TechSparks 2025 Day 2: From Vani Kola’s take on AI to Zepto’s Kaivalya Vohra on building a tech stack, and more

On the second day, the 16th edition of TechSparks 2025 in Bengaluru delved deeper into the world of fintech, with crucial conversations on venture capital (VC) strategy and deeptech backing.

YourStory’s flagship startup-tech summit, themed ‘India 2030: Powered by AI’, brought together founders, investors, and technologists to explore how India can shape and dominate the next era of global innovation.

The day started with actor and entrepreneur Kunal Kapoor, who spoke about the need to build an authentic narrative that builds trust, attracts capital, and creates loyal commitments.

Kapoor, co-founder of crowd-sourcing platform Ketto, believes curiosity is one of the greatest advantages anyone can have in today’s hyperconnected world. “Curiosity is a superpower. With so much information and opportunity around us, the one thing we should never lose is the need to be curious.”

This session was followed by seasoned entrepreneur Vani Kola, MD, Kalaari Capital, who provided the VC’s compass on navigating capital efficiency and reinvention in India’s AI decade.

She spoke about how every major technological shift has accelerated the pace of development, and AI is no different. Kola urged founders to anchor their ambitions in purpose rather than speed. She said true endurance comes from clarity—knowing why you build, for whom, and how to stay the course amid constant technological change.

Next, a packed auditorium witnessed a powerful session with a politician who would have been an entrepreneur if not for politics. Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, shared how India is now focused on mission manufacturing, building aviation ecosystems, supporting startups, and ensuring that aircraft made in India eventually take to the skies.

“I want to see commercial aeroplane being built in this country and the people of this country flying in that plane, and very soon we are going to do it,” Naidu remarked during a fireside chat.

Fintech got a detailed examination as Gautam Aggarwal, Division President for South Asia at Mastercard, discussed how AI is fundamentally changing the game for finance.

Aggarwal explained that Mastercard’s journey with AI began decades ago when the company started analysing transaction data to detect fraud patterns in real time. What began as basic analytics has evolved into advanced models that now use behavioural biometrics—tracking subtle indicators like the angle at which a user holds their phone or the speed of typing—to verify identity.

He also highlighted, “The card is not the form factor anymore.” He was articulating a shift that has profound implications for the nearly $500 billion company operating across 210 countries.

Amid the loud AI conversations, leaders from a four-decade-old accounting software company, Tally Solutions, said the firm is not carried away by the technology. Although Tally is looking at various ways to engage with AI, the company wants to ensure that the technology is deployed in the right way for its 7 million-odd customers.

Meanwhile, Myntra CEO Nandita Sinha pointed out how the Flipkart-backed fashion marketplace is using AI to spot fashion trends, enable faster production, and scale its content-to-commerce ecosystem, blending user-generated content with intelligent curation.

Moving to deeptech, Speciale Invest partners highlighted how India’s deeptech growth depends on research-focused academia and patient early capital, stressing the need to fund innovation at early technology readiness levels and nurture a patient, research-driven ecosystem.

The Speciale Invest investors and M2P Fintech co-founder also argued that deeptech demands investors willing to “lose with founders”—backing slow, invisible creation over quick returns.

Later in the evening, Scott Albin, General Manager, Groq APAC, discussed ultra-fast inference with Narendra Yadav, CBO and Senior Vice President of Paytm, in a dialogue about real-time AI powering India’s fintech future.

The day concluded with a deep dive into quick commerce efficiency, with Kaivalya Vohra, Co-founder, Zepto, and Nikhil Mittal, CTO of Zepto, shedding light on the algorithms powering instant fulfilment and dark store operations.

For Zepto, the real challenge wasn’t launching 10-minute delivery; it was making it predictable and profitable. CTO Nikhil Mittal said the answer lies in building the company’s own tech stack from scratch.

Soon after a fresh $450 million fundraise and increasing competition, Zepto’s Kaivalya Vohra said many companies have wasted a lot of money with nothing to show for it. However, Zepto’s spending has been disciplined and conscious.

Day 3 of TechSparks 2025 will continue to unpack the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship, and purpose-led innovation. The agenda features conversations focusing on the advanced mechanics of building an independent intelligence economy for India, emphasising scalable infrastructure, robust governance, and the transition of GenAI from experimental phases to high-impact production.