AIC Pinnacle and NATRAX partners to strengthen startup innovation and product development in electric and connected mobility.
October 06, 2026. By News Bureau
AIC Pinnacle Entrepreneurship Forum and National Automotive Test Tracks (NATRAX) have entered into a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen the startup and innovation ecosystem in the automotive and mobility sector. The initial focus will be on electric vehicles, automotive mobility and connected mobility.
The MoU was signed at EKA’s Trucks and SCV Plant in Chakan by AIC Pinnacle CEO Dr. Avinash Thakur and NATRAX Director Dr. Manish Jaiswal.
The partnership will leverage AIC Pinnacle’s startup incubation, mentoring and industry network and NATRAX’s automotive testing and validation infrastructure. This will help startups move from prototyping to product development, testing, validation and commercialisation, with a key focus on electric vehicles and automotive mobility.
As an immediate step, the organisations discussed conducting a startup hackathon and providing suitable startups from AIC Pinnacle’s existing cohort access to NATRAX’s testing facilities. They will also facilitate access to technical expertise and industry networks, helping startups improve their products and move towards market readiness.
The signing ceremony was attended by key representatives from EKA Mobility, AIC Pinnacle and NATRAX, including EKA Mobility’s Zoeb Altafhussain Karampurwala, Chief Product Officer; Kaustubh Vasant Joshi and Pankaj Shivrudrappa Munoli, Chief Engineers – Research and Development; Swapnil Anil Tambe, Team Lead – Research and Development; Shadab Hussain, Senior Manager, AIC Pinnacle; and Tulika Mazumdar, Senior Engineer and Group Lead, NATRAX.
Dr. Avinash Thakur, CEO, AIC Pinnacle, said, “The partnership with NATRAX opens an important bridge between startups and the automotive testing and validation ecosystem. Our objective is to help promising innovations move beyond the incubation stage and gain access to the technical, industry and testing support required to develop market-ready solutions.”
Commenting on the collaboration, Dr. Manish Jaiswal, Director, NATRAX, said the partnership would create opportunities for startups and innovators to access relevant testing, validation and ecosystem capabilities. He stated, “Such partnerships can contribute to accelerating the development and adoption of emerging mobility technologies.”
Dr. Sudhir Mehta, Founder and Chairman, Pinnacle Industries and Group Companies, said, “Electric mobility will remain a key focus area for AIC Pinnacle in the coming period. This MoU strengthens that vision by giving startups direct access to the industry, strategic partners, academic institutions and government agencies they need to scale.”
The partnership will also explore connecting startups with industry participants, strategic partners, educational institutions, government stakeholders and other ecosystem organisations across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and the wider automotive innovation ecosystem.
AIC Pinnacle Entrepreneurship Forum is a not-for-profit startup incubator supported by the Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog. It works with startups through incubation, mentoring, industry connections and capacity building, with focus areas including electric vehicles, cleantech, sustainability, healthtech, manufacturing and engineering.
NATRAX is an automotive testing and certification facility located near Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh, providing testing and validation infrastructure for automotive technologies and products.
