TechSparks: dates, who attends, and how founders get in
“TechSparks 2025 explores the immense opportunities offered by AI and deeptech.”
- Next edition
- Oct 13–15, 2026 · TechSparks 2026 source
- Where
- Taj Yeshwantpur, Bengaluru (named on the main TechSparks 2026 page and official TechSparks posts; a separate official events page lists Sheraton Grand Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel & Convention Center, so the organizer’s pages conflict)., Bengaluru, India source
- Format
- in-person · 3 days (2025 edition, Nov 6–8).
- Startup pass
- Tech30 2026 application and selection programme, not a separately priced event pass: apply through the registration form for Level 1; shortlisted startups proceed to a longer Level 2 application. Applications are closed for the 2026 edition. source
- Cadence
- Annual flagship; Bengaluru editions include Sep 26–28, 2024 and Nov 6–8, 2025, with the next announced for Oct 13–15, 2026.
GeneralistAIDeeptechHealth & biotechFintechClimateSpaceRoboticsHardwareCrypto & web3FoundersInvestorsPolicy & governmentCorporatesDevelopers
Next edition
| Dates | Oct 13–15, 2026 source |
|---|---|
| Edition | TechSparks 2026 |
| Venue | Taj Yeshwantpur, Bengaluru, on the main TechSparks site and official social posts; a separate YourStory event page lists Sheraton Grand Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel & Convention Center., Bengaluru, India source |
| Theme | The New Tech Order |
| Timezone | Asia/Kolkata |
| Tickets | techsparks.yourstory.com source |
Deadlines that matter to founders
- Aug 24, 2026 — Startup programme application (passed) · apply
How founders get in
YourStory describes TechSparks 2026 as a three-day mix of learning (fireside chats, panels and keynotes), making (masterclasses, workshops and hands-on sessions), live demos and startup exhibits, and connections through a startup hub, networking zones, an India-International Corridor and a Government Pavilion. Tech30 and VibeCode30 add startup and builder showcases.
- For ordinary attendance at TechSparks 2026, use the organiser’s “Book your pass” link; the published route is pass registration, not an application. The main TechSparks site and official social posts announce 2026-10-13–2026-10-15 at Taj Yeshwantpur, Bengaluru. A separate YourStory events microsite conflicts: its header says Lalit Ashok and its venue block says Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel & Convention Center. No venue-change notice explains the discrepancy.
- For a startup showcase, the published route was Tech30 2026: submit the linked form for Level 1, then complete the longer Level 2 application if shortlisted. Applications closed 2026-08-24 and the cohort was locked 2026-09-30, so this route is closed for the 2026 edition. Selected startups receive a dedicated booth.
- For an AI-built live product, founders could also apply to VibeCode30 2026 as individuals or teams. YourStory says applications closed 2026-08-31, so this route is also closed for the 2026 edition.
| Startup programme | Tech30 2026 application and selection programme, not a separately priced event pass: apply through the registration form for Level 1; shortlisted startups proceed to a longer Level 2 application. Applications are closed for the 2026 edition. source |
|---|---|
| Includes | For selected Tech30 2026 startups: a dedicated TechSparks booth, visibility to attendees, a YourStory/Tech30 report feature and stage exposure, plus curated introductions to investors and funds actively deploying. |
| Eligibility | Early-stage deeptech startups from India solving complex, defensible problems. Published sectors include space and defence, drones, robotics, AI, advanced materials and next-generation communications; Tier II and emerging-hub founders are encouraged. No founding-date or funding-stage cutoff is published. |
| Sponsoring | TechSparks 2026 publishes partner labels including Presenting Partner, Powered By and Co-Presented By; no sponsorship tier prices are published. |
| Investor pass | The organiser’s 2026 event page directs attendees to book a pass; no distinct investor-pass route is described. source |
| Application required | No, tickets are purchased |
Meeting investors there
For startup founders selected to Tech30 2026, YourStory describes curated introductions to active funds. The 2026 event page also lists networking zones and a startup hub for attendees. Introbot is described in the organiser’s TechSparks 2025 material; the 2026 materials cited do not name a current matchmaking tool. source
| Matchmaking | Introbot (described for TechSparks 2025; no official 2026 matching platform is named in the cited materials). source |
|---|---|
| Formats | Tech30 2026 cohort: curated introductions to funds actively deploying. · Tech30 2025 programme: one-on-one investor meetings were listed as a benefit. · TechSparks 2026 general networking: Startup Hub and Networking Zones, India-International Corridor, and Government Pavilion. · TechSparks 2025 attendee introductions: YourStory described Introbot as an AI-powered assistant that introduces attendees to relevant people based on interests and objectives. |
Investor firms the organiser lists (2025 (most recent completed edition, including the published Tech30 cohort) and 2026 (next announced edition; upcoming))
Avaana CapitalPeak XVProsusTDK VenturesIIMA VenturesSpeciale InvestOister GlobalAvataar Venture PartnersSeafundKae Capital247VCVuVentures
Before you go: the hub's cold email to VCs playbook covers the pre-event outreach that fills a meeting calendar, and Causo matches your stage and thesis to the funds in its database so you know who to ask for a meeting.
