The Delhi Startup Yuva Festival 2026 finale celebrated student innovations, awarding six startups with seed grants for solutions in defence, deep tech, and sustainability. New Delhi: What began as an idea fest for students has evolved into a launchpad for innovations spanning sectors like defence, deep tech and sustainability.
At the Campus to Market-Delhi Startup Yuva Festival 2026 finale held at Dr Ambedkar International Centre on Wednesday, six startups were selected for solutions tackling some of today’s most complex challenges — from securing India’s data and its borders to reimagining everyday products and technologies.
Organised by Delhi govt’s higher and technical education department, the festival featured student startup exhibitions, pitching sessions and ecosystem-based activities. Startups from 11 universities, colleges and ITIs in Delhi participated. These six startups received equity-free seed grants of ₹10 lakh each, while ₹1 lakh each will be awarded to 100 student startups.
A draft Delhi Start-Up Policy is in the pipeline.
The exhibition was inaugurated by Jayant Chaudhary, Union minister of state (independent charge) for skill development and entrepreneurship, along with CM Rekha Gupta and Delhi education minister Ashish Sood.
Chaudhary said, “India is a young nation with immense youth power, which gives us tremendous working capacity. However, the true benefit of this demographic advantage will be realised only when young people are given opportunities to move forward, their talent is recognised and their skills are refined.”
The CM highlighted the changing role of students in the ecosystem: “Today’s youth is no longer merely a job seeker but is emerging as a job creator. Student startups in Delhi are demonstrating exceptional creativity and innovation, offering practical solutions to contemporary social, environmental and technological challenges.”
Sood said, “Startups existed in Delhi earlier as well, but were scattered. There was neither a clear startup policy nor a system to link students with industry, mentors and investors. Delhi govt is building a complete ecosystem — from school education to higher and technical education — placing skills, entrepreneurship and innovation at the centre.”
Among those selected is HeliousAI, a startup focused on defence, which is building a proprietary AI layer that can detect and identify terrorists concealed in dense foliage. Its founder Prakhar Tripathi said, “We’re focused on extracting intelligence for security forces. While others build drones and cameras, we build the intel layer on top of them, enabling detection and identification of terrorists who are hiding, particularly in heavily forested areas of Kashmir”.
Its core member Kritika Singh said, “Our in-house AI is fully proprietary and patent-ready. We are already working with Indian Army’s Northern Command and have received our first letter of intent, addressing a real, on-ground operational challenge”.
Co-founder Tushar Gothwal said beyond defence, the tech has civilian applications, including systems to identify illegal discharge into Yamuna, pinpoint pollution hotspots and provide evidence to enforcement agencies.
In deep-tech space, AllSecureX is democratising quantum-grade cyber security by offering a software-only solution that delivers advanced cryptography without expensive quantum hardware, making high-level data protection accessible to more enterprises.
Its founder, Himanshu Vohra, said, “Quantum security solutions cost between ₹2 crore and ₹50 crore. We have made quantum-grade cryptography nearly 100 times more affordable, enabling enterprises to deploy a secure quantum layer with a single click.”
Innovation rooted in everyday realities is reflected in Biocare Ventures LLP’s FlushSHE, India’s first fully flushable, biodegradable sanitary pad, made from plant-based, water-dispersible materials to eliminate plastic waste and ease disposal challenges for women.
Arista Vaults brings intelligence to travel, integrating internet of things (IoT) and AI into luggage and accessories to track belongings in real time and prevent loss or theft.
On the strategic front, Heuronics Pvt Ltd is focused on building indigenous small military underwater systems, reinforcing India’s push for core technology ownership in defence.
Completing the list of the winners is Logify360, an AI-native observability platform that replaces complex syntax with plain English queries, offering deeper insights at up to 50 per cent lower cost.
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