India’s startup ecosystem pulses with determination. Yet, harsh realities temper its promise. Over 90% of startups fail within five years of their inception. Success rarely hinges on vision alone. It demands investment readiness, disciplined execution, and strategic capital management. In this high-stakes arena, MeritX Ventures has emerged as a sharp and discerning force, championing transformative ideas in life sciences, AI-powered learning, retail tech, and next-generation deeptech. MeritX warrants startup resilience, crafts compelling capital narratives, and maps the journey from seed to scale, all while shaping India’s potential to develop indigenous, foundational AI.
In an exclusive discussion with The Interview World at SPRINT North Edition 2025, hosted by IIT Ropar and iHub–AWaDH, Neha Malhotra, Founder & Managing Partner of MeritX Ventures, outlined the core traits startups must cultivate to secure funding and achieve sustainable growth. She highlighted key startups under MeritX’s deeptech portfolio, explored strategies for building India’s foundational AI capabilities, and shared her vision for innovation-driven expansion, both for startups and for MeritX Ventures itself.
Here are the key takeaways from her insightful and forward-looking conversation.
Q: With over 90% of Indian startups failing in five years, what core traits and funding strategies ensure their sustainable progress?
A: Absolutely. Startup failure rates remain alarmingly high. At MeritX Ventures, we attribute much of this to gaps in investment readiness.
Investors, particularly at early stages, evaluate startups through specific frameworks. They look at product-market fit, founder-market fit, repeatable traction, scalability, and execution capabilities. Together, these elements form a coherent capital narrative that often determines whether funding follows.
What we frequently observe is that this narrative is incomplete. A startup may have a bold vision, but without a clear roadmap, execution falters. When founders don’t know the path to their destination, reaching it becomes nearly impossible. Many startups struggle not because their ideas lack potential, but because the steps to achieve them are undefined or underdeveloped.
Our role is to help founders bridge these gaps. We assess startups rigorously, compile detailed feedback, and guide them in refining their product, market strategy, and execution plan. The goal is to make them fundraising-ready. This preparation paves the way for their next milestones, whether that is seed funding, Series A, first institutional investment, or later-stage growth capital.
By systematically strengthening these aspects, we help startups transform vision into actionable, fundable strategies, increasing their likelihood of scaling successfully.
Q: MeritX Ventures has backed multiple deeptech startups. What key verticals these startups belong to and how do they perform?
A: I can’t comment on those specific startups at this moment, as they are private companies and I’m bound by confidentiality. However, I can share the types of startups MeritX Ventures has invested in and continues to explore.
Historically, we have backed ventures in life sciences, AI-driven learning, B2B solutions, and retail tech. Today, our focus is expanding into newer, transformative themes. We are exploring generative AI, particularly building language models tailored to specific domains such as ESG. Autonomous mobility is another area of interest. Health tech continues to hold significant potential, with groundbreaking innovation expected in the near future.
Beyond these, we actively evaluate emerging deeptech spaces, including robotics and related technologies. Our approach is to remain agile, spotting high-impact opportunities early while supporting startups that have the potential to redefine industries.
Q: Indian deeptech startups largely leverage foreign LLMs. How do you envision India’s progress toward building indigenous, foundational AI systems?
A: We are currently working with several startups focused on foundational AI.
This is where most of the innovation potential lies. Creating platforms that enable the development of agentic AI gives a significant competitive edge. That capability is what defines leadership in AI.
However, building foundational AI is not yet widespread. As investors, we must carefully identify startups with both the technical capability and the execution strength to succeed in this space. While mainstream perception may suggest that India lags in foundational AI, we see promising ventures capable of bridging that gap.
Q: With an extensive startup portfolio, how does MeritX Ventures plan innovation-driven growth for startups and its own organization long-term?
A: Over the next five years, we aim to establish MeritX Ventures as India’s premier innovation and investment platform. We aspire to lead across multiple dimensions: incubation, acceleration, strategic investments, cross-border expansion, and enabling startups to scale globally.
Our vision is to support startups from the earliest stages through to global scale. MeritX intends to be the catalyst that defines the seed-to-series ecosystem, facilitating growth, unlocking opportunities, and shaping the next generation of transformative ventures.
