Invented In India, Validated On Nasdaq? Why 'Desi' Deep Techs Are Going 'Videshi'

After a long lull period, Indian benchmark indices are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. IPOs are getting oversubscribed and inflows into mutual funds are picking up week in week out. As a result, it is easy to think that things are back on track for the bulls on Dalal Street. However, a big missing gap in India's assent is the lack of deep-tech companies that innovate.

Think about an Indian company competing with foreign counterparts by making GPUs rather than serving clients abroad, or finding a cure for a fatal disease rather than selling generics in the US market. That's the spark the Indian market has been missing, and one underlying factor could be the sheer under-appreciation for truly deep-tech companies.

A recent trend, as highlighted by Olivia Miller on LinkedIn, underscores this financial gap that has been fomenting: India's innovative companies are choosing to list on the Nasdaq in the US rather than Dalal Street.

A case in point? Take Dr Sudhir Srivastava, a cardiac surgeon, who has dedicated years of his life to building India's own indigenous surgical robot through his company SSI International.

However, when he wanted to list his company in the domestic market, he found disbelief at the sheer lack of investor interest. SSI International, which designs and manufactures advanced surgical systems to compete with global giants, eventually had to be listed on the Nasdaq in April 2025.

SSI International is not the only outlaw. Vyome Therapeutics, a biotech company based in Delhi, developed novel drugs for immuno-inflammatory diseases. But instead of Dalal Street, Vyome (now Vyome Holdings) executed a reverse merger to list on the Nasdaq in August 2025.

These founders aren't listing abroad simply "to go global." They are listing abroad out of necessity.

The Indian market has liquidity, momentum and demand. But it is conditioned to value certain sectors more than others. Talk about consumer tech, D2C brands, fintech apps and even companies run by Shark Tank judges. The market excels at valuing companies based on balance sheet, sales visibility and market opportunity.

It does not, however, have a mature enough ecosystem for valuing pre-revenue, intellectual property (IP)-driven ventures. Deep tech and biotech sectors, after all, run on a different model than traditional businesses.

It requires immense R&D upfront, has longer gestation periods and has value locked in patents and clinical trial phases, not quarterly profit.

"We wanted to go public, and we felt this was a more efficient and cost-effective way to do so," said Shiladitya Sengupta, founder of Vyome Therapeutics, in an interview with Pharmaceutical Executive regarding the company's reverse merger.

The Delhi-born biotech firm, now based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, leverages a "U.S.-India innovation corridor" to attract a mature investor base accustomed to the long, high-risk R&D cycles of pharmaceuticals.

In its official listing statement, SSI celebrated enhancing its "potential investor base." For companies like SSI and Vyome, going global is less a choice than a necessity. The U.S. market offers access to specialised investors who will fund long-term invention, not just near-term profit.

“The bell-ringing at Nasdaq is not just a ceremonial milestone, but a reaffirmation of our vision to lead a global revolution in surgical care,” said Dr Srivastava. “Our mission is to bring the benefits of robotic surgery to patients worldwide—without the prohibitive costs typically associated with this technology.”

Vyome and SSI International are but some examples of innovative Indian companies that have relied on US markets to find valuation and investor backing, with the long list also involving names such as Freshworks and Azure Power.

This trend creates a structural problem for India as it risks becoming a nation that incubates world-class science only to see its economic value and the subsequent wealth creation captured by foreign capital markets.