Meanwhile, across eChai
Indian Railways (public sector)
Founded 1956 as Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW); renamed BLW in 2020. A state-owned Indian Railways production unit and one of Varanasi's largest formal employers/industrial anchors. Now builds mainline electr...
Naveen Krishna
Social enterprise (BHU MSW alum Naveen Krishna, CNBC Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2014-15) financing battery-powered e-rickshaws on lease-to-own terms so pullers upgrade from manual/gas rickshaws — with i...
Amrita Suhasini Suman
Nutrition/food-tech startup making cashew-apple powder products (upcycling an underused agri by-product). Woman-founded; PRASFUTAN seed-stage cohort at RKVY-RAFTAAR, IIT (BHU). Early-stage.
Dr. Manoj Kumar Meshram & Sai Krishna (IIT-BHU)
Deeptech spinout from IIT (BHU) building radar technology for drone detection and neutralization (counter-UAS / defence-tech). Team: Dr. Manoj Kumar Meshram, Allamsetti Sai Krishna (B.Tech), Dr. Atul Kumar. ...
(hyperlocal food delivery)
Hyperlocal online food-ordering and delivery startup started in 2019, based in Varanasi — bridges customers and nearby restaurants for doorstep delivery. A local Zomato/Swiggy-style play; small-scale, MSME.
Aman Kumar
Agri-food startup (brand: Nutty Village) processing groundnuts and millets at the farm level. Part of the PRASFUTAN seed-stage cohort at RKVY-RAFTAAR, IIT (BHU). D2C-leaning farm-produce processing; early-st...
Ayushi Seth
D2C food brand making jaggery-sweetened food products (healthier-sugar positioning). Woman-founded; PRASFUTAN seed-stage cohort at RKVY-RAFTAAR, IIT (BHU). Early-stage.
Sharad Kumar Nirala
Agritech / post-harvest startup building a tech-enabled online+offline ecosystem for procurement and farmgate primary processing for small & marginal farmers. Incubated in the PRASFUTAN seed-stage cohort at ...
Kamini Singh
Agri-food venture producing moringa-based products (powder, capsules, oils, soaps). Woman-founded; PRASFUTAN seed-stage cohort at RKVY-RAFTAAR, IIT (BHU). Early-stage.
Janardan Singh
Ayurvedic nutraceuticals venture in the PRASFUTAN seed-stage cohort at RKVY-RAFTAAR, IIT (BHU). Early-stage wellness/food product startup carrying the 'Kashi' brand identity.
Adityaraj Gupta & Vishwanath Gaitonde
App-based boat-booking + real-time tracking aggregator for Ganga boats — pitched as a pioneer of app-based boat aggregation in Varanasi, launched with local tourism-department support (inaugurated at Nishadr...
Satyam Pandey
Varanasi-HQ'd IT services firm founded 2024 by Satyam Pandey offering IT training, web development, UI/UX and graphic design. Unfunded local services company — representative of the city's small IT-services ...
IIT-BHU's technology business incubator (est. 2000), the umbrella body providing 'Start to Scale' support for tech startups. Focus sectors: Agri-Business, CleanTech, Water, Food & Dairy, IT/E-Commerce/Cyber Security, Bio-Tech & Health, M...
IIT-BHU's Section 8 foundation supporting ideation-to-incubation for student and faculty ventures. Complements MCIIE within the campus innovation stack, running programs and support for early-stage deep-tech and research-driven startups.
AIC set up under NITI Aayog's Atal Innovation Mission, inaugurated by PM Modi on 18 Sep 2018 and hosted at the Institute of Management, BHU. Offers incubation space, mentorship and seed funding; reports 100+ startups incubated and runs a...
BIRAC-supported BioNEST bio-incubator at BHU focused on biotech, life-sciences and healthcare startups. StartinUP-recognised incubator (approved Feb 2023) with ~29 startups listed on the state portal. Adds a life-sciences vertical to the...
Agri-business incubator sanctioned by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare (Jan 2019) under the RKVY-RAFTAAR agripreneurship scheme, hosted at IIT (BHU). Runs cohort-based agripreneurship training with two-month stipends and id...
The wider BHU university (distinct from IIT-BHU) and its constituent colleges — including MMV (Mahila Maha Vidyalaya) — host entrepreneurship talks, seminars and cell activity as part of the campus calendar. A secondary talent and audien...
Uttar Pradesh's state startup policy and nodal programme (implemented by UP Electronics Corporation under the Dept. of IT & Electronics), targeting an incubator in every district and 10,000+ startups statewide. Varanasi startups qualify ...
