Meet The Startups That Shined At Conquest Demo Day 2025

Conquest, the student-run accelerator from BITS Pilani’s Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership, hosted its 21st Demo Day in Bengaluru, bringing together over 300 investors, venture capitalists, and ecosystem leaders. Attendees including Nihansh Bhat, Shyam Menon, and Prashant Pitti watched 13 promising startups pitch for equity-free grants, mentorship, and exposure.

Supported by WestBridge Capital, Peak XV Partners, Chiratae Ventures and Blume Ventures, Conquest, each year, selects 20-25 startups from more than 3,000 applications nationwide, with the best earning a pitch slot on Demo Day. This year, 13 startups made it to the stage.

Unlike most programmes, it offers equity-free grants — enabling founders to scale without giving up ownership while accessing resources worth over $300,000.

Some of Conquest’s past participating startups include the likes of Atlan (valued at $750 Mn), Sarla Aviation (raised $10 Mn) and Visit Health (raised $42 Mn), reinforcing its position as a launchpad for high-growth ventures.

The accelerator offered INR 20 Lakh each in equity-free grants to startups like Lifespark Technologies, Kustodian.life, Unbubble and Marman Climate Smart Technology, among others.

Demo Day 2025: Meet The Winners

The highlight of the Bengaluru showcase was the high-stakes pitching sessions, where the top 13 shortlisted startups presented their ideas to a jury of investors.

Of these, four won grants for their work in healthcare, fintech, sustainability and climate tech.

Lifespark Technologies: It is an AI-powered wearable and digital platform for neurorehabilitation at home, helping patients with Parkinson’s disease or those recovering from stroke.

Kustodian.life: It offers AI-driven solutions to simplify complex financial settlements, enabling individuals to reclaim their rightful assets such as EPFO, inheritance and insurance payouts.

Unbubble: It is a sustainability-first startup that manufactures eco-friendly packaging materials from agricultural waste, offering an alternative to bubble wrap and thermocol. It is on a mission to replace plastic-based packaging.

Marman Climate Smart Technology: It is a climate tech startup developing ultra-efficient DC appliances that reduce energy use by over 70%, supporting India’s net-zero sustainability goals.

Conversations That Defined Conquest 2025

Beyond the startup pitches, discussions and reflections on India’s entrepreneurial future added depth to Demo Day 2025.

A panel discussion titled “The Next India Growth Story” examined the country’s startup trajectory — from innovation-led beginnings to infrastructure-driven scale. The session featured Nihansh Bhat, corporate development and investments lead for India and MENA at KRAFTON; Shyam Menon, cofounder of Bharat Innovation Fund; and Amit Sharma, CTO of Ionic Wealth, with Shesh Vasudevamurthy, executive director at Coacharya Foundation, as moderator.

The panellists discussed how India’s internet economy is shifting from its first wave of consumer platforms to new frontiers such as gaming, IP creation and content-driven ecosystems in the coming decade.

A series of fireside chats offered insights into building and scaling companies. EaseMyTrip and Optimo Capital cofounder Prashant Pitti, and Razorpay’s chief of staff Shilpika Ganeriwala shared lessons on scaling digital-first businesses in India’s evolving fintech ecosystem. Chiratae Ventures’ founder and chairman Sudhir Sethi, spoke candidly about how he identifies promising founders and spots ideas early — reiterating his belief that the coming decade belongs to entrepreneurs who dare to innovate boldly.

As conversations turned to the future of Indian entrepreneurship, they highlighted Conquest’s distinctness — its student-first DNA. Run entirely by a 30-member team from BITS Pilani, the programme reviews over 3,000 applications each year to select its cohort. The chosen startups undergo sector-agnostic mentorship, one-on-one sessions with business leaders and workshops to refine their vision and pitching skills.

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