IIT Kanpur’s C3iHub Startups Unveil Five Groundbreaking Products

The Startup Demo Day 2025 ‘Connect 1.0’, organised by C3iHub, the Technology Innovation Hub at IIT Kanpur, opened with the launch of five pioneering products developed by its incubated startups. The event, which brought together leaders from government, academia, industry, and the investment community, underlined C3iHub’s mission to accelerate India’s march towards technological sovereignty through innovations conceived, designed, and deployed within its ecosystem.

Among the major launch highlights, India’s security and surveillance, deep-tech, and cyber threat mitigation space got a big push. Aerosys Aviation India unveiled the Eliminator Kamikaze Drone, engineered for GPS-denied environments and capable of autonomous precision strikes, while Maraal Aerospace introduced TEJASVAAN, a high-altitude, solar-powered unmanned aircraft designed for an impressive 12-hour endurance for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions. In the blockchain domain, SecureDApp launched SecureTrace, a forensic platform to trace and analyse illicit transactions with automated investigation tools. xIoTz presented its Regulatory Compliance and Standards (RCS) framework, offering pre-built compliance packs aligned with international security mandates, while Saptang Labs launched BlackFence, a national-scale cyber threat intelligence platform to counter fraud, phishing, impersonation, and brand abuse.

Fostering Collaboration through Panel Discussions and Pitches

The product showcase was complemented with a series of engaging panel discussions, including Mission Rakshak: Cybersecurity Startups for Bharat Defence, Unlocking Synergies for Greater Impact, From Roadblocks to Runways: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities, and a Roundtable on the evolving startup ecosystem. These deliberations highlighted how stronger collaboration between government, academia, and the startup community can unlock synergies to create ventures that are locally developed yet globally competitive. The event also featured an engaging startup pitch session, where a total of 8 startups presented their innovative solutions to a panel of esteemed investors.

Leadership on Strengthening India's Technological Sovereignty

Reflecting on the vision of C3iHub, Prof. Manindra Agrawal, Director, IIT Kanpur, said, “C3iHub at IIT Kanpur was set up with the objective to develop technologies in cyber security and bring them to a level where they can be deployed as solutions. The launches today and the cumulative work being done by the 50 odd startups incubated with us, testify the mandate to nucleate R&D to strengthen India’s cyber security space. As cyber-attacks are increasing multifold year-on-year, there is a need to have solutions that are affordable yet very robust, and indigenously built so that we have no external vulnerabilities.”

The event was inaugurated by Shri Navin Kumar Singh, IPS, National Cybersecurity Coordinator of India (NCSC), as the Chief Guest. It was graced by several distinguished dignitaries, including Shri Amit A. Shukla (Joint Secretary, Cyber Diplomacy, eG&IT, MEA), Dr. Gaurav Gupta (Director, Cybersecurity Division, MeitY), and Dr. Gulshan Rai (former NCSC and DG, CERT-In).

The Startup Demo Day organized by IIT Kanpur's C3iHub is a strong indicator of India's growing capacity to innovate in critical technological domains. The launch of these five pioneering products underscores the nation's commitment to building indigenous capabilities in security, surveillance, and deep-tech. By fostering a collaborative ecosystem of government, academia, and startups, IIT Kanpur is actively contributing to India’s technological sovereignty and preparing the country to meet future security challenges with locally developed, robust, and affordable solutions.

Explainers

• C3iHub: A Technology Innovation Hub at IIT Kanpur, funded by the Government of India, focused on strengthening the cybersecurity of cyber-physical systems. It aims to detect vulnerabilities, develop security tools, and foster startups to commercialize these technologies.

• Technological Sovereignty: The ability of a nation to independently develop, control, and deploy its own core technologies, ensuring its security and economic competitiveness without relying on external entities.

• Cyber-Physical Systems: Systems that integrate computation, networking, and physical processes. Examples include smart grids, autonomous vehicles, medical devices, and industrial control systems.