Deshpande Start-Ups, a business incubator, organised ‘Start-Up Gravity’, an event for over 1000 innovative, socially conscious, talented and relentless young entrepreneurs who aim to transform India’s socio-economic growth. In addition to the entrepreneurs, over 200 industry leaders and high net-worth individuals (HNIs), more than 100 academicians and experts and about 50 VCs were a part of this event.

Luminaries such as Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys, Deshpande Foundation’s co-founder, Dr Gururaj Desh Deshpande and Mr N C Murthy were at the event. They also inaugurated the MAA Food-Tech Centre (N C Murthy Aahaar Avinya Food-Tech Innovation Centre), an ecosystem built to support an integrated zero-waste food cluster in North Karnataka after a successful pilot in Sirsi, Karnataka.

With almost 50 per cent of its start-ups coming from the agritech sector, Deshpande Start-Ups is committed to taking steps to make the food system in India more resilient. Through this effort, they claim to provide innovative solutions to reduce food wastage, increase a farmer’s income and create entrepreneurs at every step of the value chain, particularly among women.

“Despite the pandemic and the economic turmoil faced by the world, India has continued to achieve economic growth that is higher than almost all other leading economies in recent years. This resilience has been created by the ‘young and hungry’ population of start-up founders and student entrepreneurs. There is a need to continue driving awareness and build an incubatory ecosystem where the talent is nurtured, guided and empowered to move forward in the right direction," said Dr Gururaj Desh Deshpande, co-founder, Deshpande Foundation. 

"We are dedicated to ensuring that deserving start-up founders are provided with all the knowledge and ecosystem support that they need to create winning enterprises. This will not only resolve the social challenges prevalent but also pave the way for a highly developed, financially stronger and socially equitable society," added Dr Aravind Chinchure, chief executive officer (CEO) of Deshpande Start-Ups. 

During his address, Mr Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys asserted that an entrepreneurial mindset can go a long way in helping solve common issues faced by society. Entrepreneurial thinking is key to tackling social issues, and great leadership simply means leading by example.”

In addition to fireside discussions, keynote speeches, and panel discussions, three main events were held as a part of Start-Up Gravity.

1. Start-Up Expo: An exhibition event for students, start-ups and entrepreneurs was held that enabled them to showcase their innovations to the rest of the world.
2. Start-Up Showdown: This was a competitive event that pitched the student start-ups against each other to win the Entrepreneur of the Year trophy along with mentorship from Dr Desh Deshpande.
3. Launch Fest: An initiative that allowed startups to launch their products in front of investors, and get feedback from early adopters alongside user and media attention.

The event also saw the launch of an indigenous food dehydration machine built by the Deshpande Start-Ups' Infinity Studio team. The machine aims to make the North Karnataka food cluster self-sustainable and is a low-cost and effective solution that completes the food-value chain cycle.

The four key themes on which panel discussions were held include Make in University; Art and Science of Disruption; The golden era of the Indian Start-Up Ecosystem and Decoding Start-Up Investments for 2023 and beyond.

A large number of enterprises and government partners including Start-UpIndia, Start-Up Karnataka, Deshpande Foundation, Deshpande Skilling, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission, Google for Start-Ups, and the Indian Institute for Information Technology supported the event.