BITS Pilani’s flagship startup accelerator, Conquest, supports a new generation of founders through a zero-cost, zero-equity model, helping India rethink how capital is deployed, managed, and protected.
This year’s fintech cohort demonstrates financial innovation from bringing real-time intelligence to global trade, to democratizing access to premium investment opportunities, and to helping investors understand how sustainability impacts enterprise value.
Getting here was no small feat. Conquest received over 3,000 registrations from early-stage founders across the country this year, put through multiple rounds of screening, mentorship interviews, and pitch evaluations before being narrowed down to a final cohort of 21 startups. That scale of selectivity is what gives Conquest’s cohort its weight each year: fewer than 1 in 140 applicants make it through, and the ones that do tend to be building for problems as fundamental as financial access, trade security, and investment transparency.
Let us meet the innovators leading the way.
CargoShakti: Bringing real-time intelligence to global trade
Founder: Varun Gawarikar
Founded in: 2020
Global trade continues to run on an outdated premise: that documents are enough. Banks issue Letters of Credit based on paperwork, insurers assess risks after losses occur, and businesses often have little visibility into the state of their cargo once it leaves a port. The result is a system vulnerable to fraud, route diversions, phantom shipments, and costly disputes.
CargoShakti, built by V2RT Insurtech Solutions, is replacing document-based trust with data-verified trust. Its integrated platform connects cargo insurance, underwriting, claims, trade finance, Letters of Credit, and ECGC-backed export risk into a single trade risk ecosystem powered by real-time cargo intelligence.
By continuously monitoring vessels, containers, ports, and logistics movements throughout a shipment’s lifecycle, CargoShakti enables banks, insurers, exporters, and importers to identify risks before they become losses. The company has developed state-aware monitoring frameworks for Usance Letters of Credit and built integrations across cargo, logistics, and trade documentation datasets, creating a unified view of trade risk that has traditionally existed in silos.
Beyond its core platform, V2RT has completed more than 400 AI-powered vehicle inspections, generates recurring revenue through its assessment services, and contributes to the broader InsurTech ecosystem through published datasets and research papers
Fandoro: Turning ESG performance into investment intelligence
Founder: Smita Mishra
Founded in: 2021
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) metrics have become increasingly important in investing, yet for most startups and investors, they remain little more than checkboxes in a due diligence process. Risks are identified, reports are generated, and then, more often than not, the insights sit unused.
Fandoro is building an AI-driven ESG Intelligence-as-a-Service platform designed to change that. Its flagship offering, the Valuation Impact Index, quantifies how sustainability performance influences enterprise value, helping investors understand not just whether a company is compliant, but how its ESG decisions may affect fundraising, growth, and long-term returns.
The platform combines AI-powered ESG due diligence, real-time risk monitoring, valuation impact modeling, and portfolio-level scorecards into a single intelligence layer for venture funds, private equity firms, family offices, and startups. By integrating operational, financial, and sustainability data, Fandoro transforms ESG from a reporting exercise into a decision-making tool.
That proposition is already finding traction. The startup generated ₹1 crore in revenue during FY25-26, serves six venture funds and approximately 100 startups across its lifetime customer base, and has achieved zero customer acquisition cost to date. Fandoro’s been backed by advisors from IvyCap Ventures, Fireside Ventures, Indian Angel Network, and even IIM Ahmedabad Ventures.
Finplify: Democratizing access to India’s alternative assets
Founders: Ronak Saif, Parth Mahajan
Founded in: 2025
For decades, access to alternative investments has largely been reserved for those with deep pockets. Premium real estate, managed farmlands, and vacation homes typically require substantial capital, extensive due diligence, and the operational overhead of ownership, putting them out of reach for most investors.
Finplify is changing that through a digital-first platform that enables fractional ownership of high-yield Indian assets. By combining AI-powered asset analysis with standardized legal and compliance processes, the company is making alternative investing accessible to a much larger audience.
Its platform handles everything from sourcing and diligence to ownership management, income collection, and reporting, allowing investors to participate in premium asset classes without the traditional friction. In just 1.4 years of operation, Finplify has facilitated more than ₹30 crore in
gross merchandise value, achieved ₹30 lakh in monthly recurring revenue, and onboarded 12 investment projects, including eight exclusive opportunities.
The company’s focus on investors with sub-₹3 crore investment capacity is particularly notable. While traditional wealth products tend to cater to ultra-high-net-worth individuals, Finplify is targeting an underserved segment that increasingly seeks passive income opportunities outside public markets.
Put together, these three startups tell a broader story about the future of finance in India. CargoShakti is making global trade more transparent. Fandoro is turning sustainability into a measurable financial signal. Finplify is opening up investment opportunities that were once available only to a select few.
Conquest continues to back founders working across exactly this range of problems through its zero-cost, zero-equity accelerator model. The online phase of Conquest is currently in motion, featuring intensive mentorship and founder support, ahead of an offline week in Bengaluru that will culminate in this year’s Demo Day.
To stay updated, visit Conquest’s official website at conquestbits.org or visit us at linkedin.com/company/conquestbits
Conquest 2025 is being organised by BITS Pilani. ThePrint is its Media Partner.
Also read: From ‘Shark Tank’-style pitching to idea exchange, what went down at BITS Pilani Conquest’s Demo Day
