Future Makers Conclave at BTS 2025: A new movement in India’s deeptech revolution

When astronauts, unicorn founders, and thousands of young innovators gather under one roof, it's not just an event; it's a statement of intent. The inaugural edition of Future Makers Conclave at Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS) 2025, held recently at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, not only captured the imagination of India’s innovation community but also boldly defined what the next decade of deeptech leadership could look like for Karnataka and the nation.

Conceptualised as a flagship programme on Day 3 of BTS 2025, the conclave emerged as a first-of-its-kind platform blending technology, entrepreneurship, inspiration, and national pride. It brought together an extraordinary spectrum of achievers – from astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who recently made history as India’s Gaganyaan mission commander, to bestselling author-entrepreneur Ankur Warikoo, sports legends Sania Mirza and Richa Ghosh, superstar mentalist Suhani Shah, and a galaxy of unicorn founders, including Kaivalya Vohra (Zepto), Gaurav Singh Kushwaha (Bluestone), Pavan Guntupalli (Rapido), Swapnil Jain (Ather Energy), S Karthik Venkateswaran (Jumbotail), Ashish Jhina (Jumbotail), and Rajiv Naresh (Navi).

Raw stories, real impact

What made their presence truly special was not celebrity status but their raw stories of ambition, failure, success, and reinvention that they brought to the stage. They spoke of battles fought in silence, ideas that started small, and the persistence required to disrupt at scale. Their journeys gave young innovators in the audience a profound realization that India’s tech icons are not born in boardrooms, but are built through sheer courage, grit, and resilience.

Beyond inspiration: measurable commitments

From a deeptech lens, the conclave delivered far more than inspiration. The Government of Karnataka and leading venture capital funds announced investment commitments of nearly Rs 400 crore for promising AI and deeptech startups. A record 143 new Elevate Awardees, of which 6 winners were recognized, with a strong representation from Beyond Bengaluru, strengthening regional innovation clusters and signalling a statewide deeptech expansion.

This collaboration between the government, investors, and entrepreneurs showcased a powerful message: deeptech in Karnataka is not just an idea, it is a nurtured, accelerated, national priority.

An ecosystem maturing at a record pace

The Future Makers Conclave and BTS 2025 also highlighted an ecosystem that is maturing at record pace. With the announcement of new Karnataka IT and spacetech policies for 2025-2030, advancements under the LEAP initiatives, and the launch of KEO, a compact, affordable, AI-ready personal computer, Karnataka is positioning itself at the forefront of the global techade.

A defining thread across the three-hour programme was Karnataka's commitment to democratising innovation. The state is building an environment where deep science innovators find believers early, where frontier technologies can be tested, piloted, scaled, and globalised. It's creating pathways for startups to gain policy and market access inside India first, and ensuring young entrepreneurs see role models who look like them, speak like them, and started exactly where they are today.

A movement taking shape

For the thousands who filled the hall, the conclave felt more like a movement taking shape, one where the next Indian astronaut, the next deeptech unicorn, the next global product pioneer could very well be sitting among them.

If this was the very first edition, the future editions of Future Makers Conclave are poised to become the most powerful stage for emerging innovators, accelerating Karnataka’s aspiration to become the deeptech capital of the world.

The future didn’t just arrive at BTS 2025. It stood up, roared, and announced that India is ready to lead.