Student Startups Secure Rs. 60.5 Crore at Masters' Union Demo Day
Masters’ Union Ventures (MU Ventures), the Rs. 100 crore early-stage investment fund focused on backing founders under the age of 25, is strengthening its support for student entrepreneurship with the first-ever edition of Masters’ Union Demo Day in Bengaluru.
Held today at Startup Park, Bengaluru, the showcase saw 25 student-led startups, including 15 from the Masters’ Union ecosystem and 10 from external campuses, secure soft-funding commitments, close to ₹60 crore, with commitments made within an hour of the founders' pitches. The event brought together more than 65 venture capital firms and angel investors.
Investors backed ventures across AI, climate and space-tech, biotech, consumer and advanced manufacturing. The startups that received some of the highest funding commitments included Sanyark, Saubha Aerial Systems and CarbonM, with investors showing interest in businesses being built by young founders across a range of emerging sectors.
Sanyark is building a LEO-based NAV-COM Satellite Constellation for the Autonomous World. CarbonM converts inconsistent waste into usable fuel (pyrolysis oil), solving the challenge of unpredictable waste inputs. Saubha Aerial Systems specialises in end-to-end hardware solutions for safe and reliable autonomous drone operations. Other than deeptech a few consumer startups also saw interest, including Lexi’s, which is a gourmet sandwich cloud kitchen in Gurgaon, and Oohlala, a designer nightwear brand for plus-size women.
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Pratham Mittal, Founder, Masters’ Union University says, “Bengaluru is one of India’s most vibrant startup and technology hubs, and we are excited to bring the first-ever Masters’ Union Demo Day to the city. It is a great opportunity for our student founders to showcase the businesses they have built, meet leading investors and engage with the wider entrepreneurial community. What makes this especially meaningful is seeing young founders turn their ideas into real businesses and receive interest from investors at such an early stage."
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"Through Masters’ Union Ventures and our broader entrepreneurship ecosystem, we are committed to giving students the capital, mentorship and networks they need to build ambitious businesses. We look forward to making Bengaluru an important part of this journey and creating more opportunities for our student founders to connect with the country’s leading startup and investment ecosystem,” adds Pratham.
Saksham Kotiya, Head of Entrepreneurship & Investments at Masters’ Union says, “Investor interest is one of the clearest signals that a startup is moving beyond an idea and beginning to demonstrate real potential. The funding commitments secured at Demo Day reflect the work our founders have put into understanding their customers, building products and validating their businesses. What is particularly encouraging is that investors are evaluating these ventures on the strength of what they have built and the opportunities they see ahead. Our focus is to create an environment where student founders can build with that level of rigour from day one, and give them the support and access they need to turn early validation into scalable businesses.”
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The Bengaluru edition of Demo Day builds on Masters’ Union’s broader focus on creating opportunities for young founders to build, test and scale businesses while pursuing their education. Through Masters’ Union Ventures, the university’s entrepreneurship programmes and its growing network of founders, investors and industry leaders, the university continues to expand the support available to students looking to build companies at an early stage.