India’s biggest startup showcase just grew up. But behind the discussion, the founders are focused, not only capital – and to find out that there are also limitations of ambitions.
This year’s startup in Mahakumbe, more than 3,000 Startups Officially registered to pitch your ideas in 11 areas. But the actual number may be higher. Many aspiring founders opted not to sign up under the Startup category, instead entered as general visitors – an impromptu pitch with an investor or an accident in the hope of an accidental conversion through the hall.
While the performance was from Agritech to D2C on the performance, it was clear that the innovation led by Tech dominated the story. Artificial Intelligence, Fintech, Climate Tech, and Deep Tech attracted the greatest crowd- and attracted the attention of investors.
The phenomenon was postponed as one of the largest of its kind in India, which serves as a subtle world to focus on the growing policy on entrepreneurship energy and innovation of the country.
But below optimism is a more frightening reality: tens of thousands of founders competed for rapidly limited investor interest, in an ecosystem where the scale and survival paths are changing. India’s startup view is expanding rapidly – but not without increasing pain.
A 31 -year -old entrepreneur from Bangalore said, “Throw a rock here and you will kill a startup founder.”
Nevertheless, many founders felt that the scale of the incident had worked against the focused networking that had expected.
A Delhi founder said, “Last year, it was very low-crowned-perhaps around 1,000 to 1,500 startups,”. “This time, this is heavy. You are constantly chasing people, expecting a conversation that may be somewhere, but there is no way to know if it will be worth it.”
The founder in Hyderabad said, “It would be more useful if such incidents occurred more often, but with small, concentrated groups of startups.” “With such a density, you actually exchange the card to all – not meaningful conversations with investors.”
Some founders chose to show their work in the exhibitor pods; Others made it easier for others to roam freely, expecting spontaneous interactions.
The founder of a startup outside Gujarat said, “With pods, you can be banned, I feel personally. You have to stick to it or assign someone there.”
The founder of an Assam’s handicraft startup says, “Since AI is allegedly the next big thing, other startups -even the promising people struggle to get support,” says the founder of a handicrafts startup of Assam. He said that the metro city dominates the market with visibility, making it even more difficult to get traction for startups from small areas.
Low bets, high bets
In the background, the government is indicating a strong commitment to support deep technical undertakings.
The Center is allegedly considering a dedicated fund of funds for the region in the upcoming Union Budget 2025. It follows the launch of the Bhaskar portal in September 2024, which aims to centralize support for startups and complement the comprehensive Startup India initiative.
So far, the Department of Publicity of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has recognized over 152,000 startups under the program – although according to data shared in the Lok Sabha, more than 5,000 have been closed.
On the ground, important challenges are faced around the founders Grant And market readiness. Especially intense for uncertainty Mother -in -law startups,
To shut down the recent decisions of Flipkart, the D2C-concentrated SAAS platform achieved in 2022 has disturbed the ecosystem. The forum stopped operations by 31 March 2025, impressed more than 200 employees- although the breakdown package and internal job opportunities have been allegedly introduced.
Development underlines a growing spirit: the path of profitability or acquisition is narrow. For many founders, raising money is no longer the primary goal – fierce and strategic exhaust startups are becoming faster central for travel.
A software-e-to-service (mother-in-law) platform startup founder said, “We got a pod last year. It is difficult to raise funds, but we will meet someone ready to listen to someone. We are a mother-in-law platform, but the industry is changing. Honestly, even the acquisition I like it.”
The founder of an Ed-Tech founder from Delhi said, “Banks hesitate to take risks on us. At least the incidents like these put us in the same room as investors.”
Investors are also becoming more selective.
An investor of an enterprise capital firm said, “Here everyone believes that they are the next big thing – disruptive. But out of 3,000, there will be only one or two. So we are here.”
Another investor said, “Not everyone is doing something unique. Most of the platforms are similar to each other, we can understand who is worth investing in the first 30 seconds of their pitch.”
Fatigue with fads
There is a setting in the fatigue of the pattern.
