Startup grants in India

Western Union Global Fellowship 2026

Fully funded 16-week virtual fellowship for social entrepreneurs serving underserved communities globally, with mentorship and workshops.

StoxraHack 2026 — India's Student FinTech & AI Trading Hackathon

India's largest online student hackathon focused on FinTech, AI, and Trading Technology, offering ₹3.15 Lakhs+ in prizes and internship opportunities.

MAKER'S ARENA 2.0

South India's 24-hour hard-tech hackathon for students and early-stage founders to prototype hardware innovations — up to ₹5 lakh grant for winners.

2026 Flagship Fellowship

Watson Institute's 16-week fully-funded virtual fellowship for impact-driven entrepreneurs with proven traction, offering training, mentorship, and global networks.

GeoHack 26

GeoHack 26 is a geospatial hackathon by IEEE GRSS Kolkata and IIIT Bhubaneswar, challenging teams to build AI-driven solutions for real-world problems using geospatial data, with prizes up to ₹17,000.

Bizz Fiesta - CaseQuest

CaseQuest 2026 is a premier strategic case competition by Geeta University for Indian students, offering a ₹15,300 cash prize pool.

NextTuring: Blindfolded

NextTuring: Blindfolded is a unique memory and coding challenge by Newton School of Technology in Bengaluru, offering a ₹20,000 prize pool for solo coders.

1st International Prosolve 2026

An international online hackathon by the Artificial Intelligence Society with a $1,979 prize pool for AI/ML projects.

India-UK InnoXchange Programme

A bilateral India-UK exchange program for deep-tech startups and incubation professionals, focusing on advanced manufacturing sectors, with full travel and hospitality support.

STPI CoE-EA: Schneider Electric Open Challenge Program 3.0

An open challenge by STPI CoE-EA and Schneider Electric offering equity funding up to ₹25 lakh for Industry 4.0 and enterprise tech startups.

Startup Seed Fund (Zerodha CSR Initiative)

FSID Startup Seed Fund, powered by Zerodha CSR, offers grant funding and incubation for early-stage deep-tech startups in Sustainability, CleanTech, and HealthTech at IISc.

HackArena 2.0 – Online Zonals

Online qualifying round for HackArena 2.0, focusing on Generative and Agentic AI, for Indian undergraduate and postgraduate students, with selected teams advancing to the Delhi Grand Finale.

Tech Next Challenge 2026

Intellify 4.0

Intellify 4.0 is a national-level hackathon at Marwadi University for Indian students, featuring hardware and software tracks with a ₹3.40 lakh prize pool.

Bizz Fiesta - MasterStroke

Geeta University's MasterStroke 2026 is a negotiation championship for teams of two, with a cash prize pool of ₹16,400.

WCT-BEES Grants Programme 2026-27

The WCT-BEES Grants Programme offers small, equity-free grants of up to ₹3.5 lakh to Indian researchers and organizations for critical conservation research and grassroots projects across India, focusing on endangered species and threatened habitats.

HackAIthon 2026

24-hour national-level AI hackathon in Sulya, Karnataka, with a ₹35,000 prize pool, focused on Data-Centric AI for students and developers.

UCI Design-a-thon 2026

UCI Design-a-thon 2026 is an online design competition by UC Irvine with a $5,048 prize pool. Open globally to all skill levels.

Open Source Hackathon

A nationwide open-source coding challenge for Indian students and professionals with a ₹20,000 prize pool.

UI/UX Solo Design Challenge || Pixels 2026

A solo UI/UX design challenge by SIES College of Management Studies, testing real-world design thinking with a ₹1,800 cash prize pool.

SuperNova Hacks 2.0

SuperNova Hacks 2.0 is a hackathon offering ₹60,000 in cash prizes for undergraduate student teams.

Enlight Fellowship

A fully-funded entrepreneurial and leadership development fellowship for rising leaders creating solutions for youth mental wellbeing globally.

CARE COLLECTIVE FUND

A global impact grant by GOT BAG supporting grassroots initiatives, social enterprises, activists, and research projects focused on ocean health and climate action with a fixed grant of €10,000 (~₹10.91 lakh).

Hackathon (Hardware and Software) - Nirmith'26

Nirmith'26 is a national-level hardware and software hackathon hosted by NMIT Bangalore, challenging Indian undergraduate students to build and demonstrate real-world solutions for a ₹1,00,000 prize pool.