Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has launched the IITM Unicorn Frontier Fund-I, a deep-tech investment vehicle that aims to raise one thousand crore rupees by December 2026. The Category I alternative investment fund is managed by Unicorn India Ventures in partnership with IIT Madras and the IITM Research Park, and it was launched at the IITMAA Sangam event in Bengaluru.

The fund has already achieved a first close of 450 crore rupees and has deployed about 55 crore rupees across four deep-tech startups: Hathor, Quanstra, Triolt Energy and Carbelim. It plans to write early-stage cheques of five to twenty crore rupees per startup.

The fund has received regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Deep technology, spanning quantum computing, clean energy and advanced manufacturing, is seen as a priority area for India’s startup ecosystem. At the same event, Sitharaman also released the book Cashless Nation: How UPI Changed Everything, highlighting the global footprint of India’s digital payments revolution.