Business
Building the Future of Work: Lessons from the TechHR India Startup Program 2025
When startups and enterprises meet on a global stage, the future of HR technology takes shape.
Innovation rarely happens in isolation. Around the world, the most significant breakthroughs are born in ecosystems, where startups bring bold ideas, enterprises bring scale, and investors provide the fuel for acceleration. Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv, Singapore, Bangalore: each has thrived because of this collaborative dynamic.
This year, that ecosystem came alive in New Delhi at the People Matters TechHR India 2025, Asia’s largest HR and Work Tech conference at the Yashobhoomi Convention Centre in July-August 2025. The People Matters TechHR India Startup Program 2025, powered by title partner Mynavi, was at the heart of this ecosystem. Designed exclusively for emerging HR and WorkTech companies, the program has, over the years, become a launchpad for next-generation solutions that tackle everything from candidate experience to employee engagement, productivity, and the gig economy.
This year, the spotlight was brighter than ever. Over 5,000 HR and business leaders, 200+ thought leaders, and 120+ HR solution providers converged for two high-energy days of dialogue, pitches, showcases, and one-to-one investor-mentor sessions. Against this backdrop, the 2025 cohort of startups stepped forward to present, exhibit, and engage with the industry’s most influential decision-makers.
More than a showcase
This year, the Startup Program was not simply an exhibition. It was a living laboratory where HR tech founders collided with the pressing questions facing organisations today: How do we build trust in an era of digital identities? How do we verify skills in real time? How do we scale hiring while retaining a human touch?
Mentorship sessions with industry leaders like Lightspeed Ventures, 100X Entrepreneur Fund, Solara Capital, Infosys, Zensar, and Adani Group added another dimension grounding bold product ideas in market realities.
The innovation arena: Participating startups at TechHR 2025
The Startup Program drew a diverse lineup of innovators, each tackling a unique challenge in HR and work tech. This year’s participating startups included:
Dehurdle
Calibr.ai
Leap10x
HR Cosmos
TrstScore
Kivo.ai
Hirepanda
SmartStaff
Thriving Workplace
Bind Bee/Raha AI
FINTERVUE.IO PRIVATE LIMITED
Ideabrix
AccioJobs
Hirebound
Neuminds
ProofOfSkill
IntelloHire
Surepass
OnGrid
From AI-driven hiring platforms to tools ensuring compliance, skills validation, and employee well-being, the breadth of innovation on display reflected the complexity of modern workplace challenges.
Mentorship: One-to-one with industry leaders
One of the most valued aspects of the Startup Program is its curated mentorship sessions, and 2025 was no exception. Startups gained rare access to investors and senior HR practitioners, including:
Sidharth Sangwan (MD & Head-Talent Strategy, Lightspeed Ventures)
Siddhartha Ahluwalia (General Partner, 100X Entrepreneur Fund)
Nakul Saxena (Managing Partner, Solara Capital)
Indu Kapoor (Head HR – Infosys Consulting)
Vivek Ranjan (CHRO, Zensar Technologies)
Vikram Tandon (Former Advisor to Group Chairman, Adani Group)
These 20-minute one-to-one deep dives were where the magic happened. Founders walked away with funding insights, go-to-market feedback, and strategic direction, helping them refine their growth trajectories beyond the event itself.
A global canvas of innovation
The startups that participated reflected the diversity of challenges shaping the future of work worldwide:
Trust & Verification: Surepass, OnGrid, TRSTScore, and Proof-Of-Skill tackled the growing demand for secure identity, background checks, and verifiable skill credentials.
Hiring & Talent Intelligence: Hirepanda, SmartStaff, AccioJobs, Hirebound, IntelloHire, FINTERVUE.IO, and Neuminds explored new models of recruitment—from AI-driven assessments to agile workforce management.
AI & Productivity: Calibr.ai, Kivo.ai, HR Cosmos, Thriving Workplace, Ideabrix, and Bind Bee / Raha AI demonstrated how artificial intelligence can enhance employee experience, productivity, and culture.
Learning & Growth: Leap10x and Dehurdle offered solutions focused on leadership development, skill calibration, and workforce acceleration.
Some showcased at full scale, others through booths and kiosks, but together they painted a vivid picture of where HR tech is heading.
Startup showcases & pitch presentations
A highlight of the program was the Startup Pitch Arena, where selected participants presented their products and visions to a jury of HR leaders, investors, and mentors. Startups like Hirepanda, FINTERVUE.IO, Ideabrix, and IntelloHire delivered full-scale presentations, walking audiences through use cases, adoption models, and early success stories.
Meanwhile, startups such as Kivo.ai and Bind Bee/Raha AI leveraged their booth and kiosk presence to build organic conversations with HR leaders, showcasing product demos and gathering invaluable feedback without taking the stage.
The energy in the startup zone was palpable, every kiosk buzzing with curiosity, every pitch met with sharp questions and constructive feedback. For founders, it wasn’t just about visibility but about real-world validation in front of the very people shaping HR strategy at scale.
Exhibition Zone: From curiosity to collaboration
The startup exhibition zone remained one of the busiest areas at Yashobhoomi. Attendees moved from