Money Behind India’s Defence Boom: VCs, Deep-Tech Funding & NSE Listing

How can a defence start-up in India raise its first cheque? What do investors look for before funding a defence technology company? How should founders navigate long development cycles, testing, qualification, procurement timelines and the challenges of scaling hardware businesses? This panel at Shaurya 2026, IIM Bangalore brings together leading investors and capital-market experts to explore how Indian defence start-ups and MSMEs can raise capital, become investment-ready, scale their businesses and eventually access public markets. The discussion examines the complete funding journey of a defence start-up — from government grants and early-stage capital to venture funding, growth capital and eventual stock-market listing. The Defence Start-up Funding Journey Grant / Non-Dilutive Support → First Cheque → Seed Funding → Series A & Growth Capital → Scale-Up → Public Markets / Listing Moderator: Mr Kamesh Raghavendra Panellists: Shri Krishnan N. Iyer — Senior Vice President – Product, Relationships & Business Development, National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. (NSE) Raising Capital and Listing: The NSE Route for Defence Start-ups and SMEs Shri Vinay Singh — Co-Founder & Partner, Fireside Ventures The Outsider’s Test: What Makes Any Hardware Company Fundable Shri Vikram Vaidyanathan — Managing Director, Z47 (formerly Matrix Partners India) Why a Generalist Fund Is Now Underwriting a Seven-Year Qualification Cycle Shri Vijay Jacob — General Partner, Speciale Invest The First Cheque: What a Deep-Tech Seed Fund Sees in India’s Defence Pipeline Connect with us : communication@shaurya-setu.in Website : www.shaurya-setu.in 0:00 Introduction: Financing India's Defence Startups and MSMEs 3:34 Capital Has Its Own Brain: Setting Up the Money Panel 7:21 No Such Thing as Patient Capital: How Deep Tech VCs Invest 9:46 Why Market Size Does Not Apply to Defence Tech Yet 14:40 How Investors Value Pre Revenue and Post Revenue Defence Startups 19:03 Palantir, Anduril and the Road from Private Capital to Public Markets 21:00 Why Defence MSMEs Avoid the Stock Market: From Seed Funding to IPO 23:58 One Customer, No IPO? Defence Exports vs DPSUs 27:23 Build in India for the World: When Exports Matter for Defence Startups 29:51 Single Product, Single Customer: The Diversification Risk 33:40 Why Founders Must Educate Investors About Defence 34:45 Three Eras of Indian Venture Capital and Why Capital Will Chase Talent 40:33 NSE Outlook: SME Listings and the Future of Indian Capital Markets 45:29 Predictions for 2030: Deep Tech Founders and the Freedom to Dream 48:04 Z47, the 10 Trillion Dollar Economy and Why Indian Capital Will Fund Defence 51:54 Audience Q&A: Should Investors Back the Product or the Process? 1:00:30 Can Startups Fix Defence Procurement? Lessons from Fintech and NPCI 1:04:59 Defence in the Name Sells Like Hotcakes: The NSE on Listing Defence Companies 1:08:54 Felicitation and Closing