62 Women-Led Startup Teams Shortlisted for m-YUKTI Ideathon in Bengaluru

Sixty-two women-led startup teams from across India have been shortlisted for m-YUKTI, a national 24-hour ideathon to be hosted in Bengaluru on October 8 and 9, 2026.

The event is organised by the Maharani Lakshmi Ammanni College (MLAC) for Women in collaboration with the DERBI Foundation — the Dayanand Sagar Entrepreneurship, Research and Business Incubation foundation. It drew more than 200 applications from 11 states, of which 62 teams were shortlisted. Karnataka dominates the shortlist with 42 teams, with nearly a third of the selected teams coming from outside the state.

Each selected team will pitch to an expert jury under one of three themes: safety and empowerment of women and children, climate sustainability and inclusive technology. The total prize pool is Rs 1.5 lakh — the winning team takes Rs 25,000, with Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 for second and third place, plus two consolation prizes per theme.

The cash is the smallest part of the prize. DERBI Foundation CEO Sathyanarayana BV said the foundation will incubate interesting projects emerging from the ideathon and train them for programmes like the Karnataka government's flagship startup funding and mentorship initiative, ELEVATE.

Women-led startups still make up a small share of India's funded ecosystem, and early-stage, idea-level platforms like m-YUKTI matter precisely because they catch founders before the funding funnel narrows. An ideathon that feeds directly into an incubator — and from there into a state-backed funding programme — is a pipeline more competitions should copy.