Meanwhile, across eChai
Guwahati-based D2C tea-tech brand launched 2018 by Ranjit Baruah (ex-McLeod Russel, ~2 decades in tea). Sells ~26 tea blends including six Assam varieties direct-to-consumer online. Represents the Assam tea-...
IIT-Guwahati-incubated deeptech/defence startup building AI-driven robots for real-time border surveillance across difficult terrain, with multi-sensor threat detection. Undergoing field trials with the Indi...
Guwahati healthtech / e-pharmacy delivering medicines door-to-door with prescription verification, founded by Pankaj Maheshwari and Abhimanyu Modi. Serves a Northeast market historically under-served by nati...
Event & wedding-aggregator platform founded 2024; raised USD 250,000 angel funding from US-based NRI investor Virendra Prasad at a ~Rs 30-crore valuation. One of the region's larger recent angel rounds. (HQ:...
Woman-founded (Nilotpala Sahariah, 2024) B2B ecommerce platform for Northeast India that turns agri-waste and natural fibres (banana fibre, bamboo) into high-value handcrafted products, sourcing directly fro...
Guwahati hardware/deeptech startup (Parash Borthakur, Nilotpal Rabha) manufacturing Arduino-compatible boards, sensor modules and robotics kits — feeding the local maker/edtech-hardware and IoT ecosystem.
Guwahati food-ordering and hyperlocal delivery app founded by Tullika Batra — a woman-led consumer-tech venture serving the local Guwahati market against national aggregators.
Cleantech/EV-energy startup founded 2023 by physicist Divasjyoti Parashar. Its flagship QUINT is a compact, portable, modular clean-energy unit that doubles as an EV power bank and a diesel-genset replacemen...
Healthtech/medtech startup (founded 2019) building automated clinical-diagnostics AI. Its first product, PapScanner, screens Pap-smear images for early cervical-dysplasia detection. Received a Rs 15.28 lakh ...
Siddhartha S. Bora, Dhritiman Talukdar, Kookil P. Goswami (+ IIT-G alumni)
Agritech incubated at IITG BioNEST; built AgSpeak, a multilingual AI farming-advisory app, plus on-demand UAV/drone and smart-robot services for crop spraying, scouting and phenotyping, and ML yield predicti...
Oil India (OIL), ONGC, Numaligarh Refinery (NRL)
Assam is India's oldest oil province. OIL (HQ Duliajan) produces ~3 MTPA crude, ~5 MMSCMD gas; ONGC's Assam Asset runs ~15 oilfields; Numaligarh Refinery (Golaghat district, ~250 km east of Guwahati; OIL-own...
Capt. D. Chandrasekhar
IIT-Guwahati-incubated robotics startup that developed robots to clean crude-oil-tank bottom sludge and maintain petroleum tanks without human entry into hazardous spaces. Incubated/funded via OIL India's SN...
A Guwahati-headquartered public financial institution (incorporated 1995) that finances micro, small, medium and large enterprises and infrastructure/agri-allied projects across the North East, plus microfinance via MFIs/NGOs. It is the ...
A wholly owned NEDFi subsidiary (incorporated 2016) that acts as investment manager to venture funds for the North East, most notably the North East Venture Fund. It is the institutional vehicle channelling risk capital into regional sta...
A SEBI-registered Category-I VC fund (₹100 crore corpus) for the North East, promoted by NEDFi, the Ministry of DoNER and SIDBI. It has invested ₹56.8 crore across 37 startups (ticket sizes ₹25 lakh–₹5 crore), 24 of them in Assam, spanni...
A SEBI-registered Category-I AIF (Venture Capital Fund) set up by the Government of Assam to invest in scalable, innovative early- and growth-stage startups and MSMEs based in Assam. It provides a state-backed equity funding channel comp...
An emerging angel network initiated by Assam Startup – The Nest, which convened Guwahati HNIs (from May 2019) to formalise angel investing in the state; angel-network backing recognised by Startup Assam is a criterion for state benefits....
Atal Incubation Centre (launched 2023, backed by Atal Innovation Mission / NITI Aayog) providing mentorship, seed funding, lab facilities and business support to startups in pharma, healthcare, biotech, agri and water. Deeptech/lifescien...
Assam's first state-owned startup incubator, launched 20 January 2019 under the Assam Startup Policy 2017 and co-created with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park. Selected startups are incubated free of cost for six months with intensive mentor...
Established in 2009, TIC is the pioneering technology incubator of North East India, spread over ~4,000 sq m within IIT Guwahati's Technology Complex. Sector-agnostic but strong in AI, robotics, electronics, clean energy, healthtech and ...
