Meet Sreedhara Panicker, Bhavish Aggarwal, Nithin Kamath, Alakh Pandey, and more at TechSparks 2024

Are you ready to decode the future of India’s startup growth?

Get ready for the grand 15th edition of YourStory’s flagship event, TechSparks Bengaluru, scheduled for September 26-28, at Taj Yeshwantpur.

Since 2008, TechSparks has been championing the Indian startup ecosystem, evolving into the country’s largest startup-tech event. It is where the most influential tech leaders, trailblazers, innovators and entrepreneurs convene to decode the future of innovation—all under one roof.

Across 15 editions, we have hosted more than 1,000 sessions, featuring over 2,200 speakers that have helped attendees create 1.5 million connections. We celebrate India’s rise towards becoming a global tech leader at TechSparks 2024.

With less than a month to go, here is the first list of speakers headlining the 15th edition of YourStory TechSparks 2024, Bengaluru edition:

Sreedhara Panicker Somanath

With a career spanning close to four decades, Indian aerospace engineer and scientist Sreedhara Panicker Somanath assumed the role of Chairman for Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2022. He has been at the forefront of the Chandrayaan 3 landing near the south pole of Moon. An expert in the field of space technology and systems engineer, Sreedhara has previously piloted the National Space Policy, and engagement of ISRO with startups in the spacetech sector, taking up commercial activities, including launch vehicle production and spacecraft operations.

Bhavish Aggarwal

Bhavish Aggarwal, 0ne of India’s OG entrepreneurs, started his entrepreneurial journey with Ola Consumer (formerly Ola Cabs), resiliently building the ride-hailing giant. At present, he is also the founder of EV unicorn Ola Electric, which recently filed its IPO, and AI company OlaKrutrim. He has been making headlines for placing bold bets on new-age technologies, driving India to the forefront of the global tech transition. What sets Bhavish apart is his forward-thinking approach and belief that it is a young India who will design India’s future.

Nithin Kamath

Easily one of the most recognisable faces in the Indian startup ecosystem, Nithin Kamath’s journey as the Co-founder and CEO of Zerodha, has been nothing short of inspiring. Initially trading in penny stocks, Nithin took the road less travelled 14 years ago to bootstrap his startup into not just a unicorn but also one of India’s largest stockbrokers. Zerodha’s funding arm, Rainmatter Foundation, was founded in 2021 to support organisations and projects that focus on climate action, a healthier environment and livelihoods associated with them. During TechSparks 2023, Nithin emphasised how his ultimate goal was to get Zerodha’s customers to invest in the startup ecosystem of India, and not in gold and real estate. It would be interesting to hear the self-made entrepreneur’s thoughts this time around.

Rohini Srivathsa

Rohini Srivathsa took over as the CTO for Microsoft India and South Asia in September 2023. Responsible for driving tech innovation and growth across industry and the government, Rohini has previously held top leadership roles across organisations including Boston Consulting Group, ICICI, Jana Small Finance Bank and IBM. An MBA from the Wharton School, Rohini has published over 25 technical and business papers, creating a niche for herself.

Naveen Tewari

Naveen Tewari, the founder of India’s first ever unicorn InMobi, has sailed through the ebbs and flows of the Indian startup ecosystem. Nine years after InMobi attained the coveted unicorn status, Naveen repeated history with InMobi’s subsidiary, Glance, a Google-backed AI-based content platform. His philosophy of constant innovation and disruption is embedded deep into InMobi and Naveen's dream of re-imagining advertising in a ‘user-first’ approach, unlocking the true potential of the mobile ecosystem. Earlier in TechSparks 2019, Naveen had stated that by 2025, he would create a global technology company from India for the world. We are as thrilled as you to hear what he has to say this time!

Harshil Mathur

IIT Roorkee alumnus Harshil Mathur started Razorpay with co-founder Shashank Kumar from their dorm room. Providing payment solutions, allowing business to accept, process and disburse payments, the Bengaluru-based unicorn has democratised online payments for Indian businesses. Backed by a marquee list of investors including Y Combinator, Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital India and MasterCard, Razorpay became the first fintech startup to build a full-stack international Payment Gateway. Catch Harshil talk about how he continues to make money movement simpler and easier.

Alakh Pandey

Alakh Pandey’s story is a source of inspiration. Unable to realise his dream of becoming an actor, college dropout Alakh started his journey as a YouTuber in 2016, to teach physics to students of Class 11 and 12. He incorporated Physics Wallah (PW), buying only the essentials—a phone with a camera, a tripod, a whiteboard and a few books. By 2018, he already had 50,000 subscribers. It was only in 2020, amidst the pandemic, that Alakh launched an app to provide students with a complete curriculum for competitive exams. In early 2022, PW joined the unicorn club, also becoming the only profitable edtech company in India.

We are also excited to bring in Mabel Chacko, Anish Achuthan, Ajeesh Achuthan and Deena Jacob—Co-founders of India’s 100th unicorn, Open Financial Technologies; Vishal Dhupar, Managing Director (Asia South) of world’s leading AI company, NVIDIA; Supriya Paul, Co-founder and CEO of Josh Talks; Alok Goyal of Stellaris Venture Partners; Amrit Acharya and Srinath Ramakkrushnan, Co-founders of Zetwerk, among others.

So are you ready to be inspired by the trailblazers of the startup and tech ecosystem, and be a part of India's journey to becoming a global tech leader? For more information, click here.