Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) hosted the eighth edition of the Bertelsmann Badminton Championship (BBC) at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence in Bengaluru, bringing together 150+ founders, investors and startup leaders for a day of competition, networking and conversations around founder and investor well-being.
Now in its second consecutive year, the ‘Rally for Health’ movement once again highlighted the importance of prioritising health in India’s fast-paced startup ecosystem.
Since its 2016 debut, the Bertelsmann Badminton Championship has evolved beyond a sporting event into a dedicated community platform, where founders and investors step away from boardrooms, fundraising conversations and day-to-day business pressures to build authentic relationships through sport.
Staying true to its spirit of zero-pitch networking, this year’s edition brought together representatives from leading venture capital firms including Accel, Blume Ventures, Innoven, Titan Capital, Aavishkaar Capital, Ascent Capital, Stellaris and Cactus Partners, alongside founders from Univest, Handpickd, Fairdeal, Inito, Curebay and more. The focus remained on community, camaraderie and well-being rather than capital or business agendas.
The eighth edition witnessed 50 teams competing across multiple rounds in a display of skill, strategy and sportsmanship. Varun Agarwal and Sanatha Kumar from Stride Ventures emerged as the championship winners, while Sameer Mansukhani from Innoven Capital finished as runner-up.
In the Knockout category, Faizan Munshi from VC Grid and Mahadev from Handpickd finished as runners-up. Smita Salgaonkar from Google won the People’s Choice Most Valuable Player award, while Varun Agarwal from Stride Ventures was named Player of the Tournament.
Beyond the competition, the championship reinforced the values of resilience, teamwork and perseverance that underpin both sport and entrepreneurship.
BII Founder Wellness Survey highlights the cost of the startup hustle
As part of this year’s ‘Rally for Health’ initiative, Bertelsmann India Investments introduced the inaugural BII Founder Wellness Survey to understand how founders, investors and other startup ecosystem participants manage their physical and mental well-being while building and supporting businesses.
Conducted on the ground during the championship, the survey received 50 valid responses and represents an event-based ecosystem pulse rather than a nationally representative study.
The findings point to the intensity of the startup journey, with 88% of respondents working at least 50 hours a week, while 78% agreed or somewhat agreed that long working hours are necessary to build a successful company. This indicates that the pressure is not only operational but also cultural, with extended availability and endurance often associated with entrepreneurial success.
The findings also point to sleep patterns or growing pressure on recovery. 41% of respondents reported getting only five to six hours of sleep or less each night, while 71% said they experience burnout at least a few times a year.
At the same time, founders and investors are making personal efforts to stay active. 68% of respondents reported spending at least 30 minutes on physical activity every day, demonstrating a strong personal commitment to fitness. However, only 22% said physical fitness is formally built into their company culture, suggesting that wellness continues to be managed primarily at an individual level.
The findings reinforce the central message of ‘Rally for Health’: while individuals across the startup ecosystem are taking steps towards healthier lifestyles, sustainable leadership will require organisations to create stronger structures around fitness, recovery and long-term well-being.
Taking the conversation beyond the championship
The ‘Rally for Health’ campaign extended the conversation beyond the event through a sustained digital communications effort focused on founder well-being, healthy leadership and the importance of creating space for health alongside entrepreneurial ambition.
Across the campaign, BII published 12 LinkedIn posts, a mix of videos, carousels and static images, over a near two-month run from 19 June to 14 August 2026. The content generated 5,853 engagements and 14,414 video views in total. Post-championship content accounted for 5,607 of those engagements, demonstrating strong audience response to the conversations and content emerging from the event.
BII’s earned media performance saw an even sharper jump. Publication reach for the campaign grew from 6.5 million in 2025 to 34.5 million in 2026 a 432% increase, while article reach rose from 72,741 to 234,160, a 222% increase year-on-year.
The campaign’s digital performance complemented the insights from the BII Founder Wellness Survey, helping translate the findings into a broader conversation around the realities of founder life and the need to make well-being a more consistent part of the entrepreneurial journey.
Vaani Malik, Marketing & Communications Lead, Bertelsmann India Investments, said, “The Bertelsmann Badminton Championship has always brought the ecosystem together, but this year we wanted to sharpen what it stood for. ‘Rally for Health’ moved the story away from simply being a day of badminton (sports-led networking) between VCs and founders and towards a more honest conversation about the toll the ecosystem’s pace takes on the people building it. Putting well-being at the centre, rather than treating it as a side note to the matches, is what turned an annual sporting fixture into a platform the ecosystem could genuinely rally behind.”
Prithvi Sharma, Associate Director – Media Intelligence, Wizikey, said,“We began by mapping several years of BBC’s own coverage through our media intelligence platform to understand how the event had historically been framed and where the gaps were. That analysis showed the story had stayed largely about networking and sport, even as conversations about founder burnout were growing louder across the ecosystem. Re-centring the campaign around ‘Rally for Health’ let us tell a more relevant story, and the data reflects that shift — publication reach alone is up over 400% on last year, with the event’s overall share of voice up 123%.”
The campaign reinforces BII’s decade-long commitment to building a stronger and more connected startup ecosystem. By bringing founders and investors together through sport and using data to open conversations around well-being, the Bertelsmann Badminton Championship continues to evolve as a platform for healthier habits, meaningful relationships and a more sustainable approach to entrepreneurship.
