New Delhi, April 8 -- When Raunak Bhinge first approached institutional investors seeking funding for Infinite Uptime, the pitch was straightforward: much of India's factory equipment was still analogue, and digitising it could help manufacturers improve output. Over time, the venture pivoted from being seen as a software startup to proving it was an artificial intelligence (AI)-backed business built on proprietary industrial data and models refined over years of deployments.

"Investor due diligence has become deeper over the years as we raised funding," said Bhinge, whose venture has raised over $60 million since inception. "There is still a bit of analysis paralysis even now."

That is widening the circle of people pulled in to conduct...