From E-commerce to Deep Tech: A Frontline View of India’s Startup Evolution

On September 29, 2025, the VU Lecture Series played host to a rare and enriching session titled “The World of Startups: From E-commerce to Deep Tech”, delivered by none other than Prashanth Prakash, Founding Partner at Accel India. A full house at B2L1 listened intently as he unpacked decades of insight—from building India’s first internet company to shaping its most iconic tech ventures.

With more than two decades of experience as an entrepreneur and early-stage investor, Prakash has helped steer India’s startup journey long before it was fashionable. As a co-founder of Erasmic, one of the country’s earliest venture funds, and now a key figure at Accel—known for backing Flipkart, Freshworks, Swiggy, Ola, and many others—his perspective has been instrumental in defining what Indian innovation looks like. Recognised with the Padma Shri for his contributions to entrepreneurship and nation-building through technology, he remains a quiet but powerful force in the ecosystem.

The Journey Begins: Building Before the Boom

Prashanth opened with reflections from 1995, the year he returned to Bangalore—then still a fledgling tech city. With the internet just beginning to show promise in India, he launched the country’s first internet company, designing websites for firms like Infosys and Wipro. These were early, unglamorous days when most software work in India was of limited quality, outsourced, and largely commoditized.

His early entrepreneurial ventures eventually led him to the investment world, at a time when startups were far from mainstream. Transitioning from founding companies to helping build them through venture capital, he emphasised the distinction between venture studios, which incubate and co-create startups, and venture funds, which provide capital for existing businesses.

It was a journey built on conviction, not trend-following – and one that now places him at the forefront of India’s next wave: Deep Tech and advanced manufacturing.

The Role of GCCs and the Seeds of Entrepreneurship

An important insight from the talk was his recognition of Global Capability Centres (GCCs), which began appearing around 2006–07, as silent catalysts of India’s entrepreneurial mindset. “Before GCCs, most of what we built here was service-driven,” he pointed out. “GCCs brought ownership, complexity, and accountability into the system — things every founder needs to learn.”

These institutions, often overlooked in India’s startup narrative, deserve credit for fostering a culture that moved beyond outsourcing and toward innovation and problem-solving.

Lessons from India’s Resilient Startups

Through real-world examples, Prakash explained that success in the startup world hinges not only on great ideas or fundraising ability, but on resilience and adaptability. He cited companies like Bluestone and BookMyShow as businesses that weathered multiple cycles, adapted their models, and kept building—something that isn’t often visible in media coverage.

He also reflected on how mobile phones transformed India’s consumer ecosystem. “Before smartphones, e-commerce was limited to office desktops—people would place orders during lunch breaks. Once phones entered the picture, everything changed. The digital consumer was suddenly everywhere.”

Deep Tech: India’s Next Frontier

The heart of the session, however, focused on the future — and the urgent need for India to build technological leverage. According to Prakash, that future lies in Deep Tech and Physical AI, particularly in industries like manufacturing, defence, healthcare and mobility.

He broke down Deep Tech from two key perspectives:

• Academic view: Research-heavy innovations, such as novel materials and chip design, that reach advanced stages of validation — Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 6–7.
  
• Venture capitalist lens: Technologies that can be replicated, scaled, and manufactured at a viable cost point.    

Using China as a case study, he pointed out how companies like BYD have surpassed even Tesla in certain markets — not through flashier innovation, but by mastering manufacturing at scale. “The world doesn’t mind paying if the product is right and affordable,” he noted, a lesson India would do well to learn.

He also shared a sneak peek into Sarala, a cutting-edge air mobility startup backed by Accel. The company is building a 7-seater air taxi, expected to release a prototype in the coming weeks. Designed to ferry passengers within Bangalore — especially from the airport to city locations — it promises to tackle the city’s notorious traffic with technology that once sounded like science fiction.

Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs: Learn on the Job

For students and early-career professionals, Prakash offered grounded advice: don’t rush to start up straight out of college. Instead, he urged them to work at early-stage startups to gain exposure to the product journey, customer insights, and team dynamics.

He also encouraged students to treat internships as opportunities to deliver real value, rather than resume builders. “You get out of it what you put in,” he said, stressing the importance of participating fully in the work.

In discussing the difference between successful and failed startups, he highlighted some key learnings:

• Be frugal and mindful with capital
  
• Practice good governance: taking ownership not just for founders but all stakeholders
  
• Understand your space deeply: research your competitors, know your differentiators, and build for long-term impact 

A Generation of Investors, Not Just Entrepreneurs

Beyond starting up, Prakash urged students to become long-term investors in innovation. With IPOs becoming more accessible, he suggested looking at startup IPOs as the modern equivalent of gold or real estate. “The younger generation is ready to think differently about wealth,” he said. “Why not back the companies building tomorrow?”

He also reminded students of the government support available — from Karnataka’s startup grants to a growing network of incubators and academic tie-ups — to help early-stage founders get off the ground.

Final Thought: Tech with Domain

Summing up the session, Prakash left the audience with a powerful takeaway:

                “The future belongs to tech with domain.”

Whether it’s in healthcare, energy, agriculture, or defence—applying cutting-edge technology to solve real-world, sector-specific problems is where India’s greatest opportunities lie.

Prashanth Prakash’s lecture was far more than a retrospective—it was a forward-looking blueprint. Drawing on his own entrepreneurial beginnings, his experience shaping billion-dollar companies, and his vision for Deep Tech, he offered students and aspiring founders a chance to zoom out and reflect on what it truly takes to build with purpose.

With resilience, research, and the right kind of risk-taking, the next generation of startups—and startup leaders—can indeed be built right here.