Startup Mahakumbh Showcases Deep-Tech Prowess
ECONOMY & POLICY

Startup Mahakumbh Showcases Deep-Tech Prowess

The third and final day of Startup Mahakumbh 2025 culminated in a high-energy celebration of India’s rising prowess in deep-tech, B2B, precision manufacturing, and defence-space sectors. The event cemented India’s commitment to becoming a global innovation hub, echoing the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

A power-packed panel on “Defence Startups: Growth Engines of Viksit Bharat,” moderated by Capt. Vishal Kanwar (Retd.), featured leaders like Ankit Mehta (ideaForge), Prashant C. Jain (L&T), Prithwish Kundu (Green Aero), and Soma Sekhar Vedantam (Meridian Data Labs). The panel focused on indigenous innovation, R&D scale-up, and cross-sectoral synergies to position India as a global technology powerhouse.

Adding to the momentum, NSDC signed an MoU with Pandit Deendayal Energy University (PDEU) to build a Centre of Excellence for skill development in energy and semiconductors—a strategic move aligned with India's semiconductor mission.

In a session on “Opportunities in Defence and Space Tech,” prominent venture capitalists including Ashish Taneja (GrowX), Cdr. Navneet Kaushik (Jamwant Ventures), Girish Shivani (Yournest), Raj Sethia (MountTech Kavachh), and Vinod Shankar (Java Capital) underscored India's unique dual-use innovation potential, need for regulatory agility, and investor interest spurred by robust policy frameworks and changing geopolitical narratives.

Another key discussion, “Fintech Meets B2B,” moderated by Karthik Prabhakar (Peer Capital), delved into financial strategies for enterprise growth. Panelists including Arup Kumar (SIDBI VC), Parthesh Shah (Knight FinTech), and Sonali Jindal (Rezolv) highlighted the importance of long-term capital, academic linkages, and policy-driven incentives to spur indigenous tech development.

Wrapping up, the “zero-one in Manufacturing” session explored founder journeys in advanced textiles, specialty chemicals, and agri-tech. Led by Akshay Sharma (3one4 Capital), it featured insights from Piyush Jalan (Thimblerr), Sachin Santosh (Scimplify), and Shreshtha Kukreja (Whizzo), emphasising first-principles thinking, global compliance (US FDA, EPA), and MSME-led scaling.

Startup Mahakumbh, organised by FICCI, NASSCOM, TiE, IVCA, and others, attracted 50,000+ visitors, 3,000 startups, and 1,000+ investors. With its second edition set for 2025, the event reinforces India’s leadership in strategic and scalable innovation.

The third and final day of Startup Mahakumbh 2025 culminated in a high-energy celebration of India’s rising prowess in deep-tech, B2B, precision manufacturing, and defence-space sectors. The event cemented India’s commitment to becoming a global innovation hub, echoing the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. A power-packed panel on “Defence Startups: Growth Engines of Viksit Bharat,” moderated by Capt. Vishal Kanwar (Retd.), featured leaders like Ankit Mehta (ideaForge), Prashant C. Jain (L&T), Prithwish Kundu (Green Aero), and Soma Sekhar Vedantam (Meridian Data Labs). The panel focused on indigenous innovation, R&D scale-up, and cross-sectoral synergies to position India as a global technology powerhouse. Adding to the momentum, NSDC signed an MoU with Pandit Deendayal Energy University (PDEU) to build a Centre of Excellence for skill development in energy and semiconductors—a strategic move aligned with India's semiconductor mission. In a session on “Opportunities in Defence and Space Tech,” prominent venture capitalists including Ashish Taneja (GrowX), Cdr. Navneet Kaushik (Jamwant Ventures), Girish Shivani (Yournest), Raj Sethia (MountTech Kavachh), and Vinod Shankar (Java Capital) underscored India's unique dual-use innovation potential, need for regulatory agility, and investor interest spurred by robust policy frameworks and changing geopolitical narratives. Another key discussion, “Fintech Meets B2B,” moderated by Karthik Prabhakar (Peer Capital), delved into financial strategies for enterprise growth. Panelists including Arup Kumar (SIDBI VC), Parthesh Shah (Knight FinTech), and Sonali Jindal (Rezolv) highlighted the importance of long-term capital, academic linkages, and policy-driven incentives to spur indigenous tech development. Wrapping up, the “zero-one in Manufacturing” session explored founder journeys in advanced textiles, specialty chemicals, and agri-tech. Led by Akshay Sharma (3one4 Capital), it featured insights from Piyush Jalan (Thimblerr), Sachin Santosh (Scimplify), and Shreshtha Kukreja (Whizzo), emphasising first-principles thinking, global compliance (US FDA, EPA), and MSME-led scaling. Startup Mahakumbh, organised by FICCI, NASSCOM, TiE, IVCA, and others, attracted 50,000+ visitors, 3,000 startups, and 1,000+ investors. With its second edition set for 2025, the event reinforces India’s leadership in strategic and scalable innovation.

Next Story
Real Estate

Indian real estate attracts USD 1.4 bn institutional investments in Q1 2026: Vestian

Institutional investments in India’s real estate sector touched USD 1.4 billion in Q1 2026, marking the highest first-quarter inflow since 2022, according to Vestian. While investments fell 62 per cent quarter-on-quarter due to an exceptionally high base in the previous quarter, they rose 74 per cent compared to the same period last year, reflecting sustained investor confidence despite rising geopolitical and macroeconomic challenges.Commercial real estate remained the key driver of investment activity during the quarter, accounting for 80 per cent of total inflows, sharply higher than 38 p..

Next Story
Infrastructure Transport

VECV crosses 1 lakh annual vehicle sales milestone in FY26

VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV), a joint venture between Volvo Group and Eicher Motors, has surpassed the 1 lakh annual sales mark in FY 2025–26, recording its highest-ever commercial vehicle sales performance. The company said it sold more than 100,000 vehicles during the year, marking a major milestone aligned with the original vision of the Volvo–Eicher joint venture.The strong performance was supported by demand across categories. Light and Medium Duty (LMD) trucks contributed 47,789 units, accounting for 46.1 per cent of total sales. Heavy Duty (HD) trucks recorded 26,867 units (25.9 pe..

Next Story
Technology

Rodic Digital & Advisory partners SatSure to deploy EO intelligence in public sector

Rodic Digital & Advisory (RDA), the strategic advisory and digital transformation arm of Rodic Consultants, has signed a strategic cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SatSure to jointly pursue opportunities in India’s public sector. The collaboration aims to integrate high-resolution Earth Observation (EO) data and geospatial AI into government workflows to strengthen monitoring, compliance, and operational decision-making across key sectors.The partnership combines SatSure’s Earth intelligence capabilities with RDA’s expertise in government digital transformation and ..

Advertisement

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Get daily newsletters around different themes from Construction world.

STAY CONNECTED

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement