Artificial intelligence and machine learning have cemented their position as the cornerstone technology powering India’s deep tech startup landscape, with 74 per cent of applicants incorporating these capabilities into their solutions, according to Nasscom’s latest Emerge 50 League of 10 announcements for 2026.
The industry body unveiled its highly anticipated list, spotlighting ten startups that are pushing the boundaries of innovation across some of the world’s most strategically vital technological frontiers.
The selected cohort spans an impressive range of breakthrough domains. Beyond artificial intelligence, this year’s honorees are making significant strides in quantum computing, semiconductor design and fabrication, space technology, synthetic biology, clean energy systems, and other frontier areas that collectively define the cutting edge of global technological competition.
While AI’s dominance as the most widely adopted technology is unmistakable, the applicant pool revealed a far richer tapestry of technological ambition. Connected hardware and the Internet of Things, energy and cleantech solutions, and industrial automation and robotics all featured prominently, signaling that India’s deep tech ecosystem is diversifying well beyond software-centric innovation into the physical and industrial realms.
The League of 10 represents the pinnacle of a rigorous, multi-layered selection process. From an initial pool of 750 applications spanning 11 frontier technology domains, Nasscom first identified 50 winners, from which these ten leading innovators were ultimately chosen. The depth and breadth of the applicant pool, Nasscom noted, reflects a profound structural shift underway in the country’s deep tech landscape.
“The 2026 applicant pool reflects a significant shift in India’s deep tech ecosystem from early-stage experimentation towards commercial deployment,” the industry chamber stated, underscoring a maturation that investors and policymakers alike have been eagerly anticipating.
This transition from lab to market is borne out in the data. Approximately 83 per cent of applicants across the total pool have reached Technology Readiness Level 6 or above — a marker indicating that their technologies have been demonstrated in relevant environments and are progressing toward operational validation.
More strikingly, 39 per cent of applicants have achieved full commercialisation at TRL 9, meaning their technologies are proven in real-world operational conditions and generating revenue. Nearly half of the startups have also secured intellectual property protection for their products or underlying technologies, a critical moat in the increasingly competitive global deep tech arena.
The applicant pool also exhibited signs of growing commercial and investment maturity that suggest the ecosystem is building durable foundations. Forty-six percent of applicants have successfully raised external funding, a figure that points to growing investor confidence in India’s ability to produce defensible, scalable deep tech ventures.
Meanwhile, 38 per cent of applicants reported having at least one woman in their founding team — an encouraging, if still modest, indicator of the ecosystem’s evolving diversity.
Rajesh Nambiar, President of Nasscom, framed the moment as both an achievement and a call to action. “Scaling deep tech is critical for India to strengthen its technological capabilities, address complex national priorities and build globally competitive, innovation-led businesses,” he said, articulating the strategic imperative that deep tech represents for the country’s economic and national security ambitions.
Nambiar was equally candid about what the next phase demands. “While there is strong momentum across semiconductors, space, quantum, the next phase of growth will require patient capital, stronger R&D, access to infrastructure and testbeds, and sustained policy and government support,” he added, highlighting the long-term, capital-intensive nature of the deep tech journey and the enabling ecosystem still needed to realise its full potential.
The track record of the Emerge 50 programme itself offers compelling evidence of what targeted recognition and support can catalyse. Over the past three editions of the awards, the 150 recognised startups have collectively raised more than $875 million in funding — a testament to the programme’s role as a signal of quality for investors.
These companies have also generated over $420 million in cumulative revenue since 2022, demonstrating that deep tech in India is not merely a research exercise but an increasingly viable commercial proposition.
The employment footprint of these ventures further underscores their real-world impact. Collectively, the recognised startups employ an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 professionals, creating high-value jobs in some of the most technically demanding fields.
Moreover, they have established an international presence across markets including the United States, Canada, Singapore, and the United Kingdom — a clear indication that India’s deep tech champions are building for global relevance from day one.