A DST NM-ICPS Section-8 foundation hosting IIT Guwahati's Technology Innovation Hub (TIH) in the vertical 'Technology for Underwater Exploration'. It funds and incubates deep-tech startups and undertakes interdisciplinary R&D in underwat...
The first research park established in North East India (approved by the Ministry of HRD), created to foster leading-edge innovation. It offers customised space, shared equipment, incubation, mentorship and funding to technology-based en...
A BIRAC-supported bio-incubator (BioNEST scheme) launched in 2022 and now the leading biotech incubator in North East India. Spread over 12,000 sq ft at the Research Park, it supports 60+ startups with lab infrastructure, mentorship, see...
A Section-8 incubator under IIM Calcutta that is a major force in the North East despite being Kolkata-headquartered (not Guwahati-based). It has nurtured 1,000+ NE ventures and facilitated ₹75+ crore for 300+ startups, co-created state ...
A university-based incubation centre at Assam down town University running government-backed programs — SFURTI (MSME), TIDE 2.0 (MeitY, grants of ₹4L/₹7L for ICT startups), plus in-house tracks 'dtVL Ideation' (interest-free loans up to ...
The Government of Assam's flagship initiative to build a startup ecosystem in the state, operationalised through the Assam Startup Policy 2017. It provides recognition, monetary benefits, incubation access and a single-window portal for ...
An autonomous national institute under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, established in Guwahati in 1993 to promote entrepreneurship across the North East. It delivers training (ToT, ESDP), research and consultancy fo...
A managed coworking and shared-office provider on Guwahati's main commercial artery (GS Road), offering serviced offices, day passes, virtual offices and meeting rooms. One of the more visible professional coworking options used by start...
A coworking operator with two GS Road locations offering furnished desks, private cabins, high-speed internet and meeting rooms in Guwahati's central business district. Popular with early-stage founders, freelancers and small teams.
A furnished coworking space positioned for freelancers, entrepreneurs, startups and remote workers, providing flexible desks and office infrastructure away from the GS Road cluster. Part of Guwahati's small but growing independent cowork...
The capstone of each Nest incubation cohort: top investors are invited to consider funding the ventures pitched by incubated startups. Guwahati's flagship investor-facing pitch event, tied to The Nest's cohort cycle (e.g., Cohort 4.0). I...
A monthly gathering The Nest runs especially for non-incubated startups to interact with industry experts and get guidance on entrepreneurial challenges. The closest thing to a recurring open founder meetup in Guwahati — but tied to the ...
A multi-day state-level startup festival (2023 edition ran 23–25 Aug) with power talks, masterclasses and networking to inspire and empower NE youth and entrepreneurs. One of the larger community-facing startup events in the Guwahati cal...
The Northeast's most prominent annual entrepreneurship summit, run by E-Cell IIT Guwahati; 17th edition in Jan 2025. Anchors sub-events like Disrupt (NE's largest startup bootcamp, 4 months of mentorship), Internfair (60+ companies, 150+...
A TiE Global chapter for Guwahati/Assam (VERIFIED — guwahati.tie.org is live), one of the newer chapters in the TiE family. Delivers TiE's five pillars — Mentoring, Networking, Education, Funding, Incubation — guiding NE startups via Ind...
A grassroots founder initiative started Jan 2015 with the dream of making Guwahati the NE startup capital. Ran the popular 'Startup Saturday Guwahati Talks' — 30+ month-on-month programs and pitching sessions connecting founders to mento...
A community specifically for startup founders of Northeast India, running founder meetups. Signals live demand for a peer-founder network in the region — a potential ally or model as eChai considers a NE gateway chapter.
A private university in Guwahati with an active entrepreneurship cell, dedicated innovation labs and incubation facilities, and regular hackathons. It is a formal MoU partner of IIM Calcutta Innovation Park for co-incubation, positioning...
A UGC-recognised private university (evolved from GIMT) in Guwahati that emphasises entrepreneurship development, startup incubation and applied engineering projects. Contributes to the education-to-startup pipeline in the western part o...
Jungle Travels India & Assam Bengal Navigation
Guwahati's best-known woman entrepreneur. She co-founded Jungle Travels India (1989) and pioneered Brahmaputra river cruising with Assam Bengal Navigation (2002). She became National President of FICCI FLO (...
GrowHub (Connecting B2B)
Founder & CEO of GrowHub (founded 2024), a Guwahati B2B ecommerce platform that turns agricultural waste and natural fibres (banana fibre, bamboo) into handcrafted products, empowering rural artisans — parti...
