Deputy CM Diya Kumari ji, global delegates from Austria and South Korea, and Shark Tank founders to headline two-day startup extravaganza at RIC
JAIPUR: For two days, the Pink City will trade its usual rhythm for the buzz of pitch decks, funding rounds, and founder handshakes. Innofest India 3.0, billed as Rajasthan's largest entrepreneurship fest, opens at the Rajasthan International Centre on September 30 and runs through October 1, carrying forward its founding promise: "Creating Job Creators."
Now in its third edition, the fest is presented by the Federation of Unicorn Innovative Startup and Industries (FUISI) in partnership with the Poddar Group of Institutions. CloudTechtiq powers this year's edition, Punjab National Bank comes in as Banking Partner, and AWS, Microsoft and Quanta Group join as Supporting Partners, alongside DPIIT Startup India, Advantage Austria and South Korea's Unicorn Incubator, giving the fest a genuinely international flavour.
Hon'ble Smt. Diya Kumari, Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan, opens the fest as Chief Guest, with Rajya Sabha MP Satish Poonia presiding over Day 2. Guests of Honour include Austria's Hans-Jörg Hörtnagl, Atal Innovation Mission's Ramanan Ramanathan, retired IPS officer Shiv Sahai, and South Korea's Mahima Jinah Kim. Signature Talks brings in heavyweight voices - Bollant Industries' Srikanth Bolla, Zoho's Rajendran Dandapani, and PB Fintech's Rajiv Kumar Gupta, while a Shark Tank House lines up familiar faces from the show, including the founders behind Shyle, Miss Cheesecake, Urbanwipe and Marbleous, to share what it really takes to close a deal.
A Government Schemes & Policy Connect session, featuring Rajasthan's Additional Commissioner P.N. Sharma and NABARD's Amit Kirdoliya, will decode funding and policy support for MSMEs, while nine investors, including SwiftSeed Ventures, ZeCa Capital, JITO Incubation and angel investor Divyansh Kapoor, will be scouting for their next big bet.
The fest's Global Innovation Awards will spotlight achievers cutting across sectors, from perfumer Priyanka Sharma and Brewjoy's Mahipal Singh Chawla to Aryavarta Organics' Anand Mani Tripathi and homeopathy researcher Dr D.L. Gangwal, proof that innovation at Innofest isn't confined to tech alone.
Last year's edition drew 8,000-plus attendees and disbursed ₹2.5 crore in funding; this time, organisers are targeting 400-plus startups and 300-plus corporates. Behind the scenes, the Poddar Group, educating Jaipur since 1998, lends its academic muscle through management, IT, and design programmes across its constituent colleges, feeding directly into the entrepreneurial pipeline the fest is built to nurture.
Entry is free for students; delegate passes cost ₹2,500. Registrations are open at www.innofestindia.com.