Indian Institute of Technology Madras’ (IIT Madras) nodal agency to catalyze startup building and scale, the IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC), has crossed a landmark milestone by incubating more than 500 deep-tech startups since its inception 12 years ago.

IITMIC supported startups are building deep intellectual property in some of the hardest sectors — ranging from orbital launch vehicles with reusable propulsion systems and organ-on-chip platforms to electric mobility (from e-scooters to flying taxis), underwater robotics, quantum security, semiconductor, climate-tech and advanced AI products.

The portfolio features startups that are redefining markets, addressing national challenges and demonstrating strong revenue traction, global scalability and societal impact.

This milestone reinforces IIT Madras’ position as India’s leading hub for technology-driven innovation and entrepreneurship, and highlights its transformative contribution to India’s deep tech ecosystem.

To date, IITMIC has incubated a total of 511 startups, with a combined valuation exceeding ₹53,000 crore (US $6 billion) based on their most recent VC funding rounds, and generating over 11,000 direct jobs.

In FY 2024-25, the incubator achieved a historic milestone of incubating 100+ new deep tech startups under its “Startup Shatam” mission in financial year 2024-25, and continues to screen more than 100 new startup applications every month in the current financial year.

IITMIC continues to provide lifecycle support to its startups, enabling them to validate core science and technology, build MVPs rapidly, conduct early industry pilots, strengthen governance, and gain early and sustained access to smart capital and strategic partners. These companies also benefit from IIT Madras’ strong institutional backbone and its global linkages particularly in the US, Middle East, East Africa and ASEAN regions.

Highlighting how India’s deep-tech Engine is being built at IIT Madras, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, who is also the Chairman for IITMIC’s Board of Directors, said, “Viksit Bharat@2047 as envisaged by our Hon'ble Prime Minister will be a matured Startup Nation driving all Atmanirbhar critical technologies. Every journey has its first step, and I strongly believe that IIT Madras Incubation Cell has taken that firm progressive step”

Speaking on IITM Incubation Cell’s future roadmap, Dr. Tamaswati Ghosh, who has been the Chief Executive Officer of IITMIC since its founding, said, “The IITMIC today is incubating over 100 new startups annually - a significant leap from earlier annual averages of 60 per year. While the innovation and pre-incubation ecosystem within IIT-Madras campus continues to generate a strong pipeline of innovative/IP led startups, founded largely by students, faculty and alumni of IIT-Madras (account for 39% of our current portfolio) - we also actively onboard high-potential startups from across India (61% of our current portfolio). This reflects the maturity of the IITM ecosystem and the confidence it inspires among deep-tech founders nationwide to build, scale and thrive.”

Dr. Tamaswati Ghosh added, “As we mark this 500-startup milestone in our 13th year, IITMIC has already produced two unicorns, one IPO, and several companies poised to cross the billion-dollar valuation threshold or prepare for public listings in the near future. These successes are emerging from some of the hardest sectors, reinforcing the depth of our innovation model, and the support ecosystem of the larger IITM community in India and beyond, who are directly or indirectly provided the needed advantage to our startups.”

What is being witnessed today in IIT Madras is the compounding impact of more than a decade of patient lab-to-market work and continuous learning. Multiple IIT-M startups are transitioning from validated technology to growth and scale simultaneously, especially in areas critical to global priorities such as climate resilience, advanced manufacturing, space, mobility and frontier AI.

This convergence of validated technology, strong talent and institutional infrastructure is positioning IIT Madras as a strategic deep-tech investment destination for global capital and industry partnerships.

Looking ahead, IITMIC will focus on expanding its startup pipeline, accelerating commercial success of existing ventures, and enabling global market access through strategic international collaborations. The Incubation Cell will further strengthen mentoring frameworks, go-to-market strategies, and the creation of globally competitive ‘multinational’ startups — another vision strongly articulated by IIT Madras leadership.


KEY FIGURES

O 511 startups incubated so far:

O ₹17,310 crore (US $2 billion) investment attracted from venture capital

O 13 mergers and acquisitions to date

O 190 startups in the market, generated a total revenue of ₹4,000 crore in FY 2023–24

O 700+ patents filed by startups

Nearly 150 companies have IITM faculty members as founders or minority shareholders. 117 IITM faculty members are founders or minority shareholders.

Founded in December 2013 as a Section 8 company and the nodal incubator of IIT-Madras, IITM Incubation Cell operates with oversight from a professional Board of Directors and committees that govern incubation and seed funding. It is recognized by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Government of India.

IITMIC is focused on empowering India’s deep-tech entrepreneurship ecosystem. It provides incubation, funding support, infrastructure, mentorship and go-to-market acceleration for startups tackling complex technological and societal problems.

IIT Madras also operates sector-specific incubators such as the IITM Bioincubator, Rural Technology Business Incubator (RTBI), HTIC Medtech incubator and Pravartak Technologies Foundation, broadening its impact across domains.