Deep Tech Startups Need Support: Ultraviolette CTO

New Delhi, Apr 11 (PTI) Union Minister Piyush Goyal's views on the Indian startup ecosystem and its innovation priorities are true only for those who raised capital faster than they developed intellectual property but few companies are quietly focused on creating genuine technology, driven by sovereignty, not nationalism, Ultraviolette CTO Niraj Rajmohan said on Friday.

Deep tech startups need long-term and risk-tolerant support and public infrastructure that empowers real innovation. India has talent, ambition, and urgency. It requires systems with a backbone and capital with a spine, Rajmohan said, reacting to the minister's comments.

Earlier this month, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had asked the Indian startup community to shift their focus from grocery delivery and ice cream making to the high-tech sector like semiconductors, machine learning, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

"Are we going to be happy being delivery boys and girls... Is that the destiny of India... this is not a startup, this is entrepreneurship... What other side is doing -- robotics, machine learning, 3D manufacturing and next generation factories," Goyal had said, comparing the nature of Indian startups with that of Chinese.

Rajmohan in a post on Linkedin wrote, "What Mr Piyush Goyal said about Indian startups rings true, especially for startups that have raised capital faster than they built intellectual property".

"But beneath the surface, something different has been taking shape, a quiet, relentless push by a few to build real technology at home for the world. It isn't about nationalism. It's about sovereignty, the kind that comes from control over the fundamentals and owning the blueprints, the designs, the code, the machines."

Rajmohan pointed out that the ones who are building it have "done it without the limelight and, often, with little support and with limited capital".

"This resilience, this determination to build despite the odds, is what inspires hope for the future of technology in India," he asserted.

Ultraviolette, which set an Indian top speed record with its premium electric motorcycle F99 at 258kph, is backed by a host of global investors, including Lingotto, a subsidiary of EXOR NV, renowned for its controlling stakes in global brands like Ferrari and Stellantis, along with Qualcomm Ventures, Zoho Corporation, TVS Motors, and Speciale Invest.

Rajmohan said, "India's deep tech movement has not been driven by excess or overfunded moonshots. It has been shaped by scarcity, frugality, and teams who've built with discipline and purpose, knowing full well that what they're trying to do doesn't come with applause or instant gratification".

These founders, engineers, designers and researchers have quietly worked for years in clean mobility, space, and biotech, solving problems most would not touch because they are too complex, slow, or unforgiving, he noted.

"This kind of work doesn't chase headlines. It chases breakthroughs. It often comes with limited capital, no infrastructure, long product cycles, and a thousand hurdles at every step," Rajmohan wrote.

Asserting that Ultraviolette Automotive was started with an aim to build an EV platform from scratch in India that competes globally, he said, "Thankfully, there were a few believers early on. Few investors back companies solving hard, foundational problems, not necessarily chasing the next app but building what the economy needs... while others are just jumping on the bandwagon now, only a handful of investors have backed the engineers, the future-makers, from mobility to space tech".

If India wants to lead in EVs, space, biotech, and energy, it needs to support people in solving complex problems, Rajmohan asserted.

"The deeper we go into solving hard problems, whether in hardware, energy, biology or space, the more it becomes clear that the timelines don't fit into typical business cycles. But these problems, if solved, don't just change a country; they move humanity forward," he wrote.

Reiterating the need for support, he said, "Deep tech startups need support that's long-term, risk-tolerant and public infrastructure that empowers real innovation. India has talent, ambition, and urgency. Now, it requires systems with a backbone and capital with a spine".

As global markets reel under new tariffs and protectionist moves, Rajmohan said, "It is a wake-up call for ecosystems built entirely on imported tech and outsourced manufacturing. Globalisation? Yes. But only with depth at home, not dependency. We can't be an assembly nation while the IP and value creation sit elsewhere".