Beyond the Hype: Nikhil Kamath’s WTFund Bets on 17 Young Outliers Building India’s DeepTech & Healthcare Future

Nikhil Kamath’s WTFund unveils its third cohort of 8 startups led by founders under 25, moving away from quick-commerce apps to tackle complex problems in cancer detection, robotics, and AI infrastructure

OdishaPlus Bureau

In an ecosystem often criticized for chasing valuation over value, a quiet revolution is brewing among India’s youngest entrepreneurs. The third cohort of the WTFund, a non-dilutive grant fund spearheaded by Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, recently gathered in Goa for an unfiltered bootcamp. The 17 founders selected for this cohort—all under the age of 25—aren’t building the next food delivery app. Instead, they are digitizing pathology labs, democratizing hardware manufacturing, and building the financial rails for AI agents.

The cohort represents a significant shift in the Indian startup narrative: a move towards “DeepTech” and “HardTech” solutions that address fundamental human and industrial problems. With a grant of ₹20 Lakhs each and no equity strings attached, these founders are being given the rarest of commodities in the startup world: the freedom to build without the immediate pressure of an exit strategy.

Here is a deep dive into the 8 startups defining the future of Young India, the problems they are solving, and the “unfiltered” wisdom shared during their Goa retreat.

The Shift: From Convenience to Cure and Code
If the previous decade of Indian startups was defined by “convenience” (getting things delivered faster), this cohort suggests the next decade will be defined by “capability” (doing things we couldn’t do before). The WTFund Class of 2026 is heavy on healthcare innovation and AI infrastructure, signaling that Gen Z founders are not shying away from regulatory-heavy or capital-intensive sectors.

Meet the Cohort: 8 Startups Redefining Their Industries

1. Prava: The Financial Rails for the Agentic Economy

• Founders: Sushant Pandey and Subham Kulkreti
• Sector: Fintech / AI Infrastructure
• The Problem: We are moving towards a world where AI agents (like ChatGPT or Perplexity) will book flights, buy clothes, and manage tasks for us. However, while AI can “find” the product, it cannot “pay” for it seamlessly. The current payment infrastructure requires human intervention (OTPs, 2FA, redirects) which breaks the automation loop.
• The Solution: Prava is building a payment orchestration layer specifically for AI agents. It allows AI applications to execute secure payments on behalf of the user, effectively bridging the gap between “intent” and “action.” As Sushant noted, they are building the “missing financial infrastructure” for the coming age of AI agents.
• Key Insight: One of the co-founders, Sushant, ironically developed an “AI Girlfriend” for Tier 2/3 cities prior to this, highlighting the team’s deep understanding of human-AI interaction.

2. Astraeus Innovus: Democratizing Oral Cancer Screening

• Founder: Dr. Jayanti Kumari, Dr. Chaitali Singhal & Sweta
• Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
• The Problem: Oral cancer is a massive epidemic in India, exacerbated by the cultural consumption of tobacco and areca nut. Currently, screening is visual and manual, with an accuracy rate of roughly 50-60%—essentially a coin toss. It relies heavily on the subjective expertise of a doctor, making mass screening impossible in rural India.
• The Solution: Developing Enko Alert, a nanotech-based biosensing platform. This rapid screening test is non-invasive, painless, and needle-free. It is designed to work in low-resource settings (no electricity required) and costs roughly ₹150.
• Impact: By turning a specialist diagnosis into a simple, accessible test, Astraeus aims to enable early detection for the 70-80 crore Indians at risk, potentially saving millions of lives through preventive care.

3. Turocrates AI: The Operating System for Diagnostic Labs

• Founders: A Doctor, a Rocket Scientist, and an Engineer – Maulik Shah, Swapnil Bhat and Devansh Lalwani
• Sector: HealthTech / AI Diagnostics
• The Problem: Pathology today is surprisingly analog. Physical glass slides are viewed under microscopes by pathologists. This manual process is slow, subject to human error/fatigue, and geographically limited. A patient in a Tier 3 city often has to travel to a metro just to get a complex biopsy analyzed.
• The Solution: A low-cost, AI-based “operating system” for labs. Their device attaches to existing microscopes to digitize slides in real-time. The AI then analyzes the sample to identify specific cancer biomarkers and recommend personalized treatment plans.
• The Vision: To decouple high-quality diagnostics from geography. A slide scanned in a village can be analyzed by top-tier algorithms instantly, democratizing access to precision medicine.

4. Bloom Rehab: Robots for Recovery

• Founders: Prashanth Jonna and Abhishek Prasad
• Sector: Robotics / HealthTech
• The Problem: Stroke rehabilitation is a race against time. The “Gold Standard” requires 3 hours of therapy daily, but most patients in India get only 45 minutes due to the high cost of clinics and the physical exhaustion of human physiotherapists.
• The Solution: Bloom Rehab is building portable, affordable rehabilitation robots for home use. These robots attach to the patient’s limb and “learn” the motion prescribed by a therapist, allowing the patient to perform hundreds of accurate repetitions at home.
• Why it Matters: It shifts rehabilitation from a “service” (dependent on a human’s time) to a “product” (scalable and consistent), potentially increasing recovery rates for neuro-patients significantly.

