Shastra Venture Capital launches deeptech fellowship SDEX to offer $100K in equity-free funding

Early-stage venture fund Shastra VC has launched SDEX, a deep-tech fellowship designed to turn research projects in labs into venture-ready startups.

SDEX (Shastra Deep-Tech Excellence Fellowship) is a 16–24 week program designed to fast-track deep-tech innovation at top engineering and research institutes, including IITs, IISc, IISERs, NITs, IIITs, and other national labs.

The first SDEX cohort will select up to 15 teams, offering each up to $100,000 in equity-free funding along with resources to support their deep-tech projects.

“Universities, incubators, and national programmes are making it easier than ever for research to move from lab to market, and the policy momentum in recent years shows real intent to build global frontier-tech leadership. SDEX fits perfectly into this moment - it creates a VC-led proof-to-venture bridge that helps deep-tech ideas get validated earlier and expands the pipeline of start-ups that are truly    investable,” Avijeet Alagathi, Partner, Shastra VC, said.

“India has world-class deep-tech research talent across academic institutions and national labs. What has been missing is early support that turns strong research into venture-ready proof, so that more deep-tech ideas can become investable companies. SDEX is built to bridge that gap by funding early technical validation and providing close mentorship so that the best breakthroughs become companies that matter,” said Jivesh Madan, SDEX Program Lead, Shastra VC.  

SDEX offers two pathways for innovation: a Challenge Track, where fellows tackle defined deep-tech problems from Shastra’s network, and a Frontier Track, which supports researchers exploring new, high-potential ideas with clear, testable goals.

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