Nicolas Sauvage of TDK Ventures and Arun Vinayak of Exponent Energy join Vishal Krishna and Shreyas Mishra to discuss rapid charging for commercial electric vehicles, customer economics and building an energy company.

Arun explains why Exponent started with three-wheelers, how customer needs shape its charging and battery systems, and what it takes to expand into buses and vehicle retrofits. The conversation covers design thinking, jugaad, financing and the practical work of building a business around selling energy.

Nicolas and Arun discuss what corporate venture capital can bring to a startup, why patient capital still needs a sense of urgency, and how Indian deep tech companies can think about global markets. The episode concludes with a factory tour covering quality inspection, laser welding, battery cycling and thermal-chamber testing.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
1:13 Why commercial vehicles
4:23 Choosing customers and the energy business
14:04 Design thinking and jugaad
22:56 Investor support and financing
30:46 Fast charging and battery life
40:02 Automating quality first
44:07 Retrofitting vehicles
49:22 Patient capital and urgency
54:59 Factory tour
55:40 Quality checks and laser welding
58:13 Battery cycling and reliability

Guests: Nicolas Sauvage, TDK Ventures; Arun Vinayak, Exponent Energy
Hosts: Vishal Krishna and Shreyas Mishra

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#TDKVentures #ExponentEnergy #ElectricVehicles

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What can quantum technology do beyond building a faster computer? Professor Arindam Ghosh of IISc Bengaluru joins Shreyas Mishra to discuss quantum computing, sensing and communication, and how founders and students can find a way into the field.

This conversation was made possible courtesy of the Infosys Science Foundation (ISF).
The Foundation’s Infosys Prize recognises outstanding research and encourages young people to pursue careers in science.
Professor Arindam Ghosh received the 2020 Infosys Prize in Physical Sciences.
The prize recognised his work on atomically thin semiconductors for new electronic devices, energy conversion and light detection.

The conversation begins with his research on atomically thin materials and light detectors, then follows his journey from Kolkata to IISc and Cambridge. He explains why shared clean-room facilities helped him return to India, how cricket gives a difficult research problem room to breathe, and why engineering a useful quantum computer still demands basic research.

We discuss post-quantum cryptography, access to quantum processors, sensing applications, and the role of materials and devices across the field. His advice to founders is to identify a use case and work backwards to the expertise it needs. For students, he makes the case for learning quantum fundamentals alongside AI. We close with graphene, silicon and what tiny electrical fluctuations can tell a physicist about a material.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Teaser: quantum entanglement
0:18 Short introduction
0:33 Conversation: Planck's constant and light detectors
3:25 From Kolkata to Cambridge
10:26 Returning to India, clean rooms and cricket
15:04 Engineering quantum technology
16:57 Quantum computing: progress and challenges
21:47 Quantum computing, cryptography and access
25:36 Quantum sensing and its applications
30:57 Quantum communication and eavesdropping
35:12 Starting a quantum technology company
41:41 Advice for students: quantum and AI
46:27 Graphene, silicon and two-dimensional materials
50:18 When noise becomes a signal

Guest: Professor Arindam Ghosh, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru
Host: Shreyas Mishra
Recorded at IISc on 12 October 2026.

Disclosure: Prof. Ghosh is a co-founder of Quan2D Technologies, an IISc-incubated startup working on 2D materials and quantum-sensing devices.

This conversation reflects the guest's research experience and outlook. Proposed applications and timelines are discussed as possibilities, not guarantees.

About the guest: https://physics.iisc.ac.in/people/arindam-ghosh/
Infosys Prize 2020, Physical Sciences: https://www.infosysprize.org/laureates/2020/arindam-ghosh.html
Charts, chapters and the full transcript: https://upstreamvoice.com/podcasts/178.html
More conversations: https://upstreamvoice.com
Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@Upstream-Voice

#ArindamGhosh #QuantumComputing #

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What does it take to turn research into a company that customers trust?

In this press Q&A, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras, joins Bhaskar Majumdar, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Unicorn India Ventures, and Natarajan (Nat) Malupillai, Group CEO of IIT Madras Research Park, to discuss the growth of India's deep-tech startups.

The panel discusses patient capital, opportunities in quantum technologies, student-led innovation, patents and the path from an idea to a working product. They also examine customer adoption: how large companies can work with startups, and what founders need to do to deliver dependable products.

Other topics include industry–academia collaboration, the IIT Madras Research Park, the Shakti processor and frugal research.

Recorded by UpStreamVoice.

0:00 Opening and questions on space tech and quantum
0:47 Patient capital and the Ather example
2:53 Keeping engineers in core engineering
5:11 Agnirath and student engineering projects
6:08 Quantum technologies and applications
8:12 India's opportunities in quantum
9:27 How startups are evaluated
12:46 Bhaskar Majumdar on patience and valuation
15:34 Building investable startups at IIT Madras
18:58 Patents and the patent-a-day ambition
21:48 The student innovation and entrepreneurship pathway
25:15 The next challenge: customers and purchase orders
29:58 Government and corporate customers
31:37 Buying Indian products: an anecdote
34:07 Industry–academia collaboration
36:06 The Research Park's collaboration model
38:34 Technology sovereignty, Shakti and frugal research
42:11 Frugal AI and solving specific problems
43:42 Encouraging enterprises to buy from startups
46:34 Product readiness and trust in both directions
47:37 Building customer confidence and a call to corporates

#IITMadras #Kamakoti #DeepTech #UpStreamVoice

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