Zangfai
Founder of Zangfai, a premium traditional-Assamese jewelry brand rooted in the region's cultural heritage. Represents the strong Guwahati women-led craft/lifestyle-D2C scene.
RogNidaan Technologies (co-founders)
Two of RogNidaan Technologies' four co-founders are women scientists. RogNidaan builds automated clinical-diagnostics AI; its PapScanner screens Pap-smear images for early cervical-dysplasia detection. An ex...
The Northeast chapter of the FICCI Ladies Organisation, headquartered out of Guwahati (founder vice-chair Jahnabi Phookan, est. 2007). Runs handloom village-adoption programmes and hosted a 4-day, 350-delega...
State chapter of the Women's Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (national women's business chamber, ~60,000 India members). Assam sits in WICCI's Eastern Region; sector councils include the Assam Fashion ...
The deeptech end of the map, on the north bank of the Brahmaputra. IIT Guwahati's Technology Incubation Centre has run since 2009 across about 4,000 sq m of the Technology Complex, and the BioNEST bio-incubator at the Research Park, backed by BIRAC and open since 2022, carries 60 or more startups with wet lab space. The Guwahati Biotech Park and the Brahmaputra Industrial Park sit in the same Amingaon belt, which makes this stretch both the research base and the industrial one.
10 companies 7 coworking
Strong in Deeptech, AI
Guwahati's main commercial artery and the address for most of what a founder needs day to day. The coworking spaces cluster around Christian Basti and Bhangagarh, NEDFi House at Dispur manages the North East Venture Fund, and the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre and the Assam Secretariat sit on the same belt.
1 company 3 investors 3 coworking
Strong in SaaS, Fintech
The fast growing commercial and residential belt in south Guwahati, an overflow from the crowded G.S. Road core where smaller brands and service firms sit near residential density. North East Small Finance Bank is registered at Beltola, and the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship, set up in 1993 to work across the Northeast, is at Lalmati on the NH-37 bypass.
1 company 1 coworking
Strong in Fintech
Answers about the Guwahati startup scene
What does the startup ecosystem in Guwahati look like?
Guwahati's ecosystem is strongest in deeptech, ecommerce and D2C, with a deeptech share that is unusually large for a city this size because so much of it comes out of IIT Guwahati. The companies list above shows who is building what, filterable by vertical.
Why is IIT Guwahati so central to the startup scene here?
It is the single biggest source of companies in the city. The Technology Incubation Centre has run on campus since 2009 and the BioNEST bio-incubator at the Research Park has carried 60 or more startups since 2022. Most of the robotics and diagnostics companies on this list started there, including DSRL, whose surveillance robots have been in Indian Army field trials, and BetaTANK, whose robots clean crude oil tank sludge without anyone entering the tank.
Is Assam's tea economy part of the startup story?
Mostly through brands. The Guwahati Tea Auction Centre has run in Dispur since 1970, is one of the largest auction hubs for CTC tea anywhere, and sold a record 169 million kg in 2024-25. The same supply base has produced direct to consumer tea companies, among them Ésah Tea, the first tea startup from Assam to raise venture capital, and Aromica Tea, started by a former McLeod Russel executive.
Which incubators and coworking spaces are in Guwahati?
Assam Startup, The Nest, at Ambari is the state incubator and the anchor of the ecosystem, co-created with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, and IIT Guwahati runs the Technology Incubation Centre, the Research Park and BioNEST at Amingaon. The coworking section below lists the private spaces, most of them on G.S. Road around Christian Basti.
Who funds startups in Guwahati?
Regional and state vehicles more than private venture funds. NEDFi, headquartered on G.S. Road at Dispur, manages the North East Venture Fund, a SEBI registered Rs 100 crore fund that has put about Rs 56.8 crore into 37 startups, and the Assam Start-up Venture Capital Fund is run for the state government by SIDBI Venture Capital. The investors section below lists what is active locally.
Where do founders network in Guwahati?
Around institutions more than independent meetups. The Nest runs a monthly Startup Adda for founders who are not in its cohort, E-Cell IIT Guwahati runs UDGAM, the largest annual entrepreneurship summit in the Northeast, and TiE Guwahati is the chapter to know. The communities section below lists them.
Does eChai run events in Guwahati?
Not at the moment. eChai Guwahati held a growth meetup in January 2020 and a Startup Social in January 2023, 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.
Which are the top startup verticals in Guwahati?
Deeptech leads, then ecommerce and D2C, with agritech, climate tech and healthtech close behind. Use the vertical chips above to browse the companies in each.
Want to help restart eChai Guwahati?
eChai's Guwahati chapter ran a couple of meetups, the last in January 2023, and has been quiet since. 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
