How businesses are growing with AI and M&A

This edition is co-hosted by eChai Ventures and Tech Expo Gujarat (TEG) 2026. Two things are moving fast in how businesses grow right now, and most founders are only close to one of them. The first is AI. Not the demos, but where it has actually landed inside companies: which parts of the work it now does, what it costs to run, what it replaced, and where teams tried it and quietly went back to the old way. The second is M&A. Buying a company, or being bought, has become an ordinary growth move for Indian businesses rather than a late-stage event. What makes a company worth acquiring, how a deal gets valued and structured, what changes on the day it closes, and what founders on both sides wish they had known going in. The session runs as two panels, the first on AI and the second on M&A, each a candid conversation primarily driven by audience and moderator questions. Bring the thing you are working out. It is for founders, operators, and business leaders in Ahmedabad who are either putting AI to work or thinking about growing through acquisition. Tech Expo Gujarat 2026 runs from 27 to 29 November in Ahmedabad, built around how AI is changing the way businesses operate. It brings together 200+ exhibitors and 15,000+ attendees across startups, technology companies, investors, and enterprises, with keynotes, startup showcases, AI demonstrations, industry conferences, and business matchmaking. This August session is one of the conversations leading up to it, and it is open to everyone in the eChai network. The session runs from 6 pm to 8 pm at Elsner Technologies on Ashram Road, with time to talk after.