher at Farming Revolution, a German startup with a similar product.

Deeptech startup in oncology precision diagnostics. It's molecular subtyping tests provide comprehensive data to doctors to guide them in providing personalized therapy. Pre-seed round, amount undisclosed.

Building a network of nano satellites for enterprises to run compute in lower earth orbit. Their test satellite was launched on ISRO's PSLV in December. ₹5.5CR pre-seed round. Other investors in this round: AC Ventures. Ronak, a software engineer, spent 12 years as co-founder of Reliance acquired NowFloats.

Spacetech startup which has built India’s first drone-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system. $1.5M seed round. Tapan, the Chairman, is the former Director of the Space Applications Center (SAC) at ISRO; Soumya, CEO, worked at Hike, Creo, Intel; and co-built Summachar, an edtech startup with Urmi, the CTO.

Solutions for the food industry focused on "mobile smart factories". Its core product, Mfreezer, flash freezes produce at origin, ensuring food quality and simplifying supply chains. Ullas, the founder, had brief stints in the UK at Fiat Chrysler, Rolls Royce, Jaguar Land Rover and McLaren; before running UE Tech Ltd (business description N/A) in the UK for nine years. $260K pre-seed round.

Power converters for clean energy products - EV chargers and battery swapping stations. Also developing solutions for clean energy storage and for hydrogen electrolysers. Has deployed 14K power converters across 20 clients in India. Dynolt's expertise is in control systems using general-purpose microcontrollers and software, instead of traditional application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), which gives it a cost and efficiency advantage. $1.7M seed round.