Ankit Anand

Physicist turned founder turned VC| Founding Partner at Riceberg Ventures | Investing in breakthrough deep tech startups globally | Based between SF and Zurich.

[Ankit Anand @anandvankit]

AGI (if it ever happens) won't lead to UBI/UHI (period)!

Everyone is debating how AGI will make intelligence abundant, and finally, we will have UBI/UHI. That's total BS!

I explored this through my latest article in @moneycontrolcom

My framework is simple:

Power = f(Resources × Intelligence × Agency)

AGI only changes one variable: Intelligence.

It doesn’t suddenly give everyone land, energy, compute, factories, semiconductor fabs, data centers, or equity in AI companies.

It doesn’t magically redistribute ownership.

This is why I’m skeptical of the argument that AGI naturally leads to UBI or universal prosperity.

Why would it?

If I own productive assets today, AGI doesn’t transfer them to you tomorrow.

Ownership is built over decades through capital, institutions, law, and geopolitics. Those don’t disappear because models become smarter.

In fact, AGI could strengthen existing winners.

Countries with capital, compute, and talent attract more AI investment. Within those countries, owners of productive assets capture a disproportionate share of the upside.

So what’s the solution?

Not panic.

Not blind optimism.

History shows that civilizations don’t escape inequality simply by redistributing existing wealth.

They do it by creating new frontiers, as this gives a fresh negotiating power to catalyze redistribution.

Without creating new frontiers, forcing the redistribution of existing resources will lead to (civil) wars.

By leaving it as business as usual, inequality would widen and would also lead to (civil) wars.

We should do neither; we should do what humans are best at: keep working hard and expand our ambition while keeping a check on ethics, which will lead to a slow but enduring rebalance.

We’ve faced civilization shifts before.

Our DNA isn’t to fear them.

It’s to build the next frontier.

Full article:
https://t.co/x8P8N33uUn

[Ankit Anand @anandvankit]

When we were starting our VC fund, we knew almost nothing about the fund business.

So I went around asking anyone remotely experienced for advice. I took every comment like it was gospel.

One person looked me straight in the eye and said:
“Your biggest competition will be Indonesia.”

I remember thinking… huh?

Not because I doubt Indonesia’s growth. But I couldn’t imagine an LP looking at a tiny first-time deep-tech fund and asking:

“Interesting… but why shouldn’t I allocate this to Indonesia instead?” 😂

In hindsight, startup advice has an incredible signal-to-noise ratio.

We should’ve kept a Wall of Fame for all the confidently delivered, completely random advice we received.

[Riceberg Ventures @_RicebergVC_]

🚀🚀Proud to back @Cligent_Aero

18 successful test flights of their hybrid-electric STOL prototype. Scaling to 1.5T payload + 1,000km range.

Redefining regional air mobility, Made in India.
@Lino_Gandola @anandvankit

#eSTOL #Aerospace #IndianStartups #DeepTech

[Runtime @RuntimeBRT]

🚨 Ahmedabad-based Cligent Aerospace has successfully completed 18 test flights on their scaled down hybrid-electric STOL fixed-wing prototype.

They are now working to develop their full-scale aircraft that will have a payload capacity of 1.5 tonnes and range of up to 1,000km.

[Ankit Anand @anandvankit]

@SkylarkLabs 🤖🚀

[Skylark Labs @SkylarkLabs]

Humanoids were built for kitchens and factories.

We built them for defense!

Today we're unveiling what our team has been working on: fully autonomous humanoids running Skylark's patented vision-reasoning-action stack — learning new skills from a few minutes of demonstration, then improving on their own, in the field, with no retraining.

No cloud. No data center. The learning happens on the robot.

The future of humanoids that science fiction imagined is here, and it's operational.

More to come. Menlo Park + Pune.

#Humanoids #DefenseTech #Robotics #AI #Autonomy

[Ankit Anand @anandvankit]

@ericweinstein We are getting there. One rocket launch at a time, lol.
https://t.co/DRD7E8Jf0A

[Ankit Anand @anandvankit]

@SciGuySpace Skyroot nailed the launch today—a super proud moment for the whole ecosystem. 🎉

[Ankit Anand @anandvankit]

@gagan_shux The Indian space tech sector has always had talent; it only needed courage and role models.

You became one such role model last year, and the Skyroot team is the next one.

We need more and more of this to make every Indian kid believe that the sky is not a limit—it's just the beginning.

#skyroot

[Shubhanshu Shukla @gagan_shux]

What a day for India’s space sector.

Today, I had the privilege of witnessing the flawless launch of Vikram-1 from Sriharikota. The energy in the mission control room was enough to launch you into orbit.

Congratulations to the entire Skyroot Aerospace team on this remarkable achievement. While the flight itself lasted only about 15 minutes, it represents years of relentless dedication, perseverance, engineering excellence, and the courage to pursue an ambitious vision.

