“We are the first lab in India to go after the audacious problem of DNA data storage, and have leveraged the resources in India over the last 2 years to get to an end to end prototype,” Rajesh wrote in a blogpost on Sunday. “And now it’s time for a step change. As we start assembling the V1 of BioCompute chips, we are relocating to San Francisco to leverage the capital, talent and customer risk appetite of the world’s startup capital.”
The company will now focus on building its first DNA data storage chips. The relocation will also lead to the winding down of BioCompute’s Bengaluru operations and the departure of its local team.
What does BioCompute do?
Founded in 2024, BioCompute is developing DNA-based data storage technology that converts digital data into synthetic DNA sequences, enabling ultra-dense, energy-efficient storage capable of archiving vast amounts of information in a tiny physical footprint.
In the last two years, the startup has raised over Rs 5 crore from the Nikhil Kamath-led WTFfund, Grad Capital, and 1517 Fund, among other investors. The company has since established its own laboratory, conducted experiments, built an end-to-end prototype, and claims to have developed a low-cost method for encoding data into DNA and generating early customer interest.
Why is BioCompute moving out?
Rajesh said the move is driven less by talent constraints and more by ecosystem readiness.
“While India is now starting to invest in deep tech through RDI fund and the likes, we don’t think the ecosystem is ready for a product like ours. India often likes to play safe, looking at what has been built in the West and adapting it to our socio-cultural and economic landscape,” she wrote. “But what we need to build a new age data storage hardware company, and take on Goliaths like IBM, is an ecosystem that is built on abundance and takes high-risk-high-reward bets,” Rajesh added.
Launched last November, the RDI fund has a total outlay of Rs 1 lakh crore, providing startups with long-term financing or refinancing support at low or zero interest rates.
Rajesh’s relocation decision is part of a broader trend among the country’s deep-tech and AI startups. ET reported in January that more than 100 Indian AI founders had either moved or were planning to move to the US, attracted by easier access to customers, venture capital and leading AI ecosystems, despite growing discussion around a reverse brain drain.
Startups, including Composio, Meetstream.ai, Smallest.ai, Beatoven.ai and GetCrux have already shifted their base to the US in recent years, while several others are in the process of doing so, according to founders and investors.