New Delhi: Synapses, a pioneering venture capital fund dedicated solely to creating and supporting STEM-based solutions for climate change and health, was officially launched at IIT Delhi’s Research & Innovation Park on Tuesday.
Synapses, a US$125 million venture fund founded by IIT alumni and veteran investors Ruchira Shukla and Karthik Chandrasekar, invests in STEM start-ups to address pressing climate and health challenges
Unlike other Deeptech funds in India, which have a broad cross-sectoral focus, Synapses focuses exclusively on ClimateTech and HealthTech. This allows for deep domain knowledge and thesis-driven investment. Synapses-supported firms move beyond digitization-based business models to offer STEM solutions with a compelling value proposition in markets other than India. This also enables global collaboration and technology exchange.
This new method aligns with the Government of India’s goal of establishing India as a global research and development (R&D) hub and advancing its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.
India’s NDCs include reducing the emissions intensity of its economy by 45% (relative to 2005) and lowering overall expected carbon emissions by 1 GtCO2e by 2030. However, with only one-sixth of the per capita emissions of the United States, India has to maintain a balance between development and sustainability.
To get there, STEM innovations will be required to enable large-scale decarbonisation and resource productivity solutions for carbon emissions reduction, as well as climate-smart agriculture and agile health response systems for adaptation. According to the Climate Policy Initiative, India needs about US$170 billion in climate funds per year to accomplish its NDC targets.
India’s top technological institutions, technical talent, economic growth, private sector policies, and digital infrastructure position it as a strong runner for global technology innovation leadership.
Synapses co-founder and Managing Partner Ruchira Shukla, aims to address climate change and disease burden by developing trailblazing innovators and assisting them in building global technology enterprises, generating financial rewards.
Synapses fund aims to build collaborative connections between global stakeholders in climate and health, using human ingenuity, industry, and collaboration to tackle the world’s greatest challenge, Climate Change.
Synapses has a dedicated team that actively engages with portfolio firms, providing them with the assistance and resources they need to accelerate their worldwide growth and impact. They aim to become global market leaders by using deep technology and teamwork, producing 5-7x returns at the fund level.
Karthik Chandrasekar, Synapses’ co-founder, underlines the importance of ClimateTech and HealthTech solutions that integrate STEM creativity, agility, and durable infrastructure-like solutions. Commercializing these solutions necessitates extensive sector penetration.
Synapse’s leadership team, including Ruchira Shukla and Karthik Chandrasekar, has extensive experience in investment, particularly in disruptive technology and cleantech investments. Shukla has over 25 years of experience, while Chandrasekar has co-founded an early-stage climate fund and developed India’s first cleantech incubator.
Ruchira serves on the investment committee for IIT Delhi’s innovation fund, and Karthik serves on the investment committee of the SELCO Energy Access Fund.
As chemical engineers from IIT Delhi and IIT Mumbai, respectively, Ruchira and Karthik hope to bring first-principles thinking to the startups they support. With their vision and energy, Synapses holds the promise to become a multi-generational venture investment platform with the potential for global market leadership.
The fund aligns itself with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and helps its portfolio implement IFC’s E&S and governance best practices, as well as sound organizational design principles of diversity, inclusion, and fiscal discipline.
