Hardware is unforgiving, and the money knows it. When the term sheets came for Chakra Robotics, the largest one carried a board seat, a hurry, and a valuation that would have made the next round a fight. Ishaan Verma took a smaller government hardware grant instead — non-dilutive, slower, and his.

It was a decision about ownership, not just dilution. Deep-tech takes years; a cap table that gives away too much, too early, leaves the founders working for everyone but themselves by the time the technology is ready. Ishaan optimised for still being in control on the day it mattered.

“The cheapest capital is the kind that doesn’t cost you the company.”

Ishaan Verma

The grant bought discipline as much as runway. With less cash and a clean table, the team shipped a narrower first machine, sold it to one demanding customer, and let that revenue — not a markup — set the terms of the round that followed.

It is, he admits, the less glamorous path. “The cheapest capital is the kind that doesn’t cost you the company,” he says. “Everyone learns that. Most of them learn it too late.”