IIT Bombay’s Eureka! 2025 Returns With Mentorship & Funding

SUMMARY

Eureka! 2025, which will be organised by IIT Bombay’s E-Cell, will offer mentoring from 300+ experts and access to 50+ VCs for early stage startups

Open to founders at the ideation stage, the competition will be hosted at IIT Bombay but will draw participants from across India and six GCC countries

The 28th edition will span 5 months across 8 specialised tracks; the last date for registration is August 17

IIT Bombay’s Eureka! 2025, Asia’s largest business model competition, is back with its 28th edition, offering early-stage entrepreneurs a gateway to intensive mentoring, investment opportunities, incubation and global exposure.

Organised by IIT Bombay’s Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell), Eureka! 2025 — the five-month long competition will culminate at E-Summit 25 in December 2025.

Open to founders at ideation or MVP stage, the competition will be hosted at IIT Bombay but will draw participants from across India and six GCC countries – Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Eureka! 2025 promises to connect startups with over 50 top VCs, 300+ mentors and leading incubators, while offering INR 2 Cr in prizes, international pitch opportunities and in-depth sector specific mentoring. The competition will unfold over three stages – business model competition, intensive workshops, and finale-ready accelerator programme.

Entrepreneurs have until August 17, 2025 to register for what’s been long hailed as the biggest launchpad for scalable ventures in Asia. Last year, Eureka! drew over 25K entries, with participants progressing through the three rounds of business building before facing a jury of top investors and industry leaders.

The 2025 edition will feature eight specialised tracks to provide founders with months of learning, networking and incubation opportunities at leading hubs like SINE IIT Bombay, iCreate, T-Hub, Razorpay Rize, NSRCEL IIM Bengaluru and FITT IIT Delhi. Select startups will also get fully-sponsored visits to the US to pitch on international stages.

Eureka! 2025 is presented by Technosoft Engineering Solutions, co-presented by WestBridge Capital, and supported by partners including BPCL, FedEx, Voltas, UoT India Foundation, EarthON Foundation, Emil Pharma and Tattva by Somany Impressa Group. Startup India, MeitY Startup Hub and multiple state startup missions from Karnataka to Odisha are also backing the initiative.

What’s In It For Startups?

For startups, Eureka! means months of guided startup acceleration. The first round will focus on crafting a solid business model canvas, supported by on-stage mentoring from industry veterans like Kanchi Daiya of Indian Angel Network and Amit Jain of StartupBay, both of whom participated in the previous edition.

Shortlisted ventures will then move to a mentorship round, with workshops designed to refine their business models and products. The previous editions of the competition had mentors from Tomorrow Capital, 3i Zone and more for this round.

The finalists will enter a three-day accelerator, gearing up for a high-stakes closed-door pitch at E-Summit 25. Besides the INR 2 Cr prize package, participants can win prizes valued at $120,000+ and incentives from MSG91, Clevertap, GitHub, Zendesk and others.

Eureka!’s GCC expansion also opens $100,000 in prizes and a fully-sponsored trip to Dubai for founders to pitch to global investors, with past winners securing spot funding at events like Dubai Expo 2020.

Alumni startups, including agritech startup Dehaat and AI innovator AI-Genix, have gone on to secure major funding rounds, cementing the role of Eureka! as a springboard for emerging founders.

The last date to apply for the competition is August 17, 2025. Click here to apply.