EV, AI, semicon favourites for VCs amid sluggish startup funding

Venture capital funds like Sequoia Capital India, Lightspeed India, Matrix Partners India, Athera Venture Partners and Accel Partners are increasingly deploying early-stage capital in emerging sectors such as electric mobility, artificial intelligence, deep tech, climate-tech and semiconductors, at a time when funding has taken a hit for cash-guzzling business models within consumer-tech and fintech spaces.

Investments in the three sectors — deep tech (including AI startups) climate tech and semiconductors — have totalled $1.58 billion in 2023, in five months itself, according to data from Tracxn.