Moneycontrol, India’s leading financial and business platform, is set to host the third edition of the Moneycontrol Startup Conclave on September 26, 2026, bringing together founders, investors, policymakers and industry leaders to discuss the next phase of India’s rapidly evolving startup ecosystem.

The conclave will be anchored on the theme ‘The Big Reset: AI Shift, Profitability, Valuation’, as startups and businesses navigate an AI-led transformation, changing capital markets and growing scrutiny around sustainable growth and valuations.

In a press release, Moneycontrol said the event comes at a defining stage for India’s startup ecosystem, which has demonstrated its ability to build unicorns, attract global capital and create technology-led businesses at scale. The next phase, however, is raising questions around whether growth can translate into sustained profitability, whether AI can create durable competitive advantages and which businesses can build long-term value beyond headline valuations.

Against this backdrop, the Moneycontrol Startup Conclave 2026 will bring together voices from across the startup ecosystem to examine the forces reshaping entrepreneurship and investment and explore what the next generation of high-value businesses could look like.

The conclave will feature speakers from government, banking, technology, consumer businesses, startups and venture capital. The line-up includes MB Patil, Minister for Large & Medium Industries & Infrastructure Development, Government of Karnataka; Dr. Shalini Rajneesh, Chief Secretary to Government of Karnataka; Tejasvi Surya, MP, Bengaluru South; Sharath Kumar Bache Gowda, MLA Hosakote and Chairman, Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation; V Vaidyanathan, CEO & MD, IDFC First Bank; Sameer Nigam, Founder & CEO, PhonePe; Lalit Keshre, Co-Founder & CEO, Groww; Aravind Sanka, Co-Founder & CEO, Rapido; Ritesh Agarwal, Founder, Prism (Oyo); Varun Dua, Founder & CEO, Acko General Insurance; Pratyush Kumar, Co-Founder, Sarvam; Mukund Jha, Founder, Emergent; Swapnil Jain, Co-Founder, Ather Energy; Prashanth Prakash, Partner, Accel; Rahul Taneja, Partner, Lightspeed; Mridul Arora, Partner, Elevation Capital; Sankaran Naren, CIO, ICICI Prudential AMC; Vinod Kumar Meena, Co-Founder, Kuku; Naga Bharath Daka, Co-Founder, Skyroot Aerospace; Kshitij Khandelwal, Co-Founder, Pixxel; and Professor Satya Chakravarthy, Founder, The ePlane Company.

The event will also feature Rahul Chowdhri, Partner, Stellaris Venture Partners; Siddarth Pai, Founding Partner, 3one4 Capital; Manu Iyer, General Partner, Bluehill VC; Kunal Kalawatia, Chief Product Officer, NPCI; Nitin Rao, CEO, Incred Wealth; Mohit Mehra, Head – Capital Markets, Zerodha; Shobhit Mathur, Co-Founder, Ionic Wealth; Sandeep Jethwani, Co-Founder & CEO, Dezerv; Aniket Shah, Founder & CEO, Swish; Akshay Gulati, Co-Founder & CEO, Slikk; Anjali Sardana, Founder & CEO, Pronto; AB Gupta, Co-Founder & CEO, Popo Global; Akhil Iyer, Founder, Benne; Vishal Goenka, Co-Founder, IndiaBonds; Shlok Shrivastava, also known as Techburner, Tech Creator & Entrepreneur; and Rahul Joseph, Founder & CEO, White Gold.

Speaking about the upcoming conclave, Nalin Mehta, Managing Editor, Moneycontrol and Chief AI Officer – Editorial Operations, Network18, said India’s startup ecosystem is entering a new phase of maturity.

“While entrepreneurship is becoming an increasingly strong ambition among Gen Z, the question is no longer simply how many startups we can create or how much capital we can attract, but how many enduring, globally competitive businesses we can build,” Mehta said.

He added that AI is changing the economics of entrepreneurship, while domestic capital is deepening and founders are increasingly being pushed to think beyond growth-at-all-costs.

According to Mehta, the third edition of the Moneycontrol Startup Conclave will bring together founders, investors, young leaders and policymakers to examine the major shifts and the new inflection point in India’s startup ecosystem as it moves from fundraising towards profitability, sustainability and long-term value creation.

As the startup ecosystem enters a new phase, the Moneycontrol Startup Conclave 2026 will provide a platform to examine the ideas, strategies and business models shaping the future of value creation.

The conclave is scheduled to take place in Bengaluru on September 26, 2026.

Know more about the Moneycontrol Startup Conclave

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