Who speaks (2025 (most recent completed edition, including the published Tech30 cohort) and 2026 (next announced edition; upcoming))
- Priyank Kharge, Minister for Home, IT, BT & E-Governance · Government of Karnataka
- Krishna Byre Gowda, Minister for Greater Bengaluru Development · Government of Karnataka
- Sri Pratyaya Amrit, Chief Secretary · Government of Bihar
- Sridhar Vembu, Chief Scientist & Co-Founder · Zoho Corp
- Auksė Žirgulė, VP of Product · Hostinger
- Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Institute Professor, IIT Madras & Chairman, IIIT Hyderabad & ITEL Foundation · IIT Madras; IIIT Hyderabad; ITEL Foundation
- Dr. Pramod Varma, Co-Founder & Chief Architect · Networks for Humanity
- Ravi Garg, Managing Director, Enterprise Sales - APAC · Meta
- Anjali Bansal, Partner, Avaana Capital and Board Member - Tata Power, Nestle, GIFT City & Maruti Suzuki · Avaana Capital
- Sameer Nigam, Founder & CEO · PhonePe
- Mohit Bhatnagar, Managing Director · Peak XV
- Rahul Chari, Founder & CPTO · PhonePe
- Chandrika Deb, Country Manager · Canva
- Michael Cronin, Vice President, Sales, Asia-Pacific, Japan & India · Couchbase
- Ashutosh Sharma, Head - Investments & M&A, India · Prosus
- Manish Maheshwari, Managing Director, India · Stripe
- Dr. Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, CEO · Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), Government of India
- Dr. Nagendra Nagaraja, Founder, CEO & Chairman · QpiAI
- Dr. Geetha Manjunath, Founder & CEO · Niramai Health Analytix
- Matt Yi, Co-Founder & Tech VP; Apache Doris PMC Member · VeloDB; Apache Doris
- Revant Himatsingka, Founder · Only What's Needed
- Priyanka Agarwal Chopra, Managing Partner & CEO · IIMA Ventures
- Ambarish Kenghe, Group CEO · Angel One
- Srinath Ravichandran, Co-Founder & CEO · AgniKul
- Arzan Singpurwalla, Lead WhatsApp Partnerships - India · Meta
Full lineup: official speakers page.
Notable past speakers
- Ronnie Screwvala, Co-founder and Chairperson · upGrad (2025)
- Mukesh Bansal, Founder and CEO · Nurix AI (2025)
- Nandita Sinha, CEO · Myntra (2025)
- Abhiraj Bhal, Co-founder and CEO · Urban Company (2025)
- Kaivalya Vohra, Co-founder · Zepto (2025)
- Vani Kola, Managing Director · Kalaari Capital (2025)
- Bharat Goenka, Vice Chairperson · Tally Solutions (2025)
Sponsors and partners
Presenting Partner 1
Powered By 1
Co-Presented By 2
Google Cloud for StartupsStartupPark
Presenting VibeCode 30 Partner (2026) 1
Partner 38
StripeIntuitInfinity Learn x IntelPayUAngel OnePeak XViStartCouchbaseTargetMongoDBPine LabsVeloDBOppexThe Executive CentreEYTokyo Metropolitan GovernmentWazirXDBSStelcoreTDK VenturesWeWorkCommvaultShopFloEplaneNiti BodhProshortZeliotFeltivDiligentVuVenturesTeleCMIWishtelQapitaQapitolCloudyaliDevAssureSafe StorageLeapswitch
Co-Presenting Tech30 Partner (2026) 1
Exclusive Media Partner 1
Ecosystem Partner 14
Tech30 Partner (2026) 1
+15 more sponsors and partners on the official partners page.