5. Placestation: The “Iron Man” Desk for Hardware

• Founder: Vishal Tejwani
• Sector: Hardware / Manufacturing
• The Problem: Hardware innovation in India is stifled by the “Prototype Gap.” You can design a circuit board on a computer in hours, but getting it manufactured (soldering components) takes weeks or requires a minimum order of thousands of units from a factory. This makes iterating on hardware slow and expensive.
• The Solution: A desktop “Pick and Place” machine. Imagine a 3D printer, but for assembling electronics. It picks tiny microchips and components and places them onto circuit boards with high precision.
• The Vision: Vishal, a self-taught robotics engineer who dropped out of college, wants to bring the factory to the desk. This allows hardware startups to prototype in “software time”—iterating daily rather than monthly.

6. Antimattr: The “Her” Reality

• Founder: Sridipto Ghosh and Sirsho
• Sector: Consumer Tech / AI Wearables
• The Problem: Smartphones are becoming a distraction rather than a tool. We are constantly looking down.
• The Solution: An AI layer for wearables, starting with earbuds. Antimattr turns existing audio devices into intelligent agents. Instead of just playing music, your earbuds become a proactive assistant—whispering reminders, taking notes, or booking cabs based on voice commands.
• The Future: Sridipto bets that “Voice” will replace “Touch” as the primary interface for technology, moving us towards a future of ambient computing where technology is present but invisible.

7. O3 Security: Protecting the AI Supply Chain

• Founder: Rohit K
• Sector: Cybersecurity
• The Problem: As companies rush to adopt AI and open-source code, they are exposing themselves to massive vulnerabilities. “Supply Chain Attacks”—where a hacker compromises a small tool used by a larger company—are becoming common. Most security tools are fragmented, looking at only one part of the picture.
• The Solution: A unified security platform for large enterprises that provides context-aware protection. O3 Security integrates deeply across a company’s stack to understand not just “what” the code is doing, but “why.”
• Traction: The startup is already revenue-generating (hitting ~$80k) and working with major fintechs, proving that even young founders can sell to large enterprises if the pain point is acute enough.

8. Aeyi: The Proactive Eye

• Founder: Abhimanyu Paliwal and Sahil Sharma
• Sector: AI / Surveillance
• The Problem: CCTV cameras are currently “passive” recording devices. They only help after a crime or accident has occurred (forensics). They do not prevent incidents or alert anyone in real-time.
• The Solution: Aeyi turns existing CCTV networks into active AI security guards. The software analyzes video feeds in real-time to detect anomalies—like a person falling down, a fire starting, or unauthorized entry—and sends instant alerts.
• Origin Story: The idea was born from a personal incident where a co-founder’s grandmother fell and wasn’t discovered for hours, despite a CCTV camera recording the whole event.

Context & Culture: Lessons from the Goa Bootcamp
The WTFund interaction wasn’t just a pitch session; it was a Socratic dialogue on the nature of ambition, life, and building a legacy. Nikhil Kamath, playing the role of both investor and provocateur, pushed the founders to think beyond their product roadmaps.

1. The “Narcissism” Debate: In a candid moment, the group discussed the traits of successful founders. A recurring theme was the balance between empathy and the “narcissism” required to believe you can change the world. The consensus? A lack of empathy combined with a lack of curiosity is a dangerous mix, but a certain level of “delusion” is necessary to endure the startup grind.

2. Nature vs. Nurture: Are founders born or made? The group leaned towards nurture. Kamath argued that “talent” is often just a feedback loop—if a child is told they are good at something early on, they practice more, becoming talented by virtue of effort rather than biology. For these founders, many of whom come from Tier 2 cities or non-traditional backgrounds (like Sahil, the college dropout), this belief in “nurture” is the fuel for their ambition.

3. Storytelling is the Ultimate Skill: Kamath offered one critical piece of tactical advice: Learn to tell stories. “If you can’t appeal to me in one line, you can’t sell it.” He emphasized that while technical skills (coding, engineering) are vital, the ability to weave a narrative—with a hero, a villain, and a twist—is what raises capital, hires talent, and sells products. He recommended founders study storytelling as rigorously as they study their industry.

4. Longevity Over Legacy: When asked about his own motivations, Kamath offered a contrarian view: he doesn’t care about “Legacy” (what people think of him when he’s gone) but cares deeply about “Longevity” (quality of life while he is here). He urged the founders to prioritize their health and well-being, noting that the “hustle culture” often ignores the biological reality that we have finite time to enjoy our success.

The Verdict
The third cohort of WTFund highlights a maturing Indian startup ecosystem. These 17 young founders are not trying to build the “Uber for X.” They are building medical devices, industrial robots, and cybersecurity fortresses. They are messy, ambitious, and incredibly young, but they are solving problems that matter.

As these 8 startups move from the “bootcamp” to the “battlefield,” they carry with them not just ₹20 Lakhs, but a validation that age is no barrier to deep innovation.

Quick Takeaways for Aspiring Founders:

• Don’t follow the herd: The most interesting startups (like Placestation and Bloom Rehab) are solving “unsexy” hardware problems.
• Storytelling matters: A great product without a great story will struggle to find its first believers.
• Validation is internal: Sometimes you have to build alone to prove your thesis before anyone else will believe you.
• Health is an asset: Longevity allows you to play the game longer. Compound interest applies to your health just as much as your wealth.

(This article was produced with the support of AI tools.)