The Rundown | Velocity Insider
First Edition
Welcome to the first edition of Velocity Insider. Over the past few months, a lot has happened at Velocity - Kotak BizLabs Accelerator Programme, and we’re taking a deep dive into the events, milestones and trends that defined it. Whether you’re a founder, mentor or investor, this is your inside look at what’s moving across the ecosystem, from AI and Deeptech to hardware, and where it’s headed next.
October 2026 | 5 min read
From the program desk
Velocity – Kotak BizLabs Accelerator Programme is a CSR initiative by Kotak Mahindra Bank in partnership with NSRCEL, IIM Bangalore. We work with technology startups through mentorship, founder learning sessions, and introductions to investors and corporates.
Building a tech venture takes more than a strong product. You still have to find product-market fit, grow revenue, raise money, win enterprise customers and commercialise. That’s the part we help with, so you can grow the business and scale sustainably.
Our founders build in AI and SaaS, Deeptech, Robotics, Drones, Semiconductors, Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and other emerging technology.
You can learn more about the program here - https://nsrcel.org/velocity/
Where the action was.
The big moments of last quarter
Defencetech Demo Day, with Bluehill VC
17 Defence and Deeptech startups pitched. Five made it through to present before an expert jury, and came away with a direct line into the defence technology ecosystem.
Investor Readiness, then two Demo Days
Season 2 founders worked through five investor-readiness modules, seven 1‑on‑1 mentoring sessions and 24 mock pitches. Then came the real thing.
Investor Demo Day set up 108 1‑on‑1 meetings between 17 founders and 17 investors. We’ve since facilitated 42 more online meetings.
Corporate Demo Day brought 10 corporates, including Titan, Wipro and Bühler, face to face with eight startups to explore product showcases and business opportunities.
Also this quarter
Hardtech Showcase with South Park Commons. We co-hosted two days at IIM Bangalore with 500+ attendees and 30+ hardware innovations. NSRCEL ventures: Cell Forge, Bloom Rehab, Factree AI, Nautical Wings and Navmarg Research showed what they’re building.
Enterprise AI Roundtables with NASSCOM AI. Two roundtables with industry leaders on enterprise AI adoption, and on what growth-stage CTOs and engineering teams are up against. A separate closed-door session with NASSCOM and Google Cloud brought 18 founders together on safe, governable autonomous AI and responsible enterprise adoption.
Enterprise AI Clinic with NASSCOM. At the Agentic AI Confluence in Bengaluru, 14 startups met 10 enterprise leaders across 40 meetings to explore real enterprise needs and possible collaborations.
Ecosystem engagements
Who we connected with, and where
Investor Connect
1‑on‑1 interactions between 3i Partners and portfolio startups Auklr, Factree.ai and Mankomb led by Subodh Toprani, Founding Partner at 3i Partners.
The conversations focused on go-to-market strategy and fundraising. Founders got practical input on traction, customer focus and their next funding milestone.
Hardware founder communities
Pune and Coimbatore
Unit economics and scaling hardware startups, in sessions led by industry experts Pramod Ghadge and Sri Krishnan.
Founders learned how to cost and price a product and protect margins. They also covered the move from prototype to production and built a local peer network.
Fundraising for Basecamp founders
Founder session
A focused fundraising session led by Navaneetha Krishnan, Founder and CEO of Stay Still Scale High.
It covered how to prepare for a raise, build an investor pipeline and shape the pitch. Founders also learned how to approach investors and avoid common early-stage mistakes.
Ecosystem outreach
Chennai
Taking hardware startups from lab to venture scale, a session for Chennai founders run in partnership with iTNT.
It covered how to prepare for a raise, build an investor pipeline and shape the pitch. Founders also learned how to approach investors and avoid common early-stage mistakes.
AI and governance
Webinar
Governance, risk and compliance for AI startups, with Vijay Narayanan, Head – Innovation & AI, Kotak Mahindra Bank.
The session covered what regulators, banks and enterprise customers expect from AI startups. It showed how building governance in early helps win enterprise trust and sales.
Deeptech storytelling
Webinar
Building a narrative for Indian DeepTech startups, led by Amrut Mishra, Founder of Corevoice.
It showed founders how to turn complex technology into a clear, compelling story. The focus was on pitching to investors, customers and talent, with a global audience in mind.
Startup spotlights
Hear from founders, in their own words
From breakthrough technology to the realities of growth, here’s what building a tech venture looks like from the inside.
NITI AI
Meet Aravind R., Co-Founder and CTO
Building decision intelligence for marketing spend and helping businesses move beyond dashboards to better, data-driven decisions.
TestMySkills
Meet Sarang Pani, Co-Founder
Building an AI-powered platform that helps learners move from skill assessment and certification to competitive exam preparation and career opportunities.
FxUAV
Meet Subham Acharya and Partha Sarathi Dash, Co-Founders
A drone manufacturing and deployment company developing indigenous drones and drone components for real‑world applications.
More startup stories in every edition.
Coming up in Edition 02
Defencetech
India’s defence technology ecosystem is moving fast. Next time we spotlight the startups building in it, what’s changing, and what it really takes to build and scale a Defencetech venture here.
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