A partner in the multi-stage fund said, “After a while, the trends begin to repeat themselves. We are less excited than what we are hot and even after five years.”
During this incident, Bhavna received unexpected reinforcement, when the Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal Indian startups called to focus their attention beyond food distribution and gig economy model, urging more emphasis on deep technology. Attracting a contrast with China, Goyal urged Indian entrepreneurs to “high target”.
Sharing an image, he once sent a friend, Goyal commented that many Indian startups still rely on converting unemployed youth into low -cost gig workers, while Chinese firms are building global technical muscles in areas such as battery innovation and electric mobility.
He acknowledged India’s entrepreneurs, but warned that the country should be known for the production of “delivery boys and girls”.
He also took a swipe on the growing quick commerce boom, suggesting that the capital was being incorrect to hyper-fast logistics with limited long-term payments.
The comments landed the online pushback, including Zepto Chief Executive Habit Palicha. In a detailed response, Palicha defended the Quick Commerce model, given that the Zapto – at the age of 3.5 years – now employs 1.5 million Indians, paid. 1,000 crores in taxes, and foreign direct investment (FDI) attracted close to $ 1 billion.
Nevertheless, players of the region including Zepto are subject to investigation. Retail industry bodies have expressed concern about potential FDI violations, adding another layer of uncertainty to the policy environment.
Deep technology, data and doubts
While Goyal created a strong pitch for India to focus on long-Herizon regions, the ground reality for deep tech founders is far more complex.
According to a report by Nasscom, in 2024, deep tech startups in India saw an increase in funding from 78% year-on-year 1.6 billion. More than 2,000 tech startups were launched during the same period. Nevertheless, only 1,000 of them fall under deepest technology category – a number Goyal is called “disturbing”.
His main message was clear: India “must choose between”Shopkeeper“(Shopkeeper) and a”vishwavyaapi“(Global Tech Leader). He appealed to investors to reconsider his approach and back technology, which could reopen India’s global status.
But many investors offered more tempered reactions.
A VC said, “Deep Tech is important, yes – but we cannot ignore those areas that have already proved their ability and make the price quickly.” “Quick commerce or mother -in -law may not look glamorous, but they have manufactured real businesses.”
Another said, “India needs both of them to burn deep-grained deepest technology bets and rapid scaling consumer platforms. Each plays a different role in building a mature ecosystem.”
A third investor pointed out the risk of narrow framing, saying, “Policy makers need to be careful that some models are somehow less capable. Founders follow the market only.”
Startups also point to long -term structural obstacles.
The friction with the Finance Ministry on now-a-domestic Angel tax had already stopped the initial phase investment for years. While the tax was terminated for all investors categories in Budget 2024, its chilling effects.
A founder said, “We are a deep -technology startup, and like most of this location, we need at least three to five years of runway and need significant funding to make anything meaningful,” a founder said. “There are many small players working on chip design, IOT, robotics and EV technologies – but without constant capital and policy assistance, we will struggle to survive, let go alone.”
Another challenge is data access. The founder of the AI Startup said, “We are trying to innovate in AI, but let’s be clear – AI is not magic, it’s data.” “The government holds some of the biggest datasets in the country, yet they are away from startups like us.”
He said: “If the government releases its data, then it gets it? How much? Under which framework? These are questions that require immediate answer if India wants to manufacture serious AI products.”
Investors are cautious.
“AI is right now, so I’m not completely convinced until I see real integration. Just slapping ‘AI’ on a pitch deck doesn’t defensive the company,” one said.
Another pointed to a general pattern: “We come a lot of AI startups, but very few people have access to ownership data or novel applications. Most are just wrappers at the top of the current technologies.”
Zapto’s Palicha also acknowledged structural boundaries. He said that India lacks a fundamental AI model, on a large scale because the country has never manufactured internet-era companies. Giants like Google, Facebook, Alibaba, and Tencent said, they had a huge dataset, elite talent and deep capital pool to run state -of -the -art innovation in AI.
He quoted Amazon as a case in a case. What started as an e-commerce company eventually turned into a global leader in Cloud Infrastructure-now the central for AI development.
