L&T Finance has opened the second edition of Pitch Point, its competition for early-stage AI startups, on October 12, 2026 — with Rs 50 lakh in prize money and a direct line to its venture capital arm on the table.
The contest is open to incorporated, India-focused startups that are one to five years old with a working MVP. Eligible solution areas are deliberately wide: fraud prevention, agentic AI, regulatory technology, cybersecurity, generative AI, embedded finance, smart contracts, blockchain, AI-driven credit scoring, risk assessment and image processing.
Two winners will each receive Rs 25 lakh, paid in two tranches — Rs 10 lakh on the day and Rs 15 lakh on MoU signing and proof-of-concept completion — plus access to equity funding discussions with the L&T Innovation Fund. Five finalists will be selected after a virtual interaction round and will pitch live at RAISE '26 in Mumbai on December 16, 2026, evaluated on founder strength, scalability, compliance readiness and strategic fit with L&T's use cases.
Applications close on October 31, 2026 — under three weeks away.
Why it matters for founders
Beyond the prize money, Pitch Point is a procurement pipeline into one of India's largest NBFCs — the PoC and VC conversations are the real prize. If your AI product touches fraud, credit or compliance and you have a working MVP, this is a direct line to a customer who can also fund you.