Why We Invested in Dashamlabs: Building India’s First Scalable Silica Aerogel Platform
- Vishnu Rajeev
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
The Need for High-Performance Insulation
Energy efficiency is the invisible backbone of industrial decarbonization. Whether in electric mobility, clean energy systems, or advanced manufacturing, the ability to manage heat effectively determines both performance and sustainability. Yet, insulation, one of the simplest levers for efficiency, remains underserved by innovation and dominated by low-performance materials.
Silica aerogels are known as the gold standard of insulation. They combine the lowest thermal conductivity among solids with light weight, fire resistance, and durability across extreme temperatures. But despite decades of research and proven performance, aerogels have remained expensive to produce and dependent on imported technology. Global leaders such as Aspen and Cabot have demonstrated the potential of these materials but have not solved for affordability or local manufacturability.

The Dashamlabs Breakthrough
Dashamlabs is building India’s first commercial platform to manufacture flexible silica aerogel sheets, high-performance, lightweight, and designed for large-scale industrial and mobility applications. Its proprietary ethanol-based supercritical drying process represents a breakthrough in production economics, enabling solvent recovery, lower capital cost, and faster cycle times compared to traditional CO₂-based methods.
In parallel, the company is advancing an ambient-pressure drying pathway that will unlock cost-efficient, high-volume manufacturing for mass-market applications. This dual-path R&D strategy strikes a rare balance between near-term readiness and long-term scalability in advanced materials ventures.
Dashamlabs’ silica aerogel sheets combine ultra-low thermal conductivity (0.016 W/mK) with temperature stability from –200 °C to 1000 °C, hydrophobicity, and fire resistance. These properties make them suitable for a wide range of applications, including industrial insulation and pipelines, EV battery safety, cryogenic systems, and high-efficiency buildings. With a localized supply chain and efficient manufacturing design, the company aims to make these world-class materials affordable for global industries.
A Team Translating Science into Scale
The founding team brings together deep technical and commercial experience. Ankit Jhanwar, co-founder and CEO, has over a decade of experience in technology commercialization and climate-tech ventures, having scaled advanced-materials startups and led multi-disciplinary teams from lab concept to market.
Apoorv Balwani, co-founder and CTO, specializes in material sciences and process engineering, with a focus on scaling novel insulation technologies.
Devakar Dhingra, Co-Founder who is leading the business development, brings expertise in industrial partnerships and market expansion in the energy and materials sectors. Supporting them is Dr. Neha Hebalkar, the scientific co-founder and inventor of the core aerogel technology developed at the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad, one of India’s leading materials research institutes.
Together, they represent the emerging generation of Indian deep-science entrepreneurs, bridging scientific depth with process innovation and business execution.

Our investment in Dashamlabs aligns with Speciale Invest’s deep-tech thesis, supporting founders who translate frontier science into scalable commercial solutions. We believe that advanced materials like silica aerogels will play a central role in the clean-energy transition, and that India can emerge as a manufacturing leader in this domain.
As the company scales its pilot production and expands partnerships across industrial, mobility, and infrastructure sectors, Dashamlabs exemplifies how Indian deep-science entrepreneurship can deliver globally competitive innovation, bridging R&D excellence with real-world impact.
We are proud to partner with the Dashamlabs team as they build a new foundation for energy-efficient materials made in India for the world.
Founded in 2017 by visionary leaders Vishesh Rajaram and Arjun Rao, Speciale Invest is a seed-stage venture capital firm dedicated to empowering deep tech founders who tackle complex global challenges. With a commitment to investing at the pre-seed and seed stages, the firm focuses on five transformative themes, such as
Energy transition and planetary health – innovations in batteries, hydrogen, and materials
Advanced manufacturing and industrial modernization – advancements in robotics and semiconductors
Beyond Earth and space technology – frontiers of satellites and launch systems
Advanced software and computing – unlocking the potential of AI/ML infrastructure and quantum tech
Biosciences, life sciences, and health tech – breakthroughs in synthetic biology, bioengineering, biomedical, and life sciences
By merging capital with profound technical and strategic support, Speciale Invest is on a mission to nurture and elevate globally relevant companies that emerge from India.
If you are building something exciting in deeptech/ deepscience, please do write to us at info@specialeinvest.com
To know more about Speciale’s investments in disruptive technologies, please check our portfolio.
We are Speciale Invest - #TheDeepTechVC