Rohith Bhat (centre), Founding President, TiE Mangaluru, addresses media persons in Mangaluru on Thursday.
TiE Mangaluru will conduct ‘TiECon Mangaluru 2026’ in Mangaluru on January 16. Supported by Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) and Silicon Beach Program (SBP), ‘TiECon Mangaluru 2026’ will bring together more than 500 delegates, including entrepreneurs, investors, corporate leaders, policymakers, and innovators from across India and abroad, to spotlight Coastal Karnataka’s emergence as an innovation and investment destination. TiECon Mangaluru 2026 will also showcase 30 of the region’s best start-ups.
Addressing media persons in Mangaluru on Thursday, Rohith Bhat, Founding President, TiE Mangaluru, said TiE Mangaluru chapter was established in April 2023 with the vision to galvanize the start-up ecosystem in the Mangaluru-Udupi-Manipal region, a region now recognised as the Silicon Beach of India.
“In less than two years, we have organised more than 40 start-up-focused programmes, reached 400-plus entrepreneurs, and built a member base of around 130 founders collectively employing around 20,000 people,” he said.
Long-term vision
With more than 15 angel investors and three recent tech exits valued collectively $250 million, the region has demonstrated strong early traction and the potential to become Karnataka’s next major start-up hub. The long-term vision is to enable 4,000 start-ups by 2034, with at least five unicorns emerging from the region, he added.
Prashanth Rao Aroor, Chair of TiECon Organizing Committee 2026, said: “We have a great lineup of speakers, ecosystem builders like Prashanth Prakash, Mohandas Pai and BV Naidu, Sanjeev Gupta amongst us at this event and we intend to learn from them and make our region one of the top innovation hubs in this decade. And we have curated the 30 high potential, high growth startups from the Silicon Beach of India for all potential investors and HNI to experience the innovation at play.”
Key leaders such as Priyank Kharge, Karnataka Minister of IT and BT; Captain Brijesh Chowta, MP of Dakshina Kannada; S Krishnan, Secretary, Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology; Manjula N, Secretary, IT and BT, Karnataka; Sharath Bache Gowda, Chairman of KEONICS; Prashanth Prakash, Partner, Accel India; Murali Bukkapattanam, President, TiE Global; Mohandas Pai, Chairman, 3one4 Capital; Romal Shetty, CEO, Deloitte South Asia; Suniel Shetty, Entrepreneur and Actor; BV Naidu, Chairman of KDEM; and Sanjeev Gupta, CEO, KDEM, are expected to attend the event.
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Published on January 8, 2026
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