Bangalore : India’s leading biotech research and innovation organisation, C-CAMP has been selected as one of five RDI Fund’s Focus Research Organisations or FROs with a declared funding allocation of 500Cr INR [~51Mn+ USD] by the Govt. of India towards investment in India’s deeptech innovation sector. C-CAMP will collaborate with its private partners and investors to build a total consortium funding of 1000 Cr+ INR for supporting India’s most transformative deeptech life sciences startups that can create impact in India and beyond.
As the only dedicated biotech organisation in the list of 19 Second Level Fund Managers [SLFMs] announced by the Govt. of India, C-CAMP will aim to fund high-risk yet gamechanging biotech innovations that can redefine India’s healthcare, agriculture and environment.
The released SLFM list includes 5 FROs and 14 VC firms and is allocated a total of 7131 Cr INR. The other 4 FROs are IISc, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras and BITS Pilani.
Welcoming the announcement, C-CAMP Director-CEO, Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed said, “C-CAMP is ecstatic to be selected as an RDI FRO and a Second Level Fund Manager to help bring more of India’s deeptech startups closer to impact. We firmly believe that biotech will be the new gamechanger for society with potential to transform sectors that have the highest overlap with human life whether that be health, agriculture and food security or environment and planetary health.
With this selection as an RDI fund manager by the Govt of India alongside seasoned Investors and VCs, we will ensure that lack of funding does not remain the bottleneck it currently is, for India’s biotech innovators to compete with the world’s best. This would be our contribution in nation-building towards a Viksit Bharat by 2047.”
The RDI fund that was announced by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi on November 3, 2025 is a funding initiative worth ₹1 lakh crore over six years designed to drive private sector participation in research and innovation in India, plugging the gap in patient capital for high-risk but high-gain sectors like deeptech.
RDIF was approved by the Union Cabinet on July 1, 2025 and has already supported 22 startups through direct project funding of which 2 are C-CAMP portfolio startups – Eyestem Research and Peptris Technologies. An RDI funding criterion is technologies above TRL [Technology Readiness Level] 4 and above, which translates into technologies beyond the lab and closer to market.
Beyond utilising the funds to support TRL 4 startups, C-CAMP is also keen on catalysing more private fund infusion into the deeptech ecosystem in keeping with the RDI’s defining objectives. Dr. Saiyed adds, “We are targeting both patient capital that nurtures ideas and disciplined commitments that shape commercial trajectories in deep science. That is where C-CAMP’s deep ecosystem network will play a role.”