Delhi – The Startup Demo Day 2025 ‘Connect 1.0’, organised by C3iHub, the Technology Innovation Hub at IIT Kanpur, opened with the launch of five pioneering products developed by its incubated startups. The event, which brought together leaders from government, academia, industry, and the investment community, underlined C3iHub’s mission to accelerate India’s march towards technological sovereignty through innovations conceived, designed, and deployed within its ecosystem.
Among the major launch highlights, India’s security and surveillance, deep-tech, and cyber threat mitigation space got big push. Aerosys Aviation India Pvt. Ltd. unveiled the Eliminator Kamikaze Drone, engineered for GPS-denied environments and capable of autonomous precision strikes, while Maraal Aerospace introduced TEJASVAAN, a high-altitude, solar-powered unmanned aircraft designed for an impressive 12-hour endurance for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions. In the blockchain domain, SecureDApp launched SecureTrace, a forensic platform to trace and analyse illicit transactions with automated investigation tools. xIoTz presented its Regulatory Compliance and Standards (RCS) framework, offering pre-built compliance packs aligned with international security mandates, while Saptang Labs launched BlackFence, a national-scale cyber threat intelligence platform to counter fraud, phishing, impersonation, and brand abuse. The launches and the parallel exhibition by the C3iHub startups signalled a paradigm shift stemming from IIT Kanpur, to prepare a strong foundation for ensuring India’s national integrity.
The product showcase was complemented with a series of engaging panel discussions, including Mission Rakshak: Cybersecurity Startups for Bharat Defence, Unlocking Synergies for Greater Impact, From Roadblocks to Runways: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities, and a Roundtable on the evolving startup ecosystem. These deliberations highlighted how stronger collaboration between government, academia, and the startup community can unlock synergies to create ventures that are locally developed yet globally competitive. The event also featured an engaging startup pitch session, where a total of 8 startups presented their innovative solutions to a panel of esteemed investors.
Reflecting on the vision of C3iHub, Prof. Manindra Agrawal, Director, IIT Kanpur, said, “C3iHub at IIT Kanpur was set up with the objective to develop technologies in cyber security and bring them to a level where they can be deployed as solutions. The launches today and the cumulative work being done by the 50 odd startups incubated with us, testify the mandate to nucleate R&D to strengthen India’s cyber security space. As cyber-attacks are increasing multifold year-on-year, there is a need to have solutions that are affordable yet very robust, and indigenously built so that we have no external vulnerabilities. With growing synergy between the government, academia and other stakeholders, and with increased funding from both government and private sector, we are empowering the startups to pioneer the next big advancements to make India self-reliant in the entire cyber infrastructure and security space.”
The event was inaugurated by Shri Navin Kumar Singh, IPS, National Cybersecurity Coordinator of India (NCSC), as the Chief Guest. It was graced by several distinguished dignitaries, including Shri Amit A. Shukla (Joint Secretary, Cyber Diplomacy, eG&IT, MEA), Dr. Gaurav Gupta (Director, Cybersecurity Division, MeitY), Dr. Gulshan Rai (former NCSC and DG, CERT-In), Maj. Sadhna Singh (Consultant, NITI Aayog), Lekshmi Nair (Global Capability Head, NTT DATA), Vijayant Gaur (Director General, Cyber Security Association of India), Venkatasubramanian Ramakrishnan (Head, Global Cyber Security Consulting, L&T Technology Services), Amitava Mukherjee (Director, Cyber Security, Siemens), Abhishek Kakkar (Vice President, India Angel Network), Vibhore Sharma (Partner, Capital 2B), Ajay Modi (Director, Piper Serica), and Dr. Bharat Panchal (Bima Sugam India Federation), along with Prof. Somitra Sanadhya (Program Director, C3iHub) and Dr. Tanima Hajra (CEO, C3iHub).
