For Japanese companies looking to secure talent and technology in India, "when to move" matters just as much as where to set up. Beyond Next Ventures (BNV), a Japanese VC specializing in deep tech, is starting an initiative from July 1 that stations dedicated staff at the IILM University campus in India, engaging students and researchers in semiconductors and climate tech who have not even started a company yet. This is the opposite of the conventional model of investing in a finished startup — it is an "upstream" approach that steps in before an idea becomes a business. This move calls into question the sequencing Japanese companies use when going after talent and technology in India.
According to a report by the local newspaper The Tribune, BNV will station one full-time dedicated staff member on the IILM University campus starting July 1. The target audience is students and faculty in AI, semiconductors, climate technology, and advanced manufacturing who have not yet started a business. Jay Krishnan, BNV's head of India investments, says, "A successful innovation ecosystem is born precisely when universities, entrepreneurs, and investors collaborate at an early stage."
What stands out is where the entry point for support sits. Most incubators and accelerators target teams that have already incorporated. BNV's program steps in at the stage "before formally starting a company," offering mentoring, market validation, and structured launch support. It is designed so that the investor takes a seat within the university itself, building relationships before the seeds of entrepreneurship have even sprouted.
BNV is a Japanese VC founded in 2006 that has operated in India from a Bengaluru base since 2019. Its first fund for India is reported to be sized at $30 million to $50 million, with investment themes in deep tech areas such as AI, robotics, healthcare, climate tech, and advanced materials. Most recently, it announced an investment in AI infrastructure startup FinalLayer as the second investment from this first India fund.
Deep tech is not a business that takes shape in six months the way SaaS does. Technology in semiconductors, new materials, and climate fields takes time for lab-level knowledge to be reshaped into a business plan. That is precisely why, if you wait for the finished product, promising talent and technology will already have been secured by other VCs or overseas research institutions. BNV stations staff inside the university to turn this time lag to its advantage, building relational capital before a venture even becomes an "investment target." By walking alongside founders before a company is even incorporated, it becomes easier to judge both the founder's character and the soundness of the technology, allowing decisions to be made faster than competitors.
IILM University, the receiving institution, is also connecting this program to a credit-bearing venture-building elective that spans engineering, science, management, law, and liberal arts, along with its on-campus innovation lab. Anjali Rai, Pro-Chancellor of IILM University, has spoken of developing talent to tackle India's challenges in energy, healthcare, manufacturing, and climate. Note that some reports describe the location simply as "Delhi," but IILM University has campuses in Greater Noida and Gurugram within the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR); this article treats the university's name and that region as confirmed information.
The goals set out by BNV and IILM University, as reported based on statements from those involved, can be summarized as follows. Note that all of these are future planning figures, not results already achieved.
| Period | Target |
|---|---|
| Year one | Engage more than 1,000 students and faculty |
| Year one | Identify 100 ventures as candidates for founding |
| Two years | Find and back more than 200 ventures with high growth potential |
Reach out to 1,000 people, select 100 seeds, and expand to more than 200 within two years. The shape of this funnel is completely different from the conventional model of investing in a handful of already-formed startups. It is an approach that secures a large population within the closed setting of a university and then screens it over time.
Among university staff, voices welcoming the very presence of an investor stationed on campus stand out. The view is that this matters greatly for students, letting them touch a path to commercialization and a VC network while still enrolled, rather than considering entrepreneurship only after graduating and taking a job.
On the other hand, some take a cautious view of forming deep ties with a specific VC before incorporation. The concern is that locking in a relationship with a single investor from an early stage might narrow later fundraising options. In India's startup circles, deep tech discussions have centered on established hubs such as the IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) and T-Hub, and there is also a wait-and-see mood about how far a strategy of building a pipeline starting from an emerging university can actually deliver results.
Interest is also high simply as a move by a Japanese VC. Krishnan has a background as founding CEO of T-Hub, one of India's largest startup hubs, and the fact that this person is leading a Japanese fund's investments in India is being taken locally as a symbol of its seriousness.
The core of this news lies in a shift in premise: "going after India's talent and technology only once it's finished is too late." When Japanese companies look for a development base or sourcing partner in India, it is common to approach already well-known startups or university spinoffs. But by that stage, the other party already has multiple offers on the table.
Translating BNV's approach to your own company, the concrete action looks like this. First, choose one Indian engineering university or lab with a technology field close to your own business (for example, materials, manufacturing automation, or agriculture and food-related technology), and build a relationship "before it becomes a company" through joint research or by bringing in real challenges. Rather than investing, form a relationship first by bringing in on-the-ground problems and solving them together. Even a light touchpoint, such as taking on student interns or offering a graduation research theme, builds a relationship far faster and deeper than searching from scratch after incorporation.
In the past, there have been cases of mid-sized Japanese manufacturers partnering with Indian EMS (electronics manufacturing services) companies to move into local production. Kaga Electronics' manufacturing tie-up with Indian EMS major Syrma shares a common thread with BNV's upstream strategy in that it embeds itself in manufacturing capability itself at an early stage, rather than choosing an already-established trading partner. It is a structure that creates a time advantage over later-arriving competitors by partnering deeply with a single company.
Japanese VCs' push into India has so far centered on funding already-established startups. If BNV's approach of stationing staff at a university delivers results, other Japanese funds and corporate CVCs (corporate venture capital arms) are likely to follow the model of "embedding in a university before incorporation." For universities on the Indian side, too, this could become a new channel for drawing in Japanese capital and networks.
This structure is not unrelated to fields like food and agriculture either. Interest in agritech and food processing technology is rising in India, and there is significant room for Japanese companies to partner locally on raw material sourcing and processing technology. In fact, cooperation is already starting to move at the state government level. Japan and Assam moving closer through economic cooperation shows that venues where local governments, universities, and investors align at an early stage — before individual companies move on their own — are increasing. In marketing and sales as well, early investment in local tools can be seen, and technology integration originating in India, such as MoEngage's acquisition of Aampe, can be called one example of the trend toward absorbing promising technology without waiting for it to mature.
Here are the points Japanese companies wanting to build early relationships with Indian universities and research institutions should first confirm.
As related moves, the Kaga Electronics-Syrma manufacturing tie-up, the Japan-Assam economic cooperation, and MoEngage's technology acquisition mentioned above are all useful references when thinking about building early relationships in India.
What BNV's initiative at IILM University shows is the simple fact that in securing talent and technology in India, whoever builds relationships before incorporation gains the advantage. The next action for Japanese companies is clear: identify one Indian university or lab with technology closest to your own business field, and make contact through a light form such as bringing in a challenge rather than through investment. This builds relational capital faster, deeper, and more cheaply than searching for an already-established startup later. The place to start is simply putting the question of "which one university should we partner with" on the table internally.
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