TVS Capital Funds expects to make at least six investments across deeptech and manufacturing from its fourth fund, managing partner Krishna Ramachandran told Mint: two to three in deeptech, a similar number in manufacturing, and possibly a couple more in financial services. The firm is one of 14 second-level fund managers selected by the government's Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund; it applied for a Rs 200 crore commitment against Fund IV's Rs 4,000 crore size but has not received formal confirmation of the amount. Ramachandran said the deeptech focus areas are AI infrastructure, defence, space, aviation and electronic components, with proprietary intellectual property as the first filter - he cautioned against contract-manufacturing units being passed off as deeptech - and cheque sizes of Rs 300-500 crore. Fund IV has made four investments so far, including AI cloud provider Neysa's $600 million Series B in February at a $1.4 billion valuation, and the firm expects to deploy about Rs 5,000 crore including co-investments alongside its limited partners. He added that TVS remains cautious on stretched AI valuations given its six-to-seven-year holding period: "You don't want to be left holding the bag."

DTT summary based on Mint's report. The full article is on the publisher's site.