Bihar Startup Culture is evolving! 3 Startups win Startup Maharathi award
There is a great news for Bihar startup culture. Three start-ups from Bihar namely Lady Fair, Bhojpatta and EY Delta have received the Maharathi Award at Startup Mahakumbh 2025 which was held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.
Let’s dive into the details about the Startup Mahakumbh 2025 and the Bihar Startups which have made it to the winners list.
Table of Contents
What is Startup Mahakumbh 2025?
Startup Mahakumbh 2025, is one of the largest startup events held in India. It is a central government-backed startup event. More than 1200 startups from all over the world participated in it. Out of these, only 132 most-innovative startups got selected for the final awards.
Startup Mahakumbh 2025 was held from April 3rd to 5th at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. In this event, three startups from Bihar got selected and received a cash prize of ₹1 lakh under the Startup Maharathi challenge. This recognition is crucial for Bihar as this event was not just a national event but an international one in which startups from over 50 countries like Nepal, UAE and Singapore etc also participated.
One of the key highlights of the Startup Mahakumbh 2025 was the Startup Maharathi Challenge. This challenge was launched by Piyush Goyal, our Union Commerce Minister. It was aimed at recognising great startups from several different sectors such as defence, agritech, EV, D2C, and deep-tech etc. The prize pool for the challenge was a total of ₹70 crore.
Lady Fair (Beauty-Tech)
Lady Fair Beauty Concepts Private Limited was founded by Rishi Ranjan Kumar in 2019. The founder is from a small village in Sitamarhi, Bihar. The aim of Lady Fair is bringing salon-like services to the doorstep of all rural women.
This inspiring idea also aims to create livelihood opportunities for rural women. As of now around 150 women were trained as beauticians and are providing services in more than 12 cities under this Bihar startup. The Lady Fair startup was awarded under the D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) category.
The inspiring thing about the Lady Fair startup is that it was started out in a rented room. But now, this Bihar startup has a yearly turnover of ₹36 crore in FY 2024-25. And they hope to scale it even further.
Bhojpatta (Agri-Tech)
Bhojpatta is the other Bihar startup that won the Startup Maharathi award. Bhojpatta Agripreneur Private Limited was founded by Nitish Kumar in 2021. The founder comes from Mahammadpur village in Saran district, Bihar.
The aim of Bhojpatta is to convert agricultural waste into value-added sustainable products using eco-friendly technology. It helps farmers in increasing the farmers’ income by limiting post-harvest losses.
Some of the most innovative solutions by Bhojpatta are zero-emission solar dryers, natural fiber-based air filters etc. Moreover, Bhojpatta recycles over 74 million tonnes of agricultural waste.
Interestingly, Bhojpatta was started with an initial investment of ₹4 lakhs. But now, its annual turnover was recorded to be ₹89 lakhs in the financial year 2024-25. Currently 14 people are employed in Bhojpatta.
Notably, this is not the first time that this Bihar startup is gaining recognition. Bhojpatta was also awarded at Biofach India 2022, and has been selected under Agri Udaan 5.0 and IIT Kanpur’s SIL 3.0 programs. Bhojpatta is appreciated for integrating nature, culture, and technology.
EY Delta (Electric Motor Tech)
EY Delta Private Limited was founded by Akash Porwal and Yogendra Kumar in 2024. One of the founders, Akash Porwal, is originally from Bihar and has experience working at Google. It is the third startup from Bihar to win the Maharathi Award at the Startup Mahakumbh 2025.
EY Delta received the award in the ‘Defence and Space’ category and is based on making next-generation electric motors for drones, robotics, and other electric mobility platforms.
EY Delta optimizes its electric motors to be more efficient, long-lasting, and energy-saving. Notably, EY Delta got a bulk order worth ₹3.5 crore for manufacturing 15,000 motors. And due to this, the startup is working to set up a production line with a capacity of 5,000 motors per month.
11 individuals are employed full-time under this Bihar startup. Moreover, it is being appreciated for contributing to Bharat’s ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ vision.
Why This Matters for Bihar Startup Culture?
This achievement is a big deal because three Bihar startups contested in the Startup Mahakumbh which is an international event and even won the prestigious Maharathi Awards.
This shows that the Bihar Startup Culture is evolving rapidly. Even people from the remote areas are aspiring to build something on their own and this will not only help them but also the people around them as they will generate employment opportunities.
Innovative and solutions can come from anywhere and not just big metro cities. Instead of being equated with government-jobs seeking population these projects will help in shifting Bihar’s image to that of a solution-seeking and entrepreneurship orientated state.
The success of Lady Fair, Bhojpatta, and EY Delta will help in changing the perception. Bihar has been poor in infrastructure development due to unstable government and bizarre policies like the Freight Equalization Policy. And due to this, Bihar was never considered a startup friendly state, but with these achievements and recognition the perception will change.
How Government Schemes are Fuelling Bihar Startups?
As we all know, funding is a major challenge for Bihar startups. While the startups from Gujrat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, or Delhi attract easy funding early on, Bihar startups struggle. Major Bihar startups are bootstrapped or they operate on micro grants.
But the government is working to improve the situation, government initiatives like Startup India and the events like Startup Mahakumbh have helped in providing a platform where even the Bihar startups from tier-2 and tier-3 cities are gaining prevalence.
Apart from this, Bihar is gradually building and strengthening its startup ecosystem. Bihar Startup Hub which is a government-supported project helps small startups get funding and mentorship. Along with this, STPI Patna (Software Technology Parks of India) majorly focuses on helping IT and tech based startups. IIT Patna and NIT Patna run startup cells and programs to mentor young students.
Recently, the Bihar government has selected 10 Bihar startups and allocated them free office space at the Biscomaun Tower in Patna for 6 months. This was done under the IT & Startup Policy 2024 of the Bihar government. Following Bihar startups have been selected for the same :
- Highprotech India Technology Pvt. Ltd.
- Green Stark Electronics Pvt. Ltd.
- Flow APIs Pvt. Ltd.
- SevaCity Technology Pvt. Ltd.
- Scaas Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
- Ostomverse Innovation Pvt. Ltd.
- Momentum Plus Online Technology
- Polytropic System Pvt. Ltd.
- Makasa Industries Pvt. Ltd.
- HPF Venture India Pvt. Ltd.
This shows the government’s constant effort to boost the Bihar startup culture.
Conclusion
The achievements of these Bihar startups like EY Delta, Lady Fair, and Bhojpatta at Startup Mahakumbh 2025 is a signal that entrepreneurship is no longer limited to Bharat’s metropolitan cities. These Bihar startups are helping by creating jobs, providing innovative tech solutions, empowering rural population and reshaping the narrative around Bihar.
Hope you liked this detailed information on Bihar Startup Culture. For more such Bihar related reports, Subscribe to our website – ‘Litti Chokha’ and never miss any updates from Bihar news, politics, competition exams like BPSC, government schemes, culture, history, tourism etc.
LittiChokha is one of the leading News & Media company based in Patna, Bihar. We make sure the news we provide is authentic and has undergone multiple Fact-Checks.
