Meanwhile, across eChai
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medical research
All India Institute of Medical Sciences Bhopal, an Institute of National Importance and public medical university. Runs a Translational Medicine department (bioinformatics, molecular diagnostics, precision m...
PSU
India's first heavy-electrical-equipment plant, foundation laid 1958 and dedicated to the nation in 1960 (originally Heavy Electricals (India) Ltd). Manufactures hydro/steam/nuclear turbines, generators, tra...
research university
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, an autonomous Institute of National Importance for integrated science + research education. A key source of deep-science talent, spin-off research and the ...
Industrial township set up in the late 1970s just south of Bhopal, now 650+ units with ₹10,000 Cr+ investment. Anchors: HEG (world's largest graphite-electrode maker), Lupin (pharma/antibiotics export), Proc...
NIT engineering
Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (est. 1960), an Institute of National Importance offering engineering, architecture, planning and management degrees. Primary engineering-talent feeder for Bhopa...
law & management
National Law Institute University (NLIU), one of India's first national law schools, and the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), a premier forestry/environment management institute — both Institute...
Gaurav Goel, Karan Mehta & Harsh Gagrani
Founded 2016, an edtech platform for competitive-exam and entrance prep (law/CLAT, design, architecture, commerce, management) via online and offline classrooms. Raised ~$4.67M (investors incl. Sixth Sense V...
Cleantech consultancy & project developer (founded 2023) covering carbon-credit programs and renewable-energy implementation. Rides MP's clean-energy push; early-stage.
Ashish Das
A blockchain and Web3 development / consulting studio building decentralised applications and enterprise blockchain solutions. Bhopal-based services firm active in the local founder community.
Arshi Khan
An edtech / college-admissions information and counselling portal helping students choose colleges and courses. Early-stage, founder-led out of Bhopal.
K–12 online-learning edtech built by a Stanford-MBA alum with an ISB/IIT/SRCC team. FLAG: product serves the US K-12 market and the company is remote-first, so its Bhopal tie is founder/team-origin rather th...
Foodtech / sustainable-nutrition startup focused on healthy, sustainably-sourced food products. Early-stage, listed among Bhopal's emerging agritech/foodtech names.
Central India's / MP's first angel investor network, launched by Swan Finance out of Indore. Provides early-stage angel capital to Madhya Pradesh startups including those in Bhopal. FLAG: headquartered in Indore, not Bhopal — reflects th...
Bhopal's city-anchored incubator, channeling talent into the digital economy alongside MANIT and the MPSEDC IT Park. A primary local venue and support layer for MP-registered startups; hosts cohort programs, mentoring and pitch events.
Atal Incubation Centre and one of Central India's most active incubators. Runs Navonmesh (billed as Central India's largest innovation carnival, 10,000+ participants) and, with CII Bhopal, the Dream Startup Challenge business-plan compet...
A DST-supported Technology Business Incubator (NIDHI-TBI scheme, NSTEDB Division) with ~10,000 sq ft of built-up incubation space inside the IISER Bhopal campus. Strong focus on deep-tech, bioscience and research-driven startups; open to...
The incubation centre of MANIT (NIT Bhopal), inaugurated 4 Sept 2014, funded by alumnus Kamal K. Singh (Rolta Group). Supports student and early-stage entrepreneurs on campus with infrastructure and mentoring. NOTE: MANIT's on-campus cen...
The incubation cell of IIFM Bhopal (an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change) nurturing green/sustainability entrepreneurship. Supports startups in waste management, agritech, renewable energy (s...
A ~24,400 sq ft green-building incubation facility of STPI (autonomous body under MeitY, Govt of India) on 3 acres provided by the state government. Caters to Madhya Pradesh's IT/ITES industry and is one of 12 pan-India STPI centres part...
An incubator/accelerator founded in 2018 as an initiative and subsidiary of Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation (BSCDCL). Hosts 30+ startups across waste management, home automation, agri-tech, IoT, autonomous vehicles, healthcare,...
An academic incubation centre / MP Start-up Centre at BSSS, an autonomous college in Bhopal, registered on the Startup MP ecosystem. Supports student and early-stage entrepreneurs with incubation space and mentoring; part of the state's ...
