The first Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS 1.0), launched in 2016, was a leap of faith—a ₹10,000 crore bet on an unproven ecosystem that had fewer than 500 recognised startups . It worked. That corpus was fully committed to 145 Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), which went on to invest over ₹25,500 crore in more than 1,370 startups, across sectors from AI and spacetech to agriculture and biotech . The ecosystem now boasts over 2 lakh DPIIT-recognised startups, with 2025 marking the highest-ever annual registrations .

On the banks of Dal Lake, a quiet revolution is unfolding. The ASCEND J&K 2026 Startup Summit – themed “Where Mountains Meet Momentum” – brought together young founders, national investors, and policymakers in Srinagar, marking a significant step in India’s push to build a truly distributed innovation economy . This was not just another conference; it was a signal that the startup story is finally reaching the Himalayas.