RTIH Tirupati Hosts Startup Pitchathon 2026

The Ratan Tata Innovation Hub (RTIH) in Tirupati organized the RTIH Startup Pitchathon 2026.

This event brought together around 300 participants, including aspiring entrepreneurs, student innovators, startups, industry experts, and faculty members.

The goal was to encourage innovation, entrepreneurial thinking, startup fund-readiness, and better collaboration between industry and academia.

Deenanath Harapanahalli, a general partner at Gnan Circle Ventures, gave a keynote address on building fund-ready startups.

He emphasized the importance of disciplined execution, customer validation, resilience, scalability, and solving real-world problems.

Smita Reddy, a partner at LexStart Partners, conducted a session on legal fund-readiness, highlighting the importance of legal compliance, intellectual property protection, governance, and strategic planning.

Dr Pradeepkumar Sundararaj, the founder and CEO of Kelvin6k, shared his entrepreneurial journey and encouraged young innovators to think creatively and embrace challenges.

Ten shortlisted startups presented their ideas to a jury, who evaluated them on various criteria and offered suggestions to strengthen their business models.