Technology isn’t just being shaped by founders and engineers anymore; policymakers, global institutions, and industry leaders are also a vital part of the conversation.
At TechSparks 2026, YourStory's flagship startup and technology summit, that conversation will span policy, deeptech, AI, fintech, aerospace, mobility, and digital infrastructure. The speakers taking the stage include Priyank Kharge, Minister for Home, IT, BT & E-Governance, Government of Karnataka, and Krishna Byre Gowda, Minister for Greater Bengaluru Development, Government of Karnataka.
With the theme ‘The New Tech Order’, TechSparks 2026 will look at how AI, deeptech, and new digital infrastructure are changing how technology gets built and scaled. The three-day event will take place from October 13-15 in Bengaluru.
Here are some of the other speakers joining the TechSparks 2026 lineup:
Dr Angela Honegger
Dr Angela Honegger is CEO and Consul General, Switzerland and India, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Based in Bengaluru, she is also associated with Swissnex in India, the Swiss science and technology network that connects Switzerland with the country's innovation ecosystem. Her background includes work across Switzerland, India, and the US, along with experience in entrepreneurship, innovation, and research.
Revant Himatsingka
Revant Himatsingka, better known as the Food Pharmer, is the founder of Only What's Needed, a food and beverage venture built around transparency. Himatsingka has built a large public following around reading food labels and questioning how packaged food is marketed.
With Only What’s Needed, that focus has moved from educating consumers to building a food brand around transparency. The company says it is building food together with consumers, while Himatsingka has also shared product decisions and business information publicly as the company has grown.
Peter Winther-Schmidt
Peter Winther-Schmidt, Consul General at the Consulate General of Denmark in Bangalore, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, represents the India-Denmark relationship in the TechSparks lineup. His recent work has included strengthening links between Denmark and Karnataka across technology, investment, and innovation.
He has also been involved in conversations around Bengaluru and Karnataka's technology ecosystem, including efforts to connect startups, companies, and investors across India and Denmark.
Manu Saale
Manu Saale, Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India, leads the Bengaluru-based organisation that contributes engineering and digital capabilities to Mercedes-Benz’s global operations. His public work has focused on people, technology, and AI, including an AI-first approach across MBRDI.
At TechSparks, Saale will speak to how AI and advanced technology are changing the way products are built, from an automotive engineering perspective.
Deep Agrawal
Deep Agrawal, Head of Payments at PhonePe, works on building and scaling the company’s payments business. His work has included efforts to widen access to digital payments, including PhonePe's launch of UPI 123Pay for feature-phone users, along with products spanning digital payments and financial services more broadly.
Priya Narasimhan
Priya Narasimhan, Chief Business Officer at Indus Appstore, is part of the team building PhonePe's homegrown app marketplace. Indus Appstore is built around an app ecosystem for India's diverse users and developers, with features aimed at making app discovery and distribution easier. She has also been part of conversations around competition in the mobile app ecosystem, including app-store choice, developer economics, and the role of alternative app stores in India.
Radhika P
Radhika P, Founder and CEO of Pinaka Aerospace, worked as a scientist at DRDO on electronic warfare and communication systems before founding Pinaka Aerospace in 2007. The Bengaluru-based company has worked across defence and aerospace technology, including software verification, hardware maintenance, and manufacturing. Pinaka Aerospace was subsequently acquired by ZETWERK.
Rajagopal Menon
Rajagopal Menon, Vice President at WazirX, brings experience from the cryptocurrency and digital-asset industry to the TechSparks lineup, and has been part of the wider conversation around the technology and infrastructure behind it.
Narendra Babu
Narendra Babu, CTO at PayU, is a technology leader with experience building technology teams and systems at scale. His recent work at PayU has included engineering transformation and the use of AI in payments verification, in a fintech environment where security, authentication, fraud prevention, and large-scale payment systems increasingly rely on AI.
Sneha Roy
Sneha Roy, Co-founder of Murf AI, is part of the team behind the voice AI company, building products around AI-generated speech and voice technology. She is also the company’s COO and has spent much of her career building and scaling businesses, including at Urban Ladder, before co-founding Murf AI in 2020. Murf AI has since expanded across international markets, with Roy focused on building the business around voice AI.
Prasun Kumar
Prasun Kumar, Founder and CEO of Oppex AI, is working on what happens when software breaks after it has been deployed. His company is developing an AI-led incident-management stack designed to reduce the time it takes to detect, investigate, and resolve production incidents. Kumar has more than two decades of experience in technology and product development, including time at Capillary Technologies and CommerceIQ. At Oppex AI, he is applying that experience to an AI-native approach to production operations.
The TechSparks 2026 lineup also features Srividhya Srinivasan, CTO of Amagi; Pramod Varma, Co-founder and Chief Architect of Networks for Humanity; Sameer Nigam, Founder and CEO of PhonePe; Pratyaya Amrit, Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar; Anirudh Singh, General Partner at Avataar Venture Partners; and Rajeev Rastogi, Vice President, Machine Learning at Amazon.
TechSparks 2026 will be held from October 13-15 in Bengaluru. Register here to be part of the conversations shaping the New Tech Order.