Media partners: HT Tech
Government partners: Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Full list: official partners page.
Startups there
Alumni the organiser highlights
- Freshworks — YourStory names Freshworks among Tech30 alumni; no cohort year or company-specific milestone is stated in the cited alumni listing. source
- Chargebee — YourStory names Chargebee among Tech30 alumni; no cohort year or company-specific milestone is stated in the cited alumni listing. source
- Juspay — YourStory names Juspay among Tech30 alumni; no cohort year or company-specific milestone is stated in the cited alumni listing. source
- Innovaccer — YourStory names Innovaccer among Tech30 alumni; no cohort year or company-specific milestone is stated in the cited alumni listing. source
- Capillary — YourStory names Capillary among Tech30 alumni; no cohort year or company-specific milestone is stated in the cited alumni listing. source
- Skyroot — YourStory names Skyroot among Tech30 alumni; no cohort year or company-specific milestone is stated in the cited alumni listing. source
- Pixxel — YourStory names Pixxel among Tech30 alumni; no cohort year or company-specific milestone is stated in the cited alumni listing. source
- Qure.ai — YourStory names Qure.ai among Tech30 alumni; no cohort year or company-specific milestone is stated in the cited alumni listing. source
- Addverb — YourStory names Addverb among Tech30 alumni; no cohort year or company-specific milestone is stated in the cited alumni listing. source
- Hasura — YourStory names Hasura among Tech30 alumni; no cohort year or company-specific milestone is stated in the cited alumni listing. source
- Digantara — YourStory names Digantara among Tech30 alumni; no cohort year or company-specific milestone is stated in the cited alumni listing. source
Programme
| Tracks | TechSparks 2026 — Day 1, The Shift: Power, Control & The New Tech Order. · TechSparks 2026 — Day 2, The Builder: Systems, Deeptech & Execution. · TechSparks 2026 — Day 3, The Impact: Access, Inclusion & Real-World Outcomes. · TechSparks 2025 — the published agenda labels Main Stage and Focus Stage; its theme was India 2030: Powered by AI. source |
|---|---|
| Awards | Tech30 is YourStory’s startup-recognition programme. For the completed TechSparks 2025 edition, the organiser reported that 30 startups were selected from more than 2,000 applications and unveiled on Day 1 (2025-11-06). For TechSparks 2026, YourStory also announced VibeCode30, its first recognition cohort for 30 individuals or teams building useful products with AI-first workflows. No cash award or prize amount is published for either programme. |
| Hackathon | TechSparks 2025’s official agenda announced an AI for Good Hackathon, co-presented with Snowflake, and YourStory said the winners of the Hello, GCC Dev Premier League hackathon would be announced on Day 1. The TechSparks 2026 programme cited lists action labs, live demos and startup exhibits, but no hackathon. |
| Official app | TechSparks by YourStory |
| Hashtag | #TechSparks2026 |
Past editions, as published
| Edition | Dates | Attendees | Investors | Startups | Recap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 source | Nov 6–8, 2025 | — | — | 30 Tech30 cohort startups, selected from over 2,000 applications (2025). | report · video · photos |
| 2024 — Bengaluru source | Sep 26–28, 2024 | — | — | — | |
| 2024 — Mumbai · Mumbai source | Feb 29 – Mar 1, 2024 | — | — | — | |
| 2023 — Delhi · Delhi source | Nov 29–30, 2023 | — | — | — | recap |
| 2023 — Bengaluru source | Sep 21–23, 2023 | — | — | — | video |
| 2023 — Mumbai · Mumbai source | Mar 22–23, 2023 | 3,000+ attendees (2023). | 80+ investors in the room (2023). | 8 startups at the pitch fest (2023). | recap |
| 2022 source | Nov 10–12, 2022 | — | — | — | |
| 2020 · Online source | Oct 26–30, 2020 | — | — | — | |
| 2021 · Online source | — | — | — | — | |
| 2019 source | — | — | — | — | |
| 2018 source | — | — | — | — | |
| 2017 source | — | — | — | — | |
| 2016 source | — | — | — | — | |
| 2015 source | — | — | — | — | |
| 2014 source | — | — | — | — |
Cities: Bengaluru (the longstanding flagship city; 2024 and 2025 editions, with 2026 announced); Mumbai (online edition, 2024)
Official links and socials
Travel & apps
In the press
- TechSparks 2026 returns, centring on ‘The New Tech Order’ — YourStory (2026)
- TechSparks 2025 Day 1: Priyank Kharge, Mukesh Bansal, spotlight India’s deeptech, AI opportunity — YourStory (2025)
- Techsparks 2025: Meet the innovators exhibiting at India’s top startup tech event — YourStory (2025)
- Ready for the sparks, Mumbai? Here’s what to expect on the Day 1 of TechSparks 2024 — YourStory (2024)
- TechSparks 2023 Delhi ends with a bang — YourStory (2023)
Prepare for it
- How to cold email VCs — book the meetings before you land.
