The non-profit was founded last year to work with universities and research labs commercialising technologies around social impact.

Artpark, an India-based non-profit commercialisation firm, is launching a $100m fund for robotics companies, according to the Economic Times.
Artpark was established in 2020 by the Indian Institute of Science and AI Foundry, with seed funding from the Indian government’s Department of Science of Technology and the government of Karnataka.
It aims to bring together all ecosystem players – academia, industry, government and entrepreneurs – to drive artificial intelligence and robotics technologies that can improve quality of life.
The venture capital fund is part of Artpark’s aim to become self-sustaining, as the government funding is set to end in five years.
Umakant Soni, chief executive of Artpark, told the Economic Times: “We have the university ecosystem that produces world-class talents. Connecting them to an institution like Artpark will help them work on their ideas, use our resources and scale-up solutions.
“VC funds in India expect companies to show value in terms of revenue. But in reality, revenue is only a lagging indicator, not a leading indicator.”

Thierry Heles

Thierry Heles is the editor of Global University Venturing, host of the Beyond the Breakthrough interview podcast and responsible for the monthly GUV Gazette (sign up here for free).