Bengaluru, Aug 06: While engineering education has traditionally focused on preparing students for jobs, there has been a growing need for institutions to equip students with the skills, mentorship, and ecosystem required to build successful businesses. Although many students have innovative ideas, they often struggle to transform them into sustainable ventures due to limited access to structured guidance, industry mentors, early-stage funding, and practical exposure to entrepreneurship.
Recognising this gap, Newton School of Technology (NST) has built an entrepreneurship ecosystem that encourages students to create real-world technology businesses while still pursuing their engineering degrees. At the heart of this ecosystem is Startup Foundry, a structured incubation programme that supports aspiring founders from idea validation to building market-ready products and preparing them for investment opportunities.
The programme also creates a pathway to funding through StartX, NST’s ₹1 crore seed fund for student entrepreneurs, launched by Pratik Poddar, Partner at Nexus Venture Partners and one of the earliest investors in Newton School, along with entrepreneur Varun Mayya. Through a structured evaluation process, selected startups can receive pre-seed funding of up to ₹10 lakh based on factors such as user adoption, market opportunity, revenue potential, growth prospects, and team strength.
Startup Foundry takes student founders through every stage of the entrepreneurial journey, including idea validation, prototype and MVP development, business model creation, user testing, and go-to-market planning. The programme concludes with founders pitching their ventures to a panel of venture capitalists, angel investors, and industry experts, giving students direct exposure to the startup investment ecosystem.
NST’s broader entrepreneurship ecosystem has already seen participation from more than 500 students and offers access to over 100 expert mentors. Students receive support through technical workshops, founder-led sessions, product development guidance, marketing support, mentorship, and access to technical infrastructure, enabling them to build businesses alongside their academic journey.
The programme has already produced several promising student-led ventures across different sectors. NavisLabs, an AI-powered productivity platform, has been selected for Y Combinator Startup School 2026. In.culcate, an AI storytelling platform, has secured funding from ISB at a valuation of ₹5 crore. Kixar, a sports venue booking platform, has generated ₹30 lakh in revenue and onboarded Indian cricketer Jitesh Sharma as its brand ambassador. CarbonCraft, a premium laser-engraved metal credit card venture, has generated ₹55 lakh in revenue. Other startups, including Campus Connect and Vyapaar Express, are already serving paying users and addressing real business challenges through technology.
Together, ventures emerging from Startup Foundry have generated more than ₹1 crore in combined revenue, demonstrating that students can successfully build commercially viable businesses even before completing their degrees.
Commenting on the initiative, Siddharth Maheshwari, Co-founder, Newton School of Technology, said: “The most exciting part is not simply that these students are starting early; it is the standard at which they are building. They are tackling real problems, winning customers and creating businesses with the potential to scale far beyond campus. Startup Foundry is designed to turn that ambition into disciplined execution and help build globally competitive technology companies from India.”
The programme is further strengthened by mentorship from senior leaders across the startup and technology ecosystem, including Vivek Sridhar, CTO, Microsoft for Startups, and Udit Goyal, COO and Head of Early Stage Startup Ecosystem, Google Cloud India, who provide practical guidance on technology strategy, product development, market readiness, and scaling early-stage ventures.
Sharing his experience as a mentor, Vivek Sridhar, CTO, Microsoft for Startups, and Mentor, NST’s Startup Foundry, said: “At NST’s Startup Foundry, young engineering students, some as early as their second or third year, are doing more than just learning in classrooms. As a mentor, I’ve seen these students take on real-world challenges with remarkable curiosity and determination, finding creative solutions to problems that would challenge even experienced business leaders. Startup Foundry is giving these students the tools, mentorship, and confidence to turn their ideas into real businesses. I believe Startup Foundry is laying the foundation for startups that can compete on the global stage.”
Today, the Startup Foundry cohort includes ventures working across AI, fintech, developer tools, cybersecurity, logistics, sports technology, student guidance, financial literacy, and technology solutions for MSMEs. Unlike traditional hackathons or short-term competitions, the programme provides continuous support that helps students build sustainable businesses over time.
Through Startup Foundry and the StartX Fund, Newton School of Technology aims to create a repeatable model where engineering students can transform campus ideas into investment-ready startups, proving that entrepreneurship can begin well before graduation.
More about Startup Foundry and NST’s entrepreneurship culture here: https://tinyurl.com/Startup-Foundry-NST