Cars24 Announces Inaugural Grand Startup Challenge with ₹1 Crore Prize Pool to Empower India’s Founders

Gurugram, India | October 9, 2026: Cars24, an AI-native automotive ecosystem, in collaboration with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Startup Policy Forum (SPF), and MeitY Startup Hub (MSH), has announced its inaugural Grand Startup Challenge. With a ₹1 crore prize pool, the national competition is designed to give India’s most promising early-stage founders access to capital, mentorship, and a real, national-scale environment to prove their innovations.

The national finale is planned around National Startup Day on 16 January 2027.

Flagship Initiative Under Cars24–DPIIT MoU
The Challenge is one of the flagship initiatives under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Cars24 and DPIIT to strengthen India’s startup ecosystem. It brings commitments across mentorship, skilling, AI enablement, investment access, and road safety into a national platform where founders compete for both funding and deployment opportunities within Cars24’s operations.

Addressing Startup Bottlenecks
Many Indian founders face constraints beyond funding: limited access to real data, compute, live customers, and distribution. The Grand Startup Challenge is designed to remove these barriers, giving founders the resources and opportunities to take a promising prototype into real-world use.

What’s on Offer
The Challenge commits a total prize pool of ₹1 crore, alongside deployment opportunities, technical resources, and mentorship:

• ₹1 crore prize pool: Distributed across the Grand Champion, runners-up, finalists, and Track Excellence Awards, with details to be finalised jointly with DPIIT.
• Real deployment: Top teams will enter live pilots within Cars24’s operations, with production deployment for the Grand Champion within 90 days.
• Cars24 AI Labs access: Direct induction into Cars24 AI Labs for the Grand Champion, alongside the Bharat Deeptech Cup.
• Sandbox access: Shortlisted teams will receive API credentials, compute credits, and datasets to build and test solutions.
• Mentorship and investor access: Guidance from Cars24’s founders and leadership, introductions to venture investors, and jointly published technical case studies to showcase participating founders.

Four National Bottlenecks, Four Tracks
Problem statements will be developed jointly with DPIIT across four tracks, each supported by Cars24’s live operations:

1. Fintech for the Unbanked: Building financial infrastructure for Indians with limited access to formal finance or little credit history.
2. Mobility and Logistics Optimisation: Reducing the cost and improving efficiency of moving goods and vehicles.
3. Lending and Credit Infrastructure: Expanding credit access and improving lending efficiency.
4. Road Safety and Vehicle Intelligence: Building systems that help prevent crashes and make Indian roads safer.

Vikram Chopra, Builder, Cars24, said: “Cars24 was once a young company that just needed a real environment to prove its ideas. Today, we can offer that environment to the next generation. The Grand Startup Challenge gives founders who have talent but limited means access to capital, data, compute, mentorship, and a national stage to deploy on. That is what it means to open up a world of possibilities. We are proud to deliver this as our first flagship initiative under our MoU with DPIIT.”

Shweta Kohli, President, Startup Policy Forum, added: “India has no shortage of ambitious founders. What can make a difference is access to a first customer, an opportunity to test a solution at scale, and the support to take it into the market. The Grand Startup Challenge brings these opportunities together. Through our collaboration with Cars24, DPIIT, and MeitY Startup Hub, we hope to help promising founders move from building a prototype to proving its value in the real world.”

Outlook
Applications, problem statements, award structures, and final event formats will be announced in the coming months, developed jointly by Cars24, DPIIT, SPF, and MSH. Founders and startups can register interest at https://gsc.cars24.com.

Cars24 intends to develop the Challenge into an annual national platform that identifies promising founders, helps them scale, and shares their journeys with the wider startup ecosystem.

About Cars24
Cars24 is an AI-native automotive ecosystem operating across India, Australia, and the UAE. Beyond buying and selling cars, Cars24 is building infrastructure for vehicle ownership across financing, insurance, vehicle information, and road safety, with businesses including Cars24 Financial Services, CarInfo, VehicleInfo, Team-BHP, Cars24 Labs, and Crashfree India. Its mission: Better Drives, Better Lives.

About DPIIT
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, leads the national effort to build and strengthen India’s startup ecosystem, including through the Startup India initiative.