YourStory’s TechSparks makes thundering debut in Mumbai: A two-day gala featuring India’s top entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, and more

• Speakers included Dream11 Co-founder Harsh Jain, Multiples’ Founder-CEO Renuka Ramnath, HCL Co-founder Ajai Chowdhry, Hungama MD Neeraj Roy, and celebrities Malaika Arora, Dia Mirza, and Mira Rajput Kapoor, among others.
• The event’s grand finale featured a pitch fest where eight handpicked startups presented their groundbreaking ideas in front of 80+ investors.
• YourStory and The Decrypting Story signed an MoU with the India Blockchain Forum (IBF) to bring corporate and enterprise innovation leaders together to ideate and figure out best practices involving Web3.

MUMBAI, India, March 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — YourStory’s first Mumbai edition of TechSparks, India’s most-influential startup-tech conference, ended on a high note on Thursday, seeing over 3,000 attendees. Held at Grand Hyatt Mumbai Hotel and Residences, the two-day gala saw some of the best minds in the country get together to decode the latest in India’s startup and technology ecosystem.

The event featured an impressive line-up of speakers, including Harsh Jain, Co-founder and CEO of Dream11 and Dream Sports; Neeraj Roy, Managing Director and CEO of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment; Nandita Sinha, CEO of Myntra; Renuka Ramnath, Founder and CEO of Multiples Alternate Asset Management Pvt Ltd.; Ajai Chowdhry, Co-founder of HCL; Anand Jain, Co-founder and CEO of CleverTap; Aditya Aggarwal, Executive Vice President of Maruti Suzuki India; Karan Virwani, CEO of WeWork India; Darpan Sanghvi, Group Founder and CEO of The Good Glamm Group; and Chirag Sanghani, Head – Media, Entertainment and Gaming Business of Google Cloud India, among others.

“It is an amazing experience seeing so many entrepreneurs and innovators support TechSparks’ debut in Mumbai with such outstanding enthusiasm, a testament to India’s belief in its burgeoning entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem. This is just the start and YourStory is looking forward to returning to the City of Dreams with TechSparks annually from hereon. Wait and watch out for a lot more from us,” said Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory Media.

Kausthubh Dhavse, Officer on Special Duty to the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, also graced the event. Dhavse stressed upon Maharashtra’s focus on startups and revealed that the government is rolling out the red carpet for entrepreneurs and focusing on infrastructure, connectivity, and speed of data and network.

Dilip Asbe, CEO of the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), spoke about the vast global opportunities of India’s digital public infrastructure for fintech startups to tap into and the growth of UPI to reach 10 billion transactions per day.

Dr Ramaswami N, CEO, Maharashtra State Innovation Society, was also in attendance, and shared how the Maharashtra government is establishing a deep ecosystem to support startups, women entrepreneurs, deep tech companies, and more.

Actor and investor Malaika Arora outlined her dream of taking her investment firm global. Actor, investor and Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Environment Programme Dia Mirza and Myntra CEO Nandita Sinha spoke about empowering women professionally and in their personal spheres.

Celebrity influencer and investor Mira Rajput Kapoor talked about the importance of maintaining authenticity for brands and influencers to connect with their audience.

Content creators Yashraj Mukhate, Niharika NM, and Sanjyot Keer broke down the challenges of catering to a growing follower base and driving engagement.

Investors Puneet Kumar, Managing Director of Steadview Capital, and Kanika Mayar, Partner at Vertex Ventures, highlighted the need to build sustainable startups. On the other hand, Renuka Ramnath, Founder and CEO of private equity firm Multiples, guided startups to chase purpose instead of valuations.

Dream11 Co-founder Harsh Jain, whose fireside chat with Shradha Sharma kicked off the two-day gala, spoke about the lonely journey to creating a startup unicorn in the gaming space, while Karan Virwani, CEO of WeWork India, outlined the company’s inspiring journey of bouncing back from the disruptions caused by COVID-19.

Another highlight was a dedicated Web3 track, packed with insightful conversations around blockchain technology, its use cases in enterprises, the impact of the metaverse, and much more.

YourStory and The Decrypting Story also announced a partnership with India Blockchain Forum (IBF) during the event. The two parties signed an MoU to collaborate on bringing corporate and enterprise innovation leaders together to ideate and figure out best practices, identify use cases, and celebrate success stories of digital transformation involving Web3.

The event was particularly noteworthy for its grand finale, the Mumbai Pitch Fest, a curated startup event to spotlight and empower undiscovered and promising startups of the Indian ecosystem—giving them the opportunity to meet potential mentors and investors.

TechSparks Mumbai was a hub of innovation and knowledge-sharing, attracting seasoned professionals and budding entrepreneurs. The event witnessed palpable energy and excitement as participants exchanged ideas and engaged in discussions about the latest trends and challenges in the tech sector. Many attendees also took advantage of the networking opportunities to make valuable connections and forge new partnerships.

About YourStory Media and TechSparks:

Founded in 2008 by Shradha Sharma, YourStory is the first digital media platform in India to champion positive storytelling of entrepreneurs, doers, and changemakers across the country. Today, the platform has told over 150,000 stories and has spread across 12 Indian languages. YourStory has the vision to produce over 1.3 billion stories and move across geographies where there are stories to be told.

YourStory stands out in the cluttered media space by virtue of its success in creating a new set of champions and role models for the next generation from entrepreneurs, investors, and the government. Over the years, it has become the voice of the new India.

YourStory’s flagship property, TechSparks, is the platform for visionary architects and early adopters of India’s Tech agenda. For over 13 years, TechSparks – India’s most influential technology, startup and leadership summit – has been instrumental in shaping the narrative of India’s technology, innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem and created a meaningful impact on the ecosystem.

From cutting-edge technologies to audacious ideas, from path-breaking disruptions to deep humane conversations, TechSparks will be the destination for deliberating, deep diving, and understanding the promise of India’s Tech agenda.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2040483/TS_mumbai.jpg

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