Ex-Solara CEO's NuSynth Raises ₹36.5 Crore Seed Round to Rebuild How India Makes Pharma and Electronics Chemicals
NuSynth Technologies, co-founded by former Solara Active Pharma CEO Poorvank Purohit, has raised a ₹36.5-crore seed round co-led by Avaana Capital and Shastra VC to develop proprietary processes for pharmaceutical and electronics chemicals and cut India's reliance on imported intermediates.
India is often called the "pharmacy of the world", but much of the chemistry behind its medicines starts elsewhere. Many of the key starting materials and intermediates that Indian drugmakers turn into finished active ingredients are imported. A new start-up wants to attack that dependence not by building a bigger factory, but by inventing better chemical processes.
NuSynth Technologies has raised ₹36.5 crore (about $4 million) in a seed round co-led by Avaana Capital and Shastra VC, it was reported on October 13, 2026.
What NuSynth is building
NuSynth describes itself as an R&D-led process-innovation platform for complex chemistry. Rather than competing on scale with existing manufacturers, it aims to develop proprietary chemical processes — new synthetic routes, reaction conditions and purification steps — that lower the cost of making difficult molecules and reduce reliance on imported intermediates. Coverage of the round also describes the company as using AI in its chemical R&D.
It is starting with two markets:
- Pharmaceutical chemicals, including intermediates for active pharmaceutical ingredients.
- Electronics chemicals, the high-purity materials used in semiconductor and electronics manufacturing.
The funding will go towards R&D and technology, an initial portfolio of proprietary processes, scale-up capability and hiring. The company reportedly has a laboratory and pilot plant in Mysuru, with a second facility being developed in Bengaluru — which explains why reports have variously placed it in either city. It plans to commercialise in 2027.
The team
The best-known founder is Poorvank Purohit, previously managing director and CEO of Solara Active Pharma Sciences, an API manufacturer. He is joined by Dr Ramesha A R, a chemist with a PhD from IISc and postdoctoral research experience at the US National Institutes of Health, and by Abhishek Deo and Dipak Bajaj, whose backgrounds are mainly in software and operations. Registry data cited in coverage show the company was incorporated only in March 2026.
Why process chemistry is deep tech
Chemical manufacturing rarely gets labelled deep tech, but process innovation is a classic science-to-industry problem. A molecule that can be made in grams in a university lab may be uneconomical or unsafe to make in tonnes. Finding a route that uses cheaper starting materials, fewer steps, less solvent and lower energy can cut costs sharply — and, crucially, can remove the need for an intermediate that only one foreign supplier makes.
For India, this matters on two fronts. In pharmaceuticals, supply disruptions in recent years exposed how concentrated the supply of some intermediates is, prompting the government to launch production-linked incentives for key starting materials. In electronics, the push to build semiconductor fabs and display plants is creating demand for ultra-pure specialty chemicals that India barely produces today.
Why investors bet early
A ₹36.5-crore seed cheque is large by Indian standards, reflecting the cost of chemistry labs, pilot plants and experienced scientists. Avaana Capital invests in climate and sustainability-linked businesses, while Shastra VC backs technical founders — a combination that suggests investors see cleaner, cheaper chemistry as both an industrial and a resilience play.
NuSynth's first test will be whether its processes work at pilot scale and win customers ahead of its 2027 commercial target.
Sources
- https://inc42.com/buzz/speciality-chemicals-startup-nusynth-raises-%E2%82%B936-5-cr-from-avaana-capital-shastra-vc/
- https://entrackr.com/snippets/nusynth-raises-rs-365-cr-in-seed-round-led-by-avaana-capital-shastra-vc-12671123
- https://www.biospectrumindia.com/news/86/28645/nusynth-technologies-raises-rs-36-5-cr-to-strengthen-indias-chemical-innovation-capabilities-for-pharma-sector.html
- https://analyticsindiamag.com/ai-news/mysuru-based-nusynth-technologies-raises-365-cr-to-use-ai-in-chemical-rd
- https://www.themanufacturingfrontier.com/nusynth-technologies-raises-%E2%82%B936-5-crore-in-seed-funding-co-led-by-avaana-capital-and-shastra-vc/
- https://maliktimes.in/nusynth-funding-seed-avaana-shastra-vc/
- https://www.indianchemicalnews.com/rd/nusynth-technologies-raises-rs-365-crore-in-seed-funding-to-reinvent-chemical-manufacturing-with-ai-32268