- The 12-slide seed deck — what to have ready when a partner says "send me the deck".
- Accelerator deadlines — the application windows that open around the event.
Sources
Every fact above was read from one of these official pages on Oct 7, 2026:
- apps.apple.com/uy/app/techsparks-by-yourstory/id6471839957
- events.yourstory.com/techsparks-2026
- in.linkedin.com/company/yourstory-com
- tech30.yourstory.com
- techsparks.yourstory.com/2024
- techsparks.yourstory.com/2025
- techsparks.yourstory.com/2026
- facebook.com/TechSparksYS
- yourstory.com/2020/09/techsparks-2020-tech-event-reasons-to-attend
- yourstory.com/2022/11/yourstory-techsparks-2022-announcement-startup-tech-event
- yourstory.com/2023/09/techsparks-2023-yourstory-startups-exhibition-innovation
- yourstory.com/2023/11/meet-the-leaders-defining-the-great-indian-techade-at-techsparks-delhi-jyotiraditya-scindia-sujith-nair
- yourstory.com/2023/11/techsparks-2023-delhi-edition-ends-with-a-bang
- yourstory.com/2024/01/techsparks-mumbai-10-reasons-innovators-go-to-event
- yourstory.com/2024/02/techsparks-mumbai-2024-what-to-expect-marico-upgrad-unacademy-ai
- yourstory.com/2025/09/techsparks-2025-power-lineup-speakers-ronnie-screwvala-mukesh-bansal-vani-kola-abhiraj-singh-bhal
- yourstory.com/2025/11/10-things-to-do-at-techsparks-2025; https://yourstory.com/2025/11/techsparks-2025-day-1-priyank-kharge-mukesh-bansal
- yourstory.com/2025/11/techsparks-2025-day-1-priyank-kharge-mukesh-bansal
- yourstory.com/2025/11/techsparks-2025-exhibitors-innovation-photography
- yourstory.com/2025/11/techsparks-2025-tech30-startups-report-powering-india-next-innovation-wave
- yourstory.com/2026/06/techsparks-2026-bengaluru-new-tech-order-entrepreneurs-startup-ecosystem
- yourstory.com/2026/07/applications-tech30-2026-yourstory-indias-next-breakout-startups
- yourstory.com/2026/10/techsparks-2026-from-ai-defence-edtech-saas-more-builders-join-the-new-tech-order
- yourstory.com/techsparks/2023/mumbai
- yourstory.com/techsparks2022
- yourstory.com/techsparks2023
TechSparks: frequently asked
When is TechSparks 2026?
TechSparks 2026 runs Oct 13–15, 2026 at Taj Yeshwantpur, Bengaluru (named on the main TechSparks 2026 page and official TechSparks posts; a separate official events page lists Sheraton Grand Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel & Convention Center, so the organizer’s pages conflict)., Bengaluru, according to the organiser's published dates.
How do startups get into TechSparks?
Tech30 2026 application and selection programme, not a separately priced event pass: apply through the registration form for Level 1; shortlisted startups proceed to a longer Level 2 application. Applications are closed for the 2026 edition. Eligibility as published: Early-stage deeptech startups from India solving complex, defensible problems. Published sectors include space and defence, drones, robotics, AI, advanced materials and next-generation communications; Tier II and emerging-hub founders are encouraged. No founding-date or funding-stage cutoff is published.
How big is TechSparks?
More than 3,000 participants expected (2025; pre-event estimate, not a confirmed post-event total). attendees, 30 Tech30 startups unveiled (2025; not an event-wide exhibitor total). startups, per the organiser.