Business Wire IndiaStartup Mahakumbh, the nation’s biggest celebration of the startup ecosystem, commenced today, at Bharat Mandapam, setting the stage for three days of collaboration, inspiration, and transformative discussions. The event saw an inaugural address from Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOC&I), Government of India (GoI), in the presence of key government and private officials including Shri Amitabh Kant, G20 Sherpa & Former CEO, NITI Aayog, GoI, members of organizing committee including Prashanth Prakash, Founder, Accel; Sanjay Nayar, Sr Vice President, ASSOCHAM & Founder and Chairman, Sorin Investments; Archana Jahagirdar, Founding and Managing Partner, Rukam Capital; and Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Co-founder and Executive Vice Chairman, Info Edge.
Post-inauguration, the day one witnessed a diverse range of activities and sessions across 10 pavilions including AI+SaaS, D2C/Consumer brands, Agritech, Fintech, Deep Tech, Biotech & Pharma, Incubators, Climate Tech, E-sports, and B2B Manufacturing.
The D2C pavilion on day 01 witnessed key speakers including Vishal Jindal, Co-Founder, Biryani by Kilo, Binod Homagai, Co-founder, Wow Momo, Shivani Poddar, Co-Founder and CEO, Faballey, Anil Shetty, Founder, Drip Project & Meta Man, with Gokul Kandhi, COO, Curefoods, and Rishika Garg, Sr. Associate, Accel Partners as moderators. The discussions focused on highlighting the significance of maintaining authenticity, quality, brand sustainability, and fostering stronger connections with the customers. Further, the speakers also talked about an omnichannel approach and how it is a phygital world, an opportunity to connect with the customers and integrate the brand identity via a physical store.
Speaking at the event, Ankit Nagori, Founder, Curefoods, shared, "Startup Mahakumbh stands out as one of the largest gatherings for startups, designed to foster opportunities for founders and investors while enhancing their visibility. Over the past decade, the government has shown consistent support for this ecosystem, both in terms of growth and foundational backing. With thematic pavilions, the event endeavors to bring together innovators from across the nation, empowering aspiring entrepreneurs and aspiring to elevate it to the world's foremost global event of its kind."
Startup Mahakumbh onboards top unicorns in the sponsors list, with Games 24X7, Oyo and Infoedge as Unicorn Gold sponsors, Dream11, Flipkart, Infra Market, Moglix, Nykaa as Unicorn Silver sponsors, BharatPe and Razorpay as Unicorn Bronze sponsors. The list of AIF sponsors includes Accel, Rukam Capital and Peak XV in the gold category, Aavishkar Group, Elevation Capital, Iron Pillar in the silver sponsorship category and Avendus Capital, Chiratae Ventures, Fireside Ventures, IvyCap Ventures and Sorin Investments in the bronze category of AIF sponsors.
The event will also connect Indian startups with event partners including Dalmia Bharat & Google (silver partners), Acko, Captain Fresh, Mobile Premier League (MPL), Jetsynthesis, Tally (bronze partners), & Blume Ventures (session partners), IDFC First Bank (Bank partner), MM Active & India Mobile Congress (IMC) (Event partners) and Indian School of Business (ISB) (Academic partner).
