Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur, formally inaugurated VNIT Venture Vaults Foundation (V3F), the incubation centre of VNIT, during a grand ceremony held at the VNIT Campus recently. The inauguration marks an important step toward building a stronger innovation and startup ecosystem rooted in VNIT’s engineering excellence, research capabilities, academic strength and national legacy. V3F has been established to help students, researchers, innovators and early-stage founders move from ideas to validated ventures. The centre will focus on structured incubation support, startup mentoring, technology commercialization, industry engagement, access to relevant networks and investment-readiness for promising startups.

 

The ceremony included registration and networking, lamp lighting and the formal unveiling of V3F. The event brought together students, faculty members, startup founders, investors, mentors, industry leaders and ecosystem partners on a common platform for innovation-led collaboration. The programme featured addresses by VNIT and V3F leadership, including Director, V3F; Prof. Prem Lal Patel, Director, VNIT Nagpur, and Chairman, V3F and Prof. Yashwant Katpatal, Dean (Research and Consultancy). Their participation underlined VNIT’s institutional commitment to entrepreneurship, research led innovation and technology-driven startup development. The event covered the launch of MH start up programme introduced by Bushan Patil. The programme also included investor-focused sessions, including insights by Manoj Kumar Agarwal, Managing Partner, SeaFund, and Shashikant Chaudhary, Vice-Chairman, V3F, along with a panel discussion titled “Backing Bold Ideas: How Investors Evaluate Emerging Startups”.