The name Mission Agaman couldn’t be more fitting. It signifies the arrival of a new era, and that is exactly what today felt like. With this milestone, India becomes only the third nation to achieve an orbital launch through its private sector—an achievement that reflects the growing maturity of our space ecosystem and the possibilities that lie ahead.

Here’s to many more launches, many more milestones, and an even brighter future for Indian spaceflight.

#shux #space #shubhanshushukla #india #skyroot

[Ankit Anand @anandvankit]

@pronounced_kyle Watch out for this ‘space ’; a Falcon-sized reusable is also coming soon! ;)

@Manu_J_Nair @theguildworld are on it!

[Christian Keil @pronounced_kyle]

Successful maiden launch for Vikram-1!

Think of it as the Indian Electron. Roughly equivalent in size to the RocketLab rocket, also non-reusable.

[Ankit Anand @anandvankit]

Peak startup moment: when the Prime Minister personally tracks and congratulates you on your product “launch.” 🚀😉

[Narendra Modi @narendramodi]

Spoke to the team of Skyroot Aerospace and congratulated them on the successful launch of Vikram-1.

This is a defining moment in India’s space journey. The growing participation of our private sector is opening new frontiers and accelerating innovation.

This achievement will encourage countless youngsters to dream bigger and innovate fearlessly.

@SkyrootA

[Ankit Anand @anandvankit]

India has made history today with @SkyrootA maiden launch of Vikram 1 successful, opening a new era for the Indian space ecosystem—and, in many ways, for the global commercial space industry.

I’m still cherishing this moment and reflecting on what it truly means for the future of SpaceTech. But before anything else, congratulations to @PawanKChandana and the entire Skyroot team.

You earned this. Time for a grand celebration. 🚀🇮🇳

[Skyroot Aerospace @SkyrootA]

We'll be going live for India's first private orbital launch. 🚀

Watch Vikram-1's Test Flight-1 — Mission Aagaman — live on YouTube today.

Set your reminder and fly with us. ▶️🔗https://t.co/xNes7DbvcM

#Vikram1 #MissionAagaman #SkyrootAerospace #OpeningSpaceForAll

[Amarjot Singh @Amar_2407]

Model-Driven Autonomy in Action

Our drone autonomously executes the command: “Go through the cones.”

The model plans and performs the required skills sequentially: hovering → straight-line locomotion.

#ModelDrivenAutonomy #AIEnabledDrones #PhysicalAI #SkylarkLabs

[Ankit Anand @anandvankit]

Robotics feels like a solved problem—until you talk to the people actually building it.

As @Amar_2407, founder of @SkylarkLabs (our Portco), likes to joke:

“If you go on Twitter, you were having lunch with your humanoid last week.”

Reality is very different.

Unlike LLMs, robotics has to solve intelligence and physics. Manipulation, controls, sensing, power, safety, hardware, manufacturing—every layer is hard.

The good news? The pieces are finally coming together:

• More capital than ever before
• Better talent entering the field
• AI unlocking physical intelligence
• Massive market demand waiting

We’re probably much closer to a robotics breakthrough than most people think.

The real question is whether countries like India will help build this future—or once again be late to the party.

I explore this in my latest @moneycontrolcom column.

https://t.co/Ne8O9UnSdI

#Robotics #PhysicalAI #DeepTech #AI #India

[Ankit Anand @anandvankit]

@Lino_Gandola I'll look for a place at the intersection of Sanborn Ave and Austin Ct, since I figured that's where the weather is best. Lol.

[Ankit Anand @anandvankit]

Silicon Valley is fascinating.

I said I live across Europe, California, and India to enjoy perfect weather year-round.

She replied: “Nothing beats San Jose weather.”

Not California.
Not even Palo Alto.
San Jose. 😂

Bay Area exceptionalism has reached municipal resolution. 🫡

[Ankit Anand @anandvankit]

While there seems to be a consensus that energy will be the final currency and that it's the only input we'll need in the world, I broadly agree, but there's another factor we're missing: land.

Land provides material and space to build things, but this is limited by the total available landmass, which is already expensive on Earth.

Not necessarily because we don't have enough land on Earth, but also because its ownership is already defined, which puts the owner's power in their hands to set the price.

You could argue that more energy gives you the option to explore other lands, like uninhabitable Earth, the ocean, Mars, or the Moon—which is true and quite vast, but not infinite.

Right now, just having cheaper energy won't make these places accessible right away; other variables also come into play.

So, this is something we need to keep in mind while chasing our north star. :)

[Ankit Anand @anandvankit]

@sparshselim @alteredshrey @AltCarbonIndia Only if ‘average’ mattered in the venture world. VC is a game of outliers.

And when you're looking for an outlier, the most important rule is that there are no rules. :)

[Ankit Anand @anandvankit]

@Viraj__Acharya Thank you @Viraj__Acharya for an engaging and fun conversation.