Goyal Earmarks 100% of Startup Fund II for Deep Tech, Boosting Medtech Sector

For India's burgeoning medtech and biotech startup ecosystem, access to risk-tolerant capital and supportive regulation has long been the missing link. Piyush Goyal's announcement at Bharat Innovates 2026 that the government's flagship Startup Fund of Funds will now be almost entirely dedicated to deep tech could be the catalyst to bridge that gap, directly benefiting ventures in medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health that typically struggle to attract patient venture capital.

At the Bharat Innovates 2026 summit in Nice on June 16, 2026, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal delivered a landmark set of announcements that could reshape India's deep tech landscape, with particular resonance for the biotechnology and medtech sectors. Addressing 3,000 shortlisted innovators, Goyal revealed that the second edition of the Startup Fund of Funds—a flagship government venture capital instrument—will be almost entirely dedicated to deep tech entrepreneurs. This represents a sharp strategic pivot away from a broad-based startup support model toward frontier technologies, explicitly including medtech and healthcare among the priority areas. The event, held under the India-France Year of Innovation 2026 and jointly launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, marks the culmination of a three-day gathering that Goyal himself reframed as a 'curtain-raiser' for future editions.

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This represents a sharp strategic pivot away from a broad-based startup support model toward frontier technologies, explicitly including medtech and healthcare among the priority areas.

The minister’s invitation for attendees to submit one-page policy suggestions—to be reviewed at the highest levels of government—signals an unusual bottom-up approach to policymaking. For biotech and medtech startups, this opens a rare direct channel to influence regulatory frameworks, from clinical trial approvals to intellectual property protection and market access. Goyal explicitly linked this feedback loop to the government's ability to leverage Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), which he said are 'opening up the doors of the developed world.' For India's pharma and medical device companies, which already export significantly, this could mean accelerated entry into regulated markets like the EU and Japan, provided regulatory harmonization is achieved.

The commitment of the Startup Fund of Funds second edition entirely to deep tech is a concrete financial signal. While the absolute size of the fund was not disclosed, the policy direction reduces reliance on traditional venture capital—often wary of long-gestation biotech plays—and complements existing production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes for pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Goyal’s listing of medtech and healthcare alongside AI, semiconductors, space, and defence underscores the government’s view of biotech as a strategic asset. The Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's role in pioneering the concept, coupled with the National Education Policy 2020's interdisciplinary focus, further suggests a talent pipeline being built for this vision.