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India
Free
Beginner
This is the authoritative government listing of live Indian grand challenges and national competitions, filterable by Challenges, Incubator, and Accelerator with Active, Upcoming, and Completed tabs, so you see exactly what is open right now (Infineon Startup Challenge, Bharat Livelihood Challenge, National Startup Awards 5.0 with its 10 lakh prize across 20+ categories). It shows the actual deadline and what each winner gets (cash plus mentorship and market access), which is the honest input to the pick-two-or-three decision instead of chasing every circuit.
From
Startup India
by DPIIT, Government of India
browse, filterable
- National Startup Awards 5.0 carries a 10 lakh cash prize across 20+ categories plus mentorship, a credential investors and corporates recognize
- Sector grand challenges (Infineon, Bharat Livelihood, single-use plastics) are the high-signal ones: they come with a real corporate or ministry partner, not just a stage
- The portal separates Active, Upcoming, and Completed so you plan applications against real deadlines rather than reacting to a WhatsApp forward
Open
startupindia.gov.in →
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Free
Beginner
Meetup's directory of startup groups in Indian cities, where many recurring founder and builder meetups list their events. Search your city and join a group to be told of its next event.
From
meetup.com
by Meetup
Directory
- Search your city and join two or three recurring groups.
- Recurring groups are where regulars build relationships.
- Most events are free to attend.
Open
meetup.com →
🛠️ Tool
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Free
Beginner
The event platform many startup, AI and builder communities use to publish and take RSVPs, with a discovery page by category and city. A lot of India's newer founder and AI meetups are listed here rather than on Meetup.
From
luma.com
by Luma
Event directory
- Browse the Tech and AI categories for your city.
- Follow the calendars of communities you like to see their next events.
- RSVP early: many community events cap attendance.
Open
luma.com →
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India
Freemium
Beginner
The directory of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) chapters, the founder and investor network with chapters across Indian cities that run regular events, mentoring and TiECon conferences. Some events are open; full access comes with membership.
From
tie.org
by TiE Global
Chapter directory
- Find your city's chapter and its calendar.
- TiECon conferences are each chapter's largest annual event.
- Membership gives access to mentoring and charter members.
Open
tie.org →
🛠️ Tool
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India
Free
Beginner
This is the fastest in-person on-ramp for The Anywhere Founder who has no co-founder and no ready-made peer group. Headstart is a volunteer-run, non-equity founder community running since 2007 with local chapters in 30-plus Indian cities, including ones the VC circuit ignores, and its Startup Saturday meetups are built around founders demoing and helping each other rather than pitching investors. Show up in person a few times and the weak ties become the four to six people who will actually take your late-night call. If your city has no chapter, you can start one, which is itself a way to manufacture your circle.
From
Headstart
by Headstart Network Foundation
Ongoing community, chapters in 30+ cities
- A grassroots, non-equity founder community with local chapters across 30-plus Indian cities, so a founder anywhere can plug in
- In-person Startup Saturday meetups are demo-and-help formats, ideal for turning strangers into a real peer group
- No chapter in your city? Start one, and build the circle you needed around yourself
Open
headstart.in →
🛠️ Tool
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India
Freemium
Beginner
The events calendar of India's technology industry body, covering product, AI and startup conferences and its startup programme events across cities.
From
nasscom.in
by NASSCOM
Event listing
- Useful for B2B and deep-tech founders meeting enterprise buyers.
- Check for city chapter events, not only the national conferences.
- Some events are free; flagship conferences are paid.
Open
nasscom.in →
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India
Free
Beginner
An example of a state startup mission's own events calendar: workshops, demo days and programmes run by the state. Most states run a mission or nodal agency that lists events like this.
From
startupmission.kerala.gov.in
by Kerala Startup Mission
Event listing
- Check your own state's startup mission for events and programmes.
- State events often come with grants, incubation or procurement access.
- Many are free for registered startups.
Open
startupmission.kerala.gov.in →
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India
Freemium
Beginner
An Indian platform for developer and technology communities that runs conferences and meetups on engineering, product and policy. The place to meet technical founders and engineers.
From
hasgeek.com
by Hasgeek
Community platform
- Go to meet engineers and technical co-founders.
- Talks are practitioner-led rather than sales pitches.
- Follow the communities for your stack.
Open
hasgeek.com →
🛠️ Tool
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Paid
Beginner
Techstars' Startup Weekend: a three-day, 54-hour event where people pitch ideas, form teams and build a startup by Sunday. A fast way to meet people you might build with.
From
techstars.com
by Techstars
Programme page
- You pitch, form a team and build in 54 hours.
- It is a practical way to test working with possible co-founders.
- Check the page for upcoming weekends near you.
Open
techstars.com →
🛠️ Tool
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India
Free
Beginner
A living, India-first answer to 'where do I actually meet founders?', eChai has run founder meetups, dinners, demo days and FailCode events since 2009 across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and beyond. It's a concrete, low-cost way to build a founder network intentionally, especially for corporate switchers and founders building outside the big hubs.
From
eChai Ventures
by eChai Ventures
short
- In-person founder meetups run regularly across 25+ Indian and global cities, pick your city and just show up.
- Formats range from panels and open houses to FailCode sessions where founders share what went wrong.
- Consistency is the model: the network compounds from repeatedly showing up, not one event.
- It's a natural home base for founders building outside the big hubs and corporate switchers who lack a founder network yet.
Open
echai.ventures →