One of the first corporate Atal Incubation Centres set up under the Atal Innovation Mission (NITI Aayog). Focus sectors: agriculture, healthcare, clean/sustainable energy, education, transportation, cybersecurity, IoT, robotics/AI and wa...
Madhya Pradesh's flagship state startup policy and registration/benefits portal (startup.mp.gov.in), administered by the Department of MSME. Provides funding-linked assistance (e.g., 15% of raised capital up to Rs 15 lakh, multiple times...
Marketed as central India's largest coworking & incubation space, offering desks, private cabins, meeting rooms and an ecosystem oriented toward startups. Among the most prominent coworking brands in Bhopal.
A Bhopal-founded coworking startup (est. 2016) offering low-rent shared workspace plus an in-house incubation programme with mentorship and weekly assessment activities for startups. Also operates in Indore. Frequently profiled as a home...
One of Bhopal's leading coworking operators, running three locations (MP Nagar, Indrapuri, Lalghati) aimed at freelancers, startups and growing businesses, with hot desks, private cabins and meeting rooms.
A premium coworking space in Bhopal offering private offices, dedicated desks and meeting rooms with standard amenities (high-speed internet, AC, pantry) for professionals and startups.
eChai lists Bhopal among its city chapters as 'a home for Bhopal founders', free and open. In practice the chapter had a concentrated run of events in 2015–2018 carried by local co-hosts CollegeKhabri.com and Appointy, and the live calen...
Part of a simultaneous 50-city eChai initiative. Diverse entrepreneurs pitched their venture followed by Q&A, plus '#CoRise Stories' where founders shared collaborative lessons. A come-connect-share-collaborate format built for early fou...
Monthly forum for promising Bhopal startups to present ventures, get early feedback and engage the community. Ten startups pitched alongside a panel on 'Collaboratively Rising Together'. Run under eChai's #eChaiIn100Cities anniversary dr...
A weekly eChai Bhopal + CollegeKhabri initiative to bring entrepreneurs together to help each other grow. Founders presented ventures, got feedback, and discussed how the room could actively support each presenter. The recurring workhors...
Bhopal edition of a 20-city same-day Startup Hustle series, co-hosted with CollegeKhabri.com. Five founders gave 10–12 min hustle-story talks on product, team, sales & marketing, fundraising and scaling, capped by a 45-min panel. Classic...
eChai in association with Appointy, co-hosted by CollegeKhabri.com & Appointy, gathered blockchain enthusiasts, developers and industry leaders across three tracks — technology, economics (crypto/ICOs), and live project/startup demos. Th...
MANIT's Entrepreneurship Cell with the Rolta Incubation Centre. Hosts E-Summit (pitched as Central India's largest entrepreneurial fest) plus a Startup Expo, workshops and speaker sessions. The most visible student-founder pipeline in Bh...
Entrepreneurship cell at NLIU (a leading national law university), adding a legal/policy-startup angle to the campus ecosystem. Lower public event cadence than MANIT/IISER; details thin online.
Bhopal listing under the national Headstart Network, whose Startup Saturday runs on the second Saturday of each month across cities as a sharing/networking platform for aspiring and early founders. Chapter page exists but current Bhopal-...
A 141-member Meetup group (organizer Afzal Khan) positioned as a youth-driven platform for entrepreneurs to learn and grow together. Effectively inactive — most recent events date to April–May 2018 with minimal attendance. Illustrates th...
State-level women-entrepreneur association (23+ years, UN Global Compact participant) recognising women founders across sectors and running its annual Founders Day. Its President also chairs the MP Council o...
MP state council of WICCI, a national women's chamber connecting women-led businesses to markets and international networks. Leadership overlaps with MAWE. Provides councils/verticals and advocacy for women ...
Bhopal / FLO Women's Industrial Park
FICCI Ladies Organisation, India's oldest women-business body, has signed an MoU with MP Industrial Development Corp (MPIDC) to set up a FLO Women's Industrial Park in Bhopal. Note honestly: FLO's formal MP ...
CollegeKhabri
Bhopal-based woman founder of CollegeKhabri, an ed/career-info platform helping students access college guidance and job prospects; cited by YourStory as emblematic of 'Bhopal of today.' Included as a concre...
