The Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC) at IIT Kanpur marked a milestone in India’s innovation ecosystem with the inaugural edition of FUEL 2025 (Funding, Upscaling, Enabling Leaders), a premier investor–startup conclave. The event, held at SIIC’s Noida Innovation Hub, brought together high-potential startups, venture capitalists, angel networks, corporates, and policymakers under one roof, reinforcing IIT Kanpur’s mission to accelerate the journey from lab innovation to market-ready ventures.
Building an Investor–Innovation Bridge
Inaugurated by Prof. Manindra Agrawal, Director of IIT Kanpur, FUEL 2025 underscored the institute’s growing role in India’s startup ecosystem. Agrawal highlighted IIT Kanpur’s commitment to nurturing innovation aligned with Startup India, announcing plans for specialized funds to boost student and faculty-led ventures.
The Chief Guest, Shri Devesh Chaturvedi, Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, emphasized the transformative potential of agri-tech, noting how digitization initiatives such as the Digital Agriculture Mission and Digital Crop Survey are opening fertile ground for innovation in farming technologies, mechanization, and post-harvest solutions.
Adding a layer of entrepreneurial insight, Rahul Garg, Founder & CEO of Moglix, urged startups to embrace bold problem-solving with humility and resilience: “Capital will follow if you remain passionate about the problem, execute well, and build with resilience,” he noted, setting a tone of pragmatic optimism for budding founders.
Startup Showcase: Deep Tech to Agri-Tech
The event served as a launchpad for 20 SIIC-incubated startups across sectors such as clean energy, defence & aerospace, healthcare, medtech, agritech, deep tech, and cybersecurity. Each team engaged in 15-minute one-on-one pitching sessions with investors, making the interactions focused and actionable.
Highlights included:
- Chimertech with advanced veterinary diagnostic kits.
- Prescience Insilico showcasing physics-based AI models for pharma and FMCG R&D.
- Apeiro Energy presenting vertical-axis wind turbines.
- Adiabatic with lithium-ion battery upcycling solutions.
- Aerosys Aviation and Maraal Aerospace unveiling advanced drones and solar UAVs.
- Acquafront Infrastructure introducing scalable floating solar beams and self-adjusting jetties.
Such diversity demonstrated SIIC’s breadth, spanning grassroots agritech to frontier aerospace.
Funding Boosts and Strategic Partnerships
A defining feature of FUEL 2025 was the infusion of strategic capital into SIIC startups.
- SIDBI’s SEED Equity Support (S4SIIC) disbursed INR 1 crore to Lenek Technologies, INR 96 lakh to ScaNxt Scientific Technologies, and ₹50 lakh to Voltworks.
- EXIM Bank’s Ubharte Sitaare Programme Seed Fund was launched to further strengthen early-stage equity support.
In parallel, two key MoUs were formalized:
- SIIC–Samved VC: for leadership mentoring, consultation, and digitization initiatives.
- SIIC–Council for Start-up India (CSI): to combine IIT Kanpur’s research base with CSI’s startup outreach capabilities.
Strengthening SIIC’s Position
Anurag Singh, CEO of SIIC IIT Kanpur, noted the centre’s growth trajectory: “With more than 497 companies, 224 women-led ventures, and a combined valuation exceeding INR 11,640 crore, our ecosystem offers world-class infrastructure, faculty support, and investor access. Our journey has only just begun, and we’re determined to set new benchmarks for startup success.”
The event concluded with closed-door investor–founder meetings, solidifying the foundation for future collaborations and follow-on funding.
Why It Matters
FUEL 2025 is more than an incubator showcase—it signals India’s maturing startup-investor landscape. Unlike traditional demo days, the event curated direct capital access, structured partnerships, and government alignment, particularly in high-growth areas like agritech, deep tech, and clean energy.
This model reflects a shift in India’s innovation financing ecosystem, where public–private synergies and institutional incubators like IIT Kanpur’s SIIC are becoming powerful engines of economic transformation. If replicated at scale, such platforms could accelerate India’s journey towards a USD 10 trillion economy powered by indigenous innovation.