Varanasi's ODOP-designated signature product is the Banarasi silk saree. Under the UP ODOP scheme (launched 2018) weavers, saree businesses and export units in the district can access branding, e-commerce listing, export-market and finan...
District-level MSME support agency under the UP MSME/Udyog department and the on-ground implementation arm for ODOP, margin-money and credit-linked schemes for Varanasi entrepreneurs. Channels programmes via diupmsme.upsdc.gov.in / msme....
Independent Varanasi coworking space in the Sigra business area offering high-speed internet, ergonomic seating and meeting rooms for freelancers, remote workers and small teams. One of the more established homegrown workspaces in the ci...
Coworking space in Sigra with capacity for ~50+ members and flexible monthly plans (from ~INR 7,000/seat), including meeting rooms and shared amenities. Listed on aggregator platforms (Qdesq); serves freelancers, startups and small busin...
Varanasi outlet of the MyBranch national managed-workspace chain, in Sigra, with capacity for ~35 members and flexible plans (from ~INR 8,500/seat). Provides plug-and-play office space, meeting rooms and business services — useful for ou...
Locally-run coworking options in Sigra (e.g. Kashi Cowork / Workstation Varanasi) catering to the city's small community of freelancers, remote workers and early founders at value pricing. Listed via coworking directories rather than lar...
Flagship annual entrepreneurship summit of E-Cell IIT-BHU. Multi-day format with competitions, panel discussions, speaker sessions and networking across every startup vertical. Draws students, aspiring founders and ecosystem players to c...
54-hour build-a-startup weekend organized by E-Cell IIT-BHU in partnership with Techstars (global sponsors Google for Startups, Brex, Deel). Open to entrepreneurs, students and aspiring founders with no prior experience required — teams ...
Grassroots founder community for Varanasi, active on Instagram (@varanasistartups) and a Facebook group. Positions itself around community support, funding and incubation for young local entrepreneurs. Off-campus, city-wide reach — a use...
Uttar Pradesh government's startup platform under the state Startup Policy. Runs and funds incubators (MCIIE IIT-BHU is a recognized StartinUP incubator) and periodic ecosystem events, pitch/funding programs and policy outreach across UP...
UP government's One District One Product program showcasing Kashi's GI-tagged crafts — Banarasi silk/handloom, carpets, zari-zardosi and wooden toys (34 GI products from the Kashi region). Manifests as exhibitions, food-cart launches and...
Student-run entrepreneurship cell of IIT (BHU), established in 2000. Runs ideation workshops, mentorship (E-Mentorship), Startup 101 / Build With Us programmes and an annual entrepreneurship summit, acting as the top-of-funnel that feeds...
Ministry of Textiles (Office of the Development Commissioner for Handlooms) centre providing design input, dyeing/printing/weaving technical advice and product-development support to Varanasi's handloom weavers. A core public institution...
India's first Institute of Handloom Technology, set up in 1956 (from the former Central Weaving Institute) under the Ministry of Textiles. Offers B.Tech/Diploma/Post-Diploma in handloom and textile technology (AKTU-affiliated, AICTE-appr...
ISEPC (est. 1983, under the Ministry of Textiles) is the RCMC-issuing export promotion council for silk and silk-based handloom/handicraft products. Varanasi is one of India's four major handloom export centres (with Karur, Panipat, Kann...
Weave 365
Co-founder & CEO of Weave 365, a Varanasi startup on a Fair-Trade Factory/Weaver-to-Consumer (F2C) mission connecting Banarasi saree weavers directly to boutiques and consumers, cutting out middlemen for hig...
Sacred Weaves
Owner/driving force of Sacred Weaves, the D2C e-commerce venture of the ~100-year-old JDS Varanasi Banarasi textile house (founded by Jagdish Das Shah). Sells Silk Mark-certified, GI-tagged handloom Banarasi...
House of Banaras
Founder & creative visionary of House of Banaras (by Kashyam Industries), which opened a flagship retail studio in Sigra, Varanasi. Known for its 'Studio Series' — limited-edition Banarasi saris by master we...
Varanasi's women's economic base runs largely through weaver-community self-help groups (SHGs, 10–20+ women each) that gave income to Banarasi-sari households, especially post-pandemic. Human Welfare Associa...
The southern Lanka precinct, where the 1,300 acre Banaras Hindu University campus and IIT (BHU) sit together. This is the city's research node and the source of most of its incubated companies, holding MCIIE, the I3F foundation, BioNEST-BHU and the RKVY-RAFTAAR agri business incubator, along with the student run E-Cell that feeds them.
