BITS Pilani Startup Hub Showcases 12 Technology Startups at Inaugural Demo Day
The event also marked the launch of two accelerator programmes — the Keystone Deeptech Accelerator, led by Vibhav Joshi, Director of Innaccel, and a Healthcare Accelerator led by Swathi Kulkarni, Managing Director of Konovo and Founder of Elda Health.
Prof. Suman Kundu, Director of BITS Pilani K. K. Birla Goa Campus, attended the event along with Nitin Pai, Chief Strategy Officer of Tata Elxsi; Avnish Sabharwal of Vedanta Ventures; Bala Srinivasa, Managing Director and Founder of Arkam Ventures; and Rohit Agarwal, Senior Director at Palo Alto Networks.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Mridula Goel, Founding Lead of BITS Pilani Startup Hub, outlined the hub’s vision of building an alumni-powered platform that connects entrepreneurs with mentorship, industry and customer networks, talent, infrastructure and investors.
Kundu said BITS Pilani alumni had founded 17 unicorns and 140 deep-tech startups, adding that the Bengaluru hub aimed to support entrepreneurs through accelerator programmes led by experienced alumni founders.
The 12 startups showcased at the event included OmniX Labs, Anvitra AI, CognifyEV, Poshis Global, RecQu AI, SwaVid Edutech, Ringg AI, MathFlo, Niravi Inc., Deepshorts, Supermaya and KineticAge. Their offerings span future communication networks, financial research, enterprise artificial intelligence, healthcare data, education technology, content production and senior wellness.
The hub’s existing 12-week, on-site acceleration programme provides founders with alumni-led mentorship, strategic guidance, investor interactions and fundraising support.
It is also launching a six-month acceleration track for selected hard-tech startups requiring deeper product development, industry engagement and scale-up assistance.
The event featured a panel discussion titled “Founder to Funded: Navigating the Investor Journey”, focusing on fundraising, investor engagement and venture building.
The discussion was moderated by Rohit Agarwal and included Bala Srinivasa of Arkam Ventures, Rachit Parekh of Accel, Kushal Bhagia of All In Capital and Rahul Seth of Industrial 47.
Rajesh Kumar Kotta, Founder and CEO of HustleHub, said the objective was to build successful enterprises and demonstrate India’s potential in global entrepreneurship.
Located in Bengaluru’s HSR Layout, BITS Pilani Startup Hub is an alumni-powered initiative designed to connect founders with the institute’s alumni, investor, industry, faculty and talent networks.
The hub has resident capacity for more than 15 startups and offers mentorship, infrastructure, investor access and pilot opportunities.
TNT KS
