Startup Mahakumbh Ends With A Call To Leverage Deeptech Innovations For A ‘Viksit Bharat’

The third and the final day of Startup Mahakumbh saw key government officials, founders and investors from the startup ecosystem, and industry leaders gather under one roof to drive the future of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. 

In a powerful demonstration of India’s thriving entrepreneurial landscape, this year’s Startup Mahakumbh emerged as the nation’s largest-ever startup congregation, drawing an impressive footfall of approximately 2,30,000 visitors over three days.

The event brought together over 3,000 startups, 1,091 investors and incubators, alongside 10,000+ delegates representing India and more than 60 countries under one roof. Innovation took centrestage across 211 specialised sessions featuring 750+ industry leaders and experts, while 1,052 emerging ventures benefited from targeted mentoring opportunities. 

Themed “Startup India @2047 – Unfolding the Bharat Story”, India’s biggest startup conclave was hosted at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi from April 3 to 5, 2025. The event highlighted India’s advancements across cutting-edge sectors including artificial intelligence, deeptech, cybersecurity, healthtech, biotech, and spacetech.

Deeptech Innovation To Achieve ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’

The day kicked off with a discussion on India’s R&D ecosystem and its role in shaping the nation’s future.

Karnataka Digital Economy Mission’s CEO Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, who moderated the discussion, highlighted that India spends just 1% of its GDP on R&D compared to the US’ 3% and Israel’s 5%.

During the discussion, Digital India Foundation CEO Arvind Gupta pointed out the big strides taken by the country’s startup ecosystem over the last decade or so and called for creating an innovation-driven ecosystem, with a focus on deeptech sectors. 

He said that the country should aim to have a $1 Tn R&D-led innovation ecosystem as it progresses towards becoming a $10 Tn economy.

The other panellists in the session were MeitY Startup Hub’s Madangopal, IvyCap Ventures’ founder and managing partner Vikram Gupta, and Ideaspring Capital’s managing partner and founder Naganand Doraswamy. 

A consensus emerged among the members that India’s startup ecosystem, with the right support from the government and industry stakeholders, is well-positioned to drive innovation-led growth to make a self-reliant India. 

Celebrating The Entrepreneurs Of Tomorrow 

The winners of the Startup Maharathi Challenge and Futrepreneurs Programme were also announced in the presence of union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal. 

The Startup Maharathi Challenge 2025, with a prize pool of INR 70 Cr, aimed at identifying startups focussing on 11 critical problem statements in frontier sectors like satellite imagery, maritime awareness, cryptography, LLMs on sensitive data, and cybersecurity. 

Through a multi-phase evaluation, over 240 startups were selected out of 2,400 applications.

The selected startups will receive grants of up to INR 5 Lakh. In addition to financial support, they will gain access to a network of 100+ investors, including VCs, family offices, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. 

Some of the top startups that emerged from this challenge were ONIBER Software, Aegion Aerospace, Raana Semiconductors, Orange Koi, Lxme, MeraBills, Collearn, Misya Beauty Tech, Nibiaa Devices, GR8 Sports India, Ngurie Organic and others.

On the other hand, the Futurepreneurs Programme, with an INR 1 Cr prize pool, was focussed on nurturing student innovators from Indian colleges by providing funding, mentorship, and industry exposure. Top 10 finalist teams pitched AI-powered solutions addressing critical societal needs to a distinguished audience of investors and industry leaders. The top three included:

• Chitkara University, Chandigarh claimed top spot with “Stick Buddy,” a smart navigation device enabling visually impaired individuals to detect obstacles and access emergency assistance. 
• Tula’s Institute, Dehradun, secured second place for “Pragati,” an AI nurse robot delivering instant health assessments through handshake technology. 
• Vignan Pharmacy College, Andhra Pradesh, took third position with “Magna Pads,” innovative menstrual care products that incorporate diagnostic capabilities for early detection of women’s health conditions.

The Startup Mahakumbh also hosted hackathons, such as INR 50 Lakh Ayushman Bharat challenge for developing AI-powered voice-to-text systems for medical use and INR 20 Lakh challenge for creating AI tools to break language barriers in government services.