Startup Mahakumbh: MeitY Startup Hub Puts Spotlight On Startups At India’s Largest Startup Event

India’s largest startup event, the Startup Mahakumbh, concluded on March 20 in New Delhi. The three-day event, which hosted 10+ thematic pavilions, 392+ speakers, and 48,581+ business visitors, served as a catalyst for India’s startup ecosystem.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address was a key highlight of the event, all three days were filled with valuable learning experiences, networking opportunities and knowledge sharing for startups. 

The action-packed gathering, supported by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Invest India, and MeitY Startup Hub (MSH), witnessed stalwarts from industry and government discuss the role of startups in realising the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047 — the Centre’s ambitious plan to make India a developed nation by its 100th year of independence.

At the event, MSH organised numerous panel discussions, fireside chats and masterclasses, engaging budding founders and empowering them with the essential skills needed to nurture sustainable businesses. From decoding funding strategies to understanding intricate business models, the event turned out to be a treasure trove of knowledge and practical insights.

High-performing startups from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s (MeitY’s) flagship initiatives such as SAMRIDH and TIDE 2.0 received the opportunity to showcase their innovations, engage with delegates, and forge valuable connections with investors, government officials and unicorn and high-growth startup founders.

MSH Empowers Founders With Fundraising Strategies & Insights

The MSH hosted an interactive session led by its CEO Jeet Vijay. It provided valuable knowledge and insights to young and budding entrepreneurs, who came to the Startup Mahakumbh from across India, about building and growing startups.

The MSH also hosted an ‘Incubators Roundtable’, which delved into the ways the government supports startups through incubation programmes and how new-age platforms can leverage them.

At the MSH’s ‘Incubators Workshop’, Amitesh Sinha, vice president and head of corporate venture capital and Vedanta Spark, spoke about leveraging strategic partnerships and collaborations.

Not only this, the MSH also hosted unicorn founders like Droom’s Sandeep Aggarwal and Shiprocket’s Vishesh Khurana, along with fintech startup Simpl’s Nitya Sharma and Inc42’s Vaibhav Vardhan, for a session on early-stage fundraising. The speakers spoke candidly about their experiences as early-stage founders, the mistakes they made, and what they could have done differently. They even shared advice on avoiding common pitfalls when it comes to funding.

This was followed by another interactive session by Anup Jain, an early-stage VC. Jain elaborated further on the strategies for raising seed-stage funding. He shared a mantra for founders of seed-stage startups – Know Your Investor, Know Yourself, and Know Your Pitch. 

From Grants To Funding: How MSH Fuels Innovation

The MSH also set up a pavilion showcasing about 40 startups supported under various programmes of MeitY like SAMRIDH and TIDE 2.0. These startups spanned across sectors, including deeptech, agrotech, healthtech, and fintech. Notably, many startups present at the Startup Mahakumbh hailed from Tier-II, III regions.

“We have around 140 incubators, accelerators and centers of excellence across the country,” MSH CEO Jeet Vijay told Inc42. “They support startups in emerging technologies and deeptech areas, ensuring that entrepreneurs from all parts of the country can access an enabling ecosystem of resources.”

He further said that the MSH has various funding schemes for startups, ranging from idea-level to fund of funds.

“MeitY has been a great supporter in our journey, always providing us with financial backing,” said Pragati Srivastava of Eresha, an MSH portfolio startup. “We are incubated at Amity Incubator, one of MeitY’s incubators. They were our company’s first investor,” Srivastava said. 

Sharing his experience, Shailesh Jaiswal of customer support startup LiaPlus AI said, “We have received a grant of INR 30 Lakh. Through TIDE 2.0, we also gain access to investor networks. This has been instrumental in our journey, as it’s currently helping us raise our seed round.”

Echoing similar sentiments, Harshini Zaveri of UNINO Healthcare said that MeitY provided significant support in terms of funding, connections, and mentorship in the healthtech segment, both for business and technology development. “In addition to bringing us to Startup Mahakumbh, they give us exposure at various other platforms in India and internationally,” Zaveri added.