Arjun Vaidya Launches Pickle & Pitch Season 2, Uniting India’s Startup Founders in a High-Energy Pitch-Meets-Sport Format
Mumbai, India, Jan 07: Venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and D2C ecosystem builder Arjun Vaidya has launched Season 2 of Pickle & Pitch. It is India’s first-ever sports-led pitching IP that reimagines how founders and investors connect, by taking the conversation off boardrooms and onto the pickleball court.
Conceptualised and created by Arjun, Pickle & Pitch blends the fast-growing sport of pickleball with startup pitching. It was designed to offer founders a relaxed, high-energy environment to showcase their ideas while building genuine, meaningful connections.
In Pickle & Pitch, every participating founder plays one set of pickleball (11 points) with Arjun before pitching their startup. The format is intentionally designed to remove the formality and pressure of traditional pitch settings, encouraging founders to be themselves and engage in authentic conversations.
Season 2 episode 1 in Mumbai saw 17 founders step onto the court to pitch their businesses, while over 100 founders from the startup ecosystem gathered in a mixer at the end, making it a powerful community-led moment for India’s entrepreneurial landscape.
The IP received over 1,000 applications, underscoring the strong demand from founders seeking access, visibility, and a more human way to engage with investors.
Pickleball, one of the fastest-growing sports globally, has gained popularity for its accessibility, inclusivity, and ease of play in India. Requiring minimal equipment and welcoming players across age groups and skill levels, it naturally lends itself to community-building.
By using pickleball as the foundation, Pickle & Pitch transforms pitching into a shared experience, where conversations flow more freely, barriers break down, and founders can engage without the usual power dynamics associated with traditional VC meetings.
Pickle & Pitch is a one-of-a-kind sports pitching IP and is set to take place across six cities in India, bringing the format to founders nationwide and strengthening its position as a first-mover platform at the intersection of sport, startups, and storytelling.
Season 2 was powered by GoKwik and Red Bull.
Speaking on the idea behind Pickle & Pitch, Arjun Vaidya said, “Having been on both sides of the table, as a founder and now as a VC, I’ve seen how traditional pitches, whether on Zoom, in offices, or even cafés, often come with an inherent power dynamic. I wanted to remove that completely. I’m a huge sports fan, and pickleball, in particular, is an incredibly accessible sport – anyone can play it. On the court, founders are relaxed, they let their guard down, and you learn so much about them – their sportsmanship, their mindset, their demeanour. That leads to far more meaningful conversations than a purely transactional pitch. Pickle & Pitch started purely out of passion. I never imagined it would resonate the way it has, but it’s been incredible to see how founders have embraced it.”
Content from Pickle & Pitch Season 2 will be released in the coming weeks via Arjun’s social platforms.