Insights · funding brief
Qualcomm Filed 577 Chip Patent Applications in India Since 2022. Indian Companies Filed 56.
Tessolve raised $75 million on 11 October. We set it against the 436 semiconductor companies on our list: 29 have funding on record, five hold 74% of it, and Indian companies filed 1.2% of the chip patent applications in our index since 2022.
Published 21 Oct 2026
- Chip patent applications since 2022 by Qualcomm
- 577
- By all Indian companies
- 56 (1.2%)
- Semiconductor companies on our list with funding on record
- 29 of 436
- Top 5 companies' share of that funding
- 74%
Tessolve Semiconductor, a Bengaluru chip engineering company owned by Hero Electronix, raised $75 million on 11 October in a round led by Vector Line Capital, a US firm making its first investment in India. Existing investors TPG and Novo Tellus took part. Tessolve says the money is for acquisitions and that it is in advanced talks on several. On 1 September 2025 it raised $150 million from TPG Growth.
Tessolve is on our list of deep-tech companies, under semiconductors, though it is an established engineering services business rather than a startup, so we give the figures with and without it. Its new round alone is 26% of the private money on our record, compiled from public reports, for the 436 semiconductor companies on that list. Here is what those companies do, where they are, who files chip patent applications in India, and how the state's commitment compares.
September added two other markers. On 17 September, opening SEMICON India, the Prime Minister started commercial production lines at CDIL Semiconductor in Mohali and Suchi Semicon in Surat; PIB says that makes five operating chip assembly and test units of the twelve approved under the first programme. A day earlier VerifAIX, a chip verification startup with engineering in Bengaluru, raised a $5 million seed round co-led by Endiya Partners and Bluehill VC.
What the 436 companies do: mostly design
Our list holds 436 deep-tech companies in semiconductors, 1.5% of the 28,866 deep-tech companies on our list. By their descriptions, 221 do chip design, IP or verification alone and 66 more describe design alongside manufacturing or materials. Fifteen describe fabrication, packaging or test as their main business, and 45 supply equipment, consumables or materials. We could not place 89.
The money follows the designers. Design-led companies account for 20 of the 29 companies with funding on record and $273 million of the $289 million. Fabrication, packaging, test, equipment and materials together have three companies with funding on record, for about $10 million.
| Group (from company descriptions) | Deep-tech companies on our list | With funding on record | Private funding ($ million) | Matched to patent applications |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design only (chips, IP, verification) | 221 | 16 | 150.5 | 21 |
| Design with manufacturing or materials | 66 | 4 | 122.1 | 4 |
| Fabrication, packaging and test | 15 | 1 | 5.0 | 0 |
| Equipment, consumables and materials | 45 | 2 | 5.0 | 3 |
| Not clear from description | 89 | 6 | 6.0 | 11 |
| All | 436 | 29 | 288.6 | 39 |
Bengaluru has a third of the companies and most of the money
Karnataka has 155 of the 436 companies, 36%, and 141 of them are in Bengaluru. Telangana follows with 50, Uttar Pradesh 43, Maharashtra 40 and Tamil Nadu 37. Hyderabad, with its Ranga Reddy district, holds 42.
The money is more concentrated than the companies. Karnataka companies hold 17 of the 29 with funding on record and $245 million, 85% of the total, or 79% without Tessolve. Telangana's 50 companies have one entry on record, with no amount; Maharashtra's 40 and Gujarat's 19 have none. Kerala's $15.5 million is almost all Netrasemi's.
Twenty-nine companies with funding, five with three quarters of it
Of the 436 companies, 29 (6.7%) have funding on our record and 24 have an amount: $289 million in all, about ₹2,395 crore at ₹83 to the dollar. Only 14 have a named round from a public report; for the rest we hold an estimate of total funding. The median company with an amount has $4.1 million, about ₹34 crore, and the median named round is $3 million, about ₹25 crore.
Five companies hold $212 million, 74%: Tessolve ($75 million), Krutrim SI Designs ($74 million), C2i Semiconductors ($35.7 million), Netrasemi ($14.6 million) and HRDWYR Ventures ($13 million). Krutrim SI Designs' figure is an estimate of total funding, not a reported round. Without Tessolve, the top five still hold 70%.
Tessolve is not a typical company on the list. It was founded in 2004, Hero Electronix bought it in 2016, and TPG says its revenue passed $150 million in FY25. Its rounds are growth capital for an engineering services business with over 3,500 engineers, not venture rounds for a chip product. Its 2025 round is not yet on our record; with it, Tessolve's $225 million would exceed the $214 million on record for the other 435 companies.
Who files semiconductor patent applications in India
Our index holds 6,144 patent applications tagged to semiconductors, 4,485 filed from 2022 onward, the period it covers best. Foreign filers made 62% of those. Qualcomm alone filed 577, then BOE Technology (146), Samsung Electronics (134), LG Display (130) and AMD (123).
Indian filing is mostly academic. Universities and institutes filed 763, 17%, led by the IITs together (115), the VIT campuses (61) and IISc (42). Individuals filing in their own names made 795. Indian companies filed 56, 1.2%, under a tenth of Qualcomm's count; the largest is Bharat Electronics, with 6.
