Lab to deep tech startup: 5 takeaways from a conversation with Karthee Madasamy at MFV Partners
Notes from conversations with founders, investors, industry leaders and other stakeholders building India's deep tech and climate tech ecosystems.
Early-stage VC firms partnering universities to identify and back promising deep-tech startups is a well-established practice in the US. What lessons does that hold for India’s nascent deep tech sector? Recently, I spoke about this with Karthee Madasamy, founding managing partner at MFV Partners in the US. MFV has just established a new fund – Harper Court Ventures Fund I – dedicated to supporting pre-seed deep science startups coming out of University of Chicago.
Here are five important takeaways from our conversation.
Smart funding is crucial for early-stage deep tech startups
Harper Court Ventures was created to fill a critical gap in the University of Chicago’s ecosystem: the need for “smart funding” at the pre-seed stage. This means providing not just capital, but also hands-on support—helping founders build teams, set milestones, and connect with syndicate partners. Such proactive involvement is especially vital for deep tech startups, where technical risk and commercialisation challenges are high.
University research is a powerful driver of tech ecosystems
The fund’s model is inspired by the historic role of US universities in powering innovation hubs like Silicon Valley. By translating academic research into startups, universities can become engines of economic growth. Harper Court Ventures aims to unlock this potential within the Chicago ecosystem, focusing on areas where the university has world-leading expertise, such as quantum engineering and health sciences.
Sector focus leverages university strengths and national assets
The fund targets four strategic sectors — quantum engineering, energy, life sciences, and data science — where the University of Chicago and its partnerships with famous labs such as Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory) have unique capabilities. This focused approach enables deeper support and de-risks investments, a lesson for India to align deep tech funding with institutional and national strengths.
A locally relevant partnership holds the key to success
Harper Court Ventures is an independent fund with a formal cooperation agreement to invest exclusively in University of Chicago deep tech startups. This structure ensures a strong pipeline of investable companies and aligns the incentives of the university, the fund, and the founders. In India, Karthee sees promise in a different model. A fund that can be drawn upon by multiple top universities such as the IITs and BITS might be a better model for India, he says.
India’s deep tech ecosystem is growing, but structural gaps remain
While India is seeing more deep tech activity, including government focus and new funds, the pipeline of university spinouts and formal VC-university partnerships is still limited. Karthee notes that incentives, infrastructure, and mindset in Indian academia are improving, but a dedicated, large-scale approach — possibly spanning multiple top institutes — is needed for this sector to really flourish in India.
