MeitY Startup Hub CEO Panneerselvam Madanagopal said Tier II and III cities are set to drive India’s next wave of startup growth, with “hundreds of companies” expected to emerge from these regions in the coming years.

Madanagopal was speaking at the ‘NextGen Startup Summit’ hosted by Vivekananda Global University (VGU) under the Genesis initiative in Jaipur. The event brought together policymakers, investors, incubators and early-stage founders to discuss scaling startups beyond metro ecosystems.

Organised in collaboration with VGU’s Atal Community Innovation Centre (ACIC), the one-day Summit focused on enabling startups from non-metro regions to scale, with discussions spanning global market access, funding challenges and ecosystem-building efforts.

Apart from Madanagopal and the MeitY Startup Hub team, the Summit was attended by Onkar Bagaria, CEO of VGU; Gaurav Sharma, CEO of ACIC VGU; Sudhanshu Gupta, cofounder of Inno Farms; Pinky Maheshwari, founder of Surprise Someone; Rohit Bajaj, cofounder and CEO of Balwaan Krishi; and Tripti Somani, founder of Womennovator, among others.

Speaking about the vision behind MeitY’s Genesis programme, Madanagopal positioned it as a long-term effort to build capacity in tier II and III cities through a network of 65 partner incubators. He said the initiative aims to create a “strong, robust ecosystem” that extends beyond the scheme’s lifecycle and takes innovation beyond metros.

“I have seen the spark and hunger for growth in tier II and III cities… Within a few years, there are going to be hundreds of companies emerging from places like Jaipur and Udaipur,” Madanagopal said.

The event saw participation from over 150 startup founders, mentors, students, investors and industry stakeholders. It concluded with a Shark Tank-style pitch session, where 15 startups presented to a panel of three investors.

Ecosystem collaboration emerged as a key theme at the Summit, with leaders stressing that Rajasthan’s next phase of growth will depend less on policy and more on how stakeholders work together.

VGU CEO Bagaria underlined the need for a unified approach, noting that Jaipur’s transition from a tier II to a tier I startup hub would require collective effort. “If Jaipur has to move from tier II to tier I, we will all need to collaborate. If we are one ecosystem, no other city can beat us. No government, no chief minister, no policy can do that alone. We will have to build that ecosystem ourselves,” he said.

Echoing a similar sentiment, ACIC VGU CEO Sharma, in a conversation with Inc42, pointed to the fragmentation within the current ecosystem. He said that while Rajasthan has seen the rise of multiple incubators, accelerators, VC firms and mentor networks, many continue to operate in silos.

“Everyone is building ecosystems by themselves. Rajasthan has done a great job in reaching this stage, but the next step is about coming together and amplifying that,” Sharma said, adding that stakeholders must focus on complementing each other’s strengths, whether in infrastructure, funding or access.

Highlighting the incubator’s progress, Sharma said the ACIC VGU ecosystem currently supports over 200 startups, of which 58 have secured funding. More recently, 18 startups have also received backing through state government initiatives.

He added that the incubator’s focus going forward will be on improving startup discovery and strengthening partnerships to drive more coordinated ecosystem growth.

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