Of the 436 semiconductor companies on our list, 39 (8.9%) are matched to patent applications in our index, 149 in all, against 16.7% for deep-tech companies across all sectors. Siliconch Systems (28), Steradian Semiconductors (20) and MMRFIC Technology (14) lead. Only 57 of the 6,144 semiconductor applications are matched to any deep-tech company on our list; for Tessolve, none matched on our list. Semiconductor packaging, which the new plants do, has 99 applications in our tagging from 36 foreign filers, with no company on our list matched.
| Filer group | Applications | Share | Largest filers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foreign companies and institutes | 2,776 | 61.9% | Qualcomm 577, BOE 146, Samsung Electronics 134 |
| Individuals filing in their own names | 795 | 17.7% | Named inventors, many from colleges |
| Indian universities and institutes | 763 | 17.0% | IITs 115, VIT 61, IISc 42 |
| Indian companies | 56 | 1.2% | Bharat Electronics 6; Siliconch, Agnit, Krutrim SI 3 each |
| Indian government bodies | 20 | 0.4% | DRDO, ISRO, DAE, CSIR |
| Filer not recorded | 75 | 1.7% | |
| All | 4,485 | 100% |
Chips: ₹115 of public money per rupee raised, ₹85 after Tessolve
On 6 October we set the two semiconductor programmes, ₹76,000 crore approved in December 2021 and ₹1,27,500 crore for Semicon 2.0 approved on 15 July 2026, against ₹1,773 crore of private rounds: ₹115 of public outlay per rupee raised. Our list has since been revised from 460 to 436 companies, and before Tessolve's round the private total still comes to ₹1,773 crore.
Tessolve's round adds ₹622.5 crore at our rate and moves the ratio to ₹85, a quarter lower from one round. Adding its 2025 round would bring it to ₹56. Most of the outlay is for fabs and assembly plants built by large manufacturers; PIB's July release counts 24 design projects from startups and MSMEs approved for support.
| Measure | Companies | Private funding | Outlay per ₹1 raised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Missions article, our data 6 October 2026 | 460 | 1,773 | ₹115 |
| Our data 17 October 2026, without Tessolve's round | 435 | 1,773 | ₹115 |
| Our data 17 October 2026, with Tessolve's $75 million | 436 | 2,395 | ₹85 |
| Adding Tessolve's $150 million (September 2025, not on our record) | 436 | 3,640 | ₹56 |
The plants are producing; their makers are not on our funding record
Of the five operating units PIB lists, Suchi Semicon is the only one among the deep-tech companies on our list: a Surat company in assembly, test, marking and packaging. It has no funding on our record and none matched to patent applications in our index. Micron, Kaynes, CG Semi and CDIL are large manufacturers or their units and are not on our list. Chip manufacturing in India is being built by large companies with public incentives; private rounds go to design, and to a handful of designers.
What to watch
Tessolve says it is in advanced talks on several acquisitions over the next couple of quarters; if its targets are Indian design companies, money will move between companies on our list rather than add to it. Semicon 2.0's design pillar is the part most likely to reach the 287 design-led companies on our list. Tata Electronics told SEMICON India its Dholera fab and Jagiroad assembly plant are on track, with the first fab due in 2028.
How we counted
Deep-tech companies are companies on our list, nearly all Startup India-recognised, with a yes or maybe deep-tech verdict, not merged and not closed, under our semiconductors sector tag. Activity groups come from keywords in each company's description and are approximate. Funding is the verified entries on our record, in all years, excluding grants and RDI Fund rounds: named rounds from public reports, and our estimates of a company's total funding. For each company we take the larger of the two, never both. Amounts are converted at ₹83 to the dollar.
Patent counts are applications tagged to semiconductors in our index, which concentrates on applications filed from 2022 onward. Filer groups use the first-named applicant; we moved a few foreign companies recorded with an Indian address to foreign filers, and private universities recorded as companies to institutes. A company is matched to patent applications by its name as applicant.
In our data
Startups
Sectors
Sources
- Entrackr: Hero Electronix's Tessolve Semiconductor raises $75 Mn led by Vector Line Capital (11 October 2026) ↗
- Entrepreneur India: Hero Electronix's Tessolve raises USD 75 Mn (12 October 2026) ↗
- Inc42: Hero Electronix-owned Tessolve secures $75 Mn to expand semiconductor capabilities (12 October 2026) ↗
- Evertiq: Tessolve raises $75M to support acquisitions, strengthen offerings (12 October 2026) ↗
- TPG: Tessolve, a Hero Electronix venture, raises $150 million from TPG (1 September 2025) ↗
- PIB: Prime Minister inaugurates SEMICON India 2026, launches new commercial production lines (17 September 2026) ↗
- Inc42: VerifAIX bags $5 Mn to scale AI-based chip verification platform (16 September 2026) ↗
- PIB: Cabinet approves Semicon 2.0 (15 July 2026) ↗
- PIB: Cabinet approves the programme for semiconductors and display manufacturing (15 December 2021) ↗
This briefing is AI-generated from Deeptech Navigator's patent and startup data and lightly reviewed before publishing. Treat it as a starting point, not professional advice - figures are directional, so verify before relying on any number. The platform takes no responsibility for decisions made on it.
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