Conquest BITS Pilani Selects 22 Startups from Over 3,000 Applications for Its 2026 Cohort

Conquest, Asia's largest student-run startup accelerator and an initiative of BITS Pilani's Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL), has announced its 2026 cohort, selecting 22 startups from more than 3,000 applications received from across the country. The program runs on a zero-equity, zero-cost model and has built a reputation as one of the more prominent platforms for early-stage founders looking for mentorship, investor access and ecosystem support without strings attached.

This year's cohort cuts across a wide range of sectors. Climate innovation, healthcare, robotics, semiconductor infrastructure and artificial intelligence all feature, and the selection reflects a deliberate choice to back founders working across industries rather than clustering around a single theme.

A good number of the selected startups are building technologies aimed at industrial efficiency, waste reduction and more sustainable manufacturing systems. Several others are focused on healthcare, spanning accessibility, preventive care and patient outcomes. There are also startups working on UAVs, robotics, AI driven automation and specialised software infrastructure, areas where Indian founders are increasingly looking to build products with global relevance from the start.

One of the more notable patterns in this year's selection is the growing presence of deep-tech and research driven companies. Many of the founders are working on problems that demand long development cycles, strong domain expertise and genuine technical defensibility. It marks a shift from the consumer-first playbook that dominated earlier waves of Indian startup activity, toward businesses built around intellectual property and hard-to-replicate capabilities.

The cohort also reflects how startup activity in India is spreading beyond internet business models. Founders are moving into manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, construction and enterprise operations, bringing technology-led approaches to sectors that have historically been slow to modernise.

Over the coming weeks, the selected startups will go through a structured mentorship program with entrepreneurs, investors, operators and domain experts. The focus will be on sharpening product strategy, tightening business models and preparing for the next stage of growth.The program culminates in an in person week in Bengaluru, with workshops, networking and direct conversations with ecosystem leaders, before closing with Demo Day, where startups will present to investors, founders and industry stakeholders.

Founder support programs have taken on greater importance as competition for capital and talent has grown more intense. The scale of applications to Conquest this year points to both the depth of entrepreneurial activity emerging across India and a broader appetite among founders for structured support that goes beyond a funding cheque.

The Conquest 2026 cohort, taken together, offers an early read on the technologies and industries attracting India's newest generation of founders. The sectors vary, but the underlying ambition is consistent: build something that solves a real problem, at scale, and holds its own in global markets.