India’s First 12-Day Draper Founders Program concludes with Demo Day
Rushikesh Chavan, Founder of Finstone AI, IIT-Hyderabad and Shubham Sharma, founder of Xaults, declared Draper Heroes; win $15,000 Scholarships to Draper University, USA
Hyderabad, August 3, 2025 – The inaugural edition of the Draper Founders Program in India concluded Friday late night with an inspiring Demo Day hosted by Draper Startup House India at its Hyderabad hub in Gachibowli. The 12-day residential accelerator program culminated in an exciting pitch session featuring 16 founders from 14 high-potential startups across India.
The highlight of the evening was the announcement of the Draper Heroes – Rushikesh Chavan, Founder of Finstone AI and an IIT Hyderabad student, and Shubham Sharma, Founder of Xaults from Bengaluru – who each received a scholarship of USD 15,000 to attend the prestigious one-month Hero Training Program at Draper University, San Francisco.
Finstone AI is an AI-powered autonomous trading platform designed to outperform markets. Xaults is a blockchain-driven fintech venture creating next-gen financial products for institutions and governments.
The awards were presented by Murali Bukkapatnam (Chair, TiE Global Board of Trustees), Rathnakar, Vikranth Varshney, Anish Anthony and others.
Speaking on the occasion, Murali Bukkapatnam praised the exceptional quality of pitches and remarked, “Draper Startup House has uncovered diamonds in the rough. Each founder here is on the cusp of greatness.” He also made special mention of Salaah Shots, a unique platform offering career guidance and mentorship for medical students and professionals.
Startups that Pitched at Demo Day Medscore – Mannuri Vamshi Krishna; Reoxide – Basil Paulose; Salaah Shots – Astha Darshika; Finstone AI – Rushikesh Chavan; Cumma – Gautham Palaniswamy; FinStackk – Nithin Reddy; Macrocosmos Creation – Dr. Abhishek Mani Tripathi; Neuralcraft – Niyas; Brick Pay – Shubham Shah; Xaults – Shubham Sharma; ALGOXIA – Sandeep Yama; Weez.AI – Sayyad Nisa & team; Lohas Stays Pvt Ltd – Harsha and Spaecs – Karthik Nagapuri
These founders pitched to a distinguished panel of investors, mentors, and ecosystem enablers, including: Pras Hanuma (Next Unicorn Fund), Sanjay Nekkanti (Dhruva Space), Vikranth Varshney (SucSEED Indovation), Ratnakar Samavedham (Hyderabad Angels), MSR (Ex-CEO, T-Hub), Vishnu Chundi (AasaanWill), Anish Anthony (Factoryal), Naveena Reddy (Lead Invest), Renuka Bodla (Ex-SilverNeedle Ventures), and many more.
Organised by Draper Startup House India, the 12-day program brought together early-stage, bootstrapped founders from across India for an immersive entrepreneurial experience. The initiative combined: Co-living and co-working, Global mentorship, Investor access and Pitch training and fundraising readiness
This is the first-ever Draper Founders Program in India and part of the global vision of Tim Draper, legendary Silicon Valley investor behind Tesla, SpaceX, Skype, Coinbase, Baidu, Robinhood, and Hotmail.
Draper Startup House’s unique Co-Working + Co-Living model offers a supportive, immersive startup habitat unlike any other, nurturing bold entrepreneurs and scalable ideas.