Startup Mahakumbh All Set To Drive Forward The Future Of Incubators In India

The three-day Startup Mahakumbh, to be held from March 18-20 at New Delhi, will bring together the startups, investors, incubators and accelerators, and industry leaders from diverse sectors, under a single roof.

Hosting over 1K+ startups, 1K+ investors, 500+ incubators and accelerators, 5K+ conference delegates, 10+ country delegations, and 40K+ business visitors over the span of three days, the event will feature sector-focussed pavilions to showcase the innovations from various sectors. One such pavilion would be the incubators pavilion, which will showcase the best practices and facilities offered by incubators across India.

Commenting on the importance of incubators and the pavilion, Karthik Kittu, chief of staff to the chairman of Startup Karnataka and co-lead of the incubator track, said, “Nurturing entrepreneurship is the key to developing physical and digital infrastructure across India as 65% of India is under 35 years. It is imperative to foster a culture of entrepreneurship at the school, university and industry levels. We need to look at bringing the informal (jugaad) innovation happening across the country into the formal fold and turn rural microenterprises into startups through building the incubation ecosystem.” 

The pavilion will be a hub for one-to-one organised networking sessions, conferences, masterclasses, roundtables, and panel discussions over the three days.

Startup Mahakumbh is being organised by industry body ASSOCHAM, Nasscom, Bootstrap Incubation & Advisory Foundation, TiE, and the Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA).

Unlocking Opportunities For Incubators & Entrepreneurs

The number of startups and incubators to mentor these startups have risen exponentially in the country over the last few years. As such, bringing all of them together promises exciting opportunities for the country’s startup ecosystem, according to Suresh Narasimha, managing partner of CoCreate Ventures and co-lead of the incubators pavilion.

“This is the first time that we are getting such a large ecosystem to come together and brainstorm to rebuild a better future. Incubators and academics form the backbone of innovative startups. Getting them face-to-face with corporates and the government promises a lot of interesting discussions,” Narasimha said. 

“Attendees can create their own agendas, get together in huddles and discuss. There will also be a platform where they can connect 1:1. In the masterclasses, matured incubators will share their experiences with new-age incubators,” he added. 

“Investors are showing unforeseen interest in the spacetech and healthcare sectors. Deeptech is also becoming lucrative,” said Poyni Bhatt, the CEO of IIT Bombay’s Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and lead of the incubators pavilion. 

“The pavilion will enhance the capabilities of incubators and offer additional opportunities for existing and budding entrepreneurs. It will also showcase the best startups incubated across Indian incubators and posters representing innovations supporting entrepreneurship,” said Kittu. 

“Overall, it will host 1K+ startups and 200+ incubators. “The pavilion will work on two-fold capacity development – connecting incubators in the valley (metros and sub-metros) with incubators for Bharat and empowering rural micro-entrepreneurs into startups,” he added  

Meanwhile, Bhatt said the pavilion would provide an impetus to the incubator ecosystem.

“This thoughtfully curated space will operate as a catalyst to enhance collaboration across the ecosystem through discussions, networking, and information dissemination. During the three-day mega event, we will also celebrate and recognise the contribution of these remarkable incubators from across the country, propelling future growth,” Bhatt added.