9 companies 5 coworking
Strong in Agritech, Foodtech
The historic Banarasi silk handloom clusters, dense with pit looms that produce GI tagged brocade saris. Madanpura is known for fine traditional patterns, Lallapura for zari work where a single sari takes weeks to months, and Alaipura for bolder newer designs. This belt is the supply chain behind nearly every Banarasi D2C brand on this page.
1 company
Strong in GI-Craft, Handloom
The 80 plus riverfront ghats and the lanes behind them, carrying boat rides, guesthouses, guides and the Ganga aarti trade, with footfall lifted sharply by the Kashi Vishwanath Dham corridor opened in 2021. The handicraft mohallas here hold the Gulabi Meenakari and wooden toy crafts, both GI tagged in 2015.
3 companies
Strong in Tourism-Tech, Tourism
Answers about the Varanasi startup scene
What does the startup ecosystem in Varanasi look like?
It is a craft economy with a young startup layer on top rather than a generalist tech hub. The largest group of companies here are Banarasi silk and handloom houses that took their own weaving online, and the second is the set of agritech, foodtech and deeptech ventures incubated at IIT (BHU). Tourism, IT services and a small fintech and cleantech presence make up the rest. The companies list above shows who is building what, filterable by vertical.
What is the Banarasi silk cluster and how do startups build on it?
Banarasi silk is Varanasi's GI tagged brocade craft, woven on pit looms across Madanpura, Lallapura, Alaipura and Lohta by a weaver base numbering in the lakhs across the district and around it. It is also the state's One District One Product designation for Varanasi, which brings branding, e-commerce listing and export support plus a common facility centre for shared production and testing. Most of the D2C brands on this page are weaving families who already owned the supply chain and added an online storefront, which is why the D2C and handloom verticals overlap so heavily here.
Who are the best known companies from Varanasi?
Utkarsh Small Finance Bank is the clearest one, started in the city in 2009 as a microfinance institution and listed on the exchanges in 2023. SMV Green Solutions is the best known impact company, financing electric rickshaws for pullers on lease to own terms and holder of a 2019 Ashden Award. On the silk side, Sacred Weaves, HolyWeaves and House of Banaras are among the most recognised Banarasi brands selling worldwide.
Which incubators and coworking spaces are in Varanasi?
Almost all of the incubation sits on the BHU and IIT (BHU) campus. MCIIE is the anchor technology business incubator, running since 2008, alongside the Atal Incubation Centre at the Institute of Management BHU, BioNEST-BHU for life sciences, and the RKVY-RAFTAAR agri business incubator that runs the PRASFUTAN seed stage cohort. Coworking is small and concentrated in Sigra, and the coworking section below lists the spaces.
Are there investors and VCs in Varanasi?
None are based in the city. The research turned up no Varanasi headquartered angel network, fund or investor group, which is an honest gap rather than an oversight. Founders here fund themselves through incubator seed grants at MCIIE, the Atal Incubation Centre and RKVY-RAFTAAR, through UP's StartinUP scheme, which carries enhanced Purvanchal incentives, and through national angel networks and investors based in Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai.
Where do founders network in Varanasi?
Mostly on campus. E-Cell at IIT (BHU) is the most active body, running its annual entrepreneurship summit in early February and a Techstars Startup Weekend in September, and the campus incubators convene founders through their cohorts. Off campus, the grassroots Varanasi Startups community is the main city wide group. The communities section below lists them.
Does eChai run events in Varanasi?
No. eChai has no Varanasi chapter, and this page is a map of the ecosystem plus an open invitation to help start one. The nearest active chapter is eChai Lucknow. If you are a founder or community builder here who would like to convene the first free, open eChai meetup in Varanasi, get in touch.
Which are the top startup verticals in Varanasi?
Handloom and silk and D2C lead by a wide margin, with foodtech and agritech next, most of that second group coming out of the campus incubators. Travel, IT services, deeptech, climate tech and fintech each carry a smaller set. Use the vertical chips above to browse the companies in each.
Want to help launch eChai Varanasi?
eChai does not run a chapter in Varanasi. If you are a founder or community builder who wants to convene the first free, open eChai meetup here, get in touch. E-Cell at IIT (BHU) and the grassroots Varanasi Startups community are the natural partners for a launch, and eChai Lucknow is the nearest chapter to look at. No membership, no fee.
Get in touch
