CREST Regional Pitch Fest
CREST Regional Pitch Fest
CREST along with YNOS Venture Engine conducts Pitch Fests across regions of Tamil Nadu to directly connect early-stage startups with investors, mentors, and ecosystem partners. Many founders, particularly outside major urban centres, lack structured platforms to showcase their ideas, seek visibility, and access capital. By bringing all key stakeholders together, the Pitch Fest format enables startups to present their ventures, receive constructive feedback, engage in dialogue on funding readiness, and explore collaboration opportunities. These events also surface underrepresented and first-generation entrepreneurs, strengthen the pipeline of investment-ready ventures, and contribute to creating a more inclusive and well-distributed innovation ecosystem across the state.
SAFE Pitch Fest 2025
SAFE PitchFest 2025, held on at the Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education in Krishnankoil, served as a key platform for student-led and early-stage ventures in southern Tamil Nadu. Organised by CREST–YNOS, KARE, and ACIC–Kalasalingam Innovation Foundation, the event brought together academic strengths, incubation support, and data-driven investor insights to enable startup growth. Around 18–20 ventures participated across sectors including HealthTech, DeepTech, FinTech, Agritech, ClimateTech, IoT, and Wearable Technology, representing stages from prototypes to early-growth companies seeking seed to Series A funding. The PitchFest supported founders through pitching opportunities, structured feedback, exposure to market expectations, and engagement with mentors and investors. Senior representatives from government, academia, and industry attended the programme, including District Collector Dr. N. O. Sukhaputra, IAS, who emphasised the government’s commitment to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in emerging districts.
Startup Fair & Pitch Fest 2025
Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences hosted the Startup Fair & Pitch Fest 2025 in partnership with CREST–IIT Madras and YNOS Venture Engine, alongside CII Yuva, as part of its 40th Foundation Day activities. Designed and delivered by CREST–YNOS to accelerate founder readiness across the state, the event brought together 39 startups, 20 jury members, and hundreds of students, innovators, and investors. The Pitch Fest featured two parallel tracks, an Investor Pitch Track for market-ready startups seeking funding and an Incubator Pitch Track for idea and prototype-stage teams requiring structured mentorship. Showcasing ventures across HealthTech, CleanTech, AI, IoT, and Bioinnovation, the event enabled startups to pitch, receive expert evaluation, and connect with investors through the YNOS Venture Engine platform. The large turnout, high-quality innovations, and follow-up investor interest demonstrated the growing role of CREST–YNOS-led outreach in strengthening the entrepreneurial pipeline in southern Tamil Nadu, with Karunya providing an enthusiastic ecosystem home for this edition.
Kongu Startup Pitch Fest 2025
The Kongu Startup Pitch Fest, led by CREST–IIT Madras and YNOS Venture Engine in partnership with KGiSL Institute of Technology and KG Venture Studio (KG VIP Forum), was held in Coimbatore on , 2025. The event created a structured platform for emerging founders to pitch to investors, receive mentoring, and gain visibility within the Kongu region’s fast-growing innovation landscape. From more than 70 applications, 29 curated startups across agritech, healthtech, SaaS, and consumer technologies showcased their ventures before an audience of investors, founders, students, and ecosystem enablers. The Pitch Fest also marked the signing of a Letter of Intent between KGiSL and YNOS Venture Engine to strengthen collaboration on student internships, placements, and startup exposure, reinforcing CREST–YNOS’s commitment to building regional entrepreneurial pipelines and bridging academia, industry, and emerging venture talent in Tamil Nadu.