India’s first-ever Draper Founders Program concludes; IIT-Hyderabad student among two win US scholarship

Hyderabad: India’s first-ever Draper Founders Program wrapped up this week with a Demo Day held at Draper Startup House in Hyderabad.

The 12-day residential accelerator, designed for early-stage startup founders, ended with a closed-door pitch session featuring 16 entrepreneurs representing 14 startups from across the country.

Two founders win scholarships to attend a program at Draper University, San Francisco

At the end of the evening, two participants, Rushikesh Chavan, founder of Finstone AI and a student at IIT-Hyderabad, and Shubham Sharma, founder of Xaults from Bengaluru, were named Draper Heroes. Both received $15,000 scholarships to attend the Hero Training Program at Draper University in San Francisco.

Chavan’s Finstone AI is developing an AI-powered autonomous trading platform, while Sharma’s Xaults is building blockchain-enabled financial tools aimed at institutions and governments.

14 Startups, One Platform

The participating startups came from a wide range of sectors, including fintech, medtech, AI, space-tech, education, and sustainability. Among them were:

• Medscore – Mannuri Vamshi Krishna

• Reoxide – Basil Paulose

• Salaah Shots – Astha Darshika

• Cumma – Gautham Palaniswamy

• FinStackk – Nithin Reddy

• Macrocosmos Creation – Dr. Abhishek Mani Tripathi

• Neuralcraft – Niyas

• Brick Pay – Shubham Shah

• ALGOXIA – Sandeep Yama

• Weez.AI – Sayyad Nisa & team

• Lohas Stays Pvt Ltd – Harsha

• Spaecs – Karthik Nagapuri

Many of the ventures are still in the product development or early go-to-market phase, and most have bootstrapped their operations so far.

Investor Jury and Feedback

The founders pitched to a panel of investors, startup mentors, and ecosystem leaders. Jury members included:

• Pras Hanuma (Next Unicorn Fund)

• Sanjay Nekkanti (Dhruva Space)

• Vikranth Varshney (SucSEED Indovation)

• Ratnakar Samavedham (Hyderabad Angels)

• Vishnu Chundi (AasaanWill)

• MSR (Former T-Hub CEO)

• Naveena Reddy (Lead Invest)

• Renuka Bodla (ex-SilverNeedle Ventures)

The tone of the feedback was largely positive, with some jury members indicating interest in follow-up conversations.

Murali Bukkapatnam, Chair of the TiE Global Board of Trustees, said:

“Draper Startup House has uncovered diamonds in the rough. Each founder here is on the cusp of greatness.”

He also pointed out Salaah Shots, a career mentorship platform for medical students, as an example of an underrepresented yet timely idea.

First Draper Cohort in India

While Draper Startup House has been running programs globally, this was the first edition of the Draper Founders Program to be held in India. The model combines startup-focused residency with mentorship, pitch training, and access to investors.

The initiative draws its name and inspiration from venture capitalist Tim Draper, whose early bets include Tesla, SpaceX, Skype, and Coinbase. The India cohort follows a similar format to the Draper programs in the US, Singapore, and Portugal.

Participants stayed and worked at the Draper Startup House facility in Hyderabad, sharing dorms, workspaces, and mentoring sessions with each other and international guests. The format, organisers say, is designed to create peer learning and faster iterations on product and pitch.

Looking Ahead

Although no term sheets were announced at Demo Day, Draper Startup House confirmed that follow-ups with investors are underway. Several of the startups are expected to raise pre-seed or seed rounds in the coming months.

With the first cohort concluded, Draper Startup House India is reportedly planning additional editions and vertical-specific programs in the coming year.