The city's dedicated IT belt on the northern edge, near the airport and RGPV. STPI Bhopal runs a 24,400 sq ft incubation facility here on land given by the state, one of twelve STPI centres in the national scheme that seed funds software product startups, and We360.ai is registered on the same stretch.
1 company 2 coworking
Strong in saas, hrtech
The BHEL township and the roughly 700 acre industrial estate built around it, where about 628 engineering units do machining, fabrication, electrical products and auto and tractor parts. BHEL's plant, dedicated in 1960, is why Bhopal has a deep electrical and mechanical engineering bench. The Govindpura Industries Association here is the oldest industry body in the state.
3 companies
Strong in Heavy Engineering, DroneTech
The industrial township 23 km south of the city, set up in the late 1970s and now carrying 650 or more units across pharma, engineering, chemicals and FMCG. Lupin, HEG, Procter & Gamble, Eicher and Crompton Greaves all have plants here. It sits just inside Raisen district but functions as Bhopal's manufacturing belt, and AIC-AARTECH, the nearest Atal Incubation Centre, is on the same estate.
1 company 1 coworking
Strong in Pharma, Manufacturing
Answers about the Bhopal startup scene
What does the startup ecosystem in Bhopal look like?
Small, and leaning on institutions rather than private capital. The strongest verticals are Edtech, IT services and SaaS, sitting on top of a heavy engineering and pharma base at Govindpura and Mandideep and a research bench at IISER, MANIT, NLIU and AIIMS. The companies list above shows who is building what, filterable by vertical.
Who are the best known startups from Bhopal?
Swaayatt Robots, an autonomous driving research company working on unstructured Indian traffic, is the most nationally visible. Appointy, Pabbly and Magnet Brains are the bootstrapped software names, all profitable and selling well outside the city, and TopRankers, We360.ai and The Kabadiwala are the funded ones.
Is Bhopal or Indore the bigger startup hub in Madhya Pradesh?
Indore, clearly. It holds most of the state's prominent startups, the organised angel capital and the bulk of TiE activity. Bhopal's weight is on the other side, as the seat of state policy and the home of the institutional incubators, which is a different thing to build a company next to.
What does the Madhya Pradesh startup policy offer a founder in Bhopal?
Startup MP is run by the state MSME department out of Bhopal, through the startup.mp.gov.in portal. It offers funding linked assistance to DPIIT recognised startups along with lease rental and patent support, extra assistance for women and SC and ST founders, and a state seed capital fund, and it publishes the list of recognised incubators and investors.
Which incubators and coworking spaces are in Bhopal?
The incubators are the serious part. IICE at IISER Bhopal, the Rolta Incubation Centre at MANIT, the SETU cell at IIFM, STPI at the IT Park and B-Nest under Bhopal Smart City are the ones that run programmes. On coworking, the operators are Workspace.City, S.PACE, The Work Culture and Fortune, most of them in or near MP Nagar. The full list is in the sections below.
Are there investors and VCs in Bhopal?
There is no angel network headquartered in the city. SWAN, the state's first angel network, is run out of Indore, and Bhopal founders who raise institutionally have generally done it from outside, as We360.ai did with GSF and SahiPay with 100x.vc. State assistance through Startup MP and the campus incubators is the capital most founders here actually see first.
Does eChai run events in Bhopal?
Not at the moment. eChai Bhopal had a run of events between 2015 and 2018, carried by local co-hosts CollegeKhabri and Appointy, and the chapter has been quiet since. The events section shows anything upcoming, and if you would like to help start it up again, get in touch.
How do I join the startup community in Bhopal?
What convenes founders here today is largely institutional, so start with the campus e-cells at MANIT and NLIU, the incubators listed below, and the state summits such as the MP Startup Summit. The communities section lists them. eChai is free and open wherever it runs, with no application or membership fee.
Want to help restart eChai Bhopal?
eChai's Bhopal chapter ran between 2015 and 2018, hosted with CollegeKhabri and Appointy, and has been quiet since. The peer meetup layer is the thin part of this city's ecosystem. If you are a founder or community builder who wants to convene free, open meetups here again, get in touch. No membership, no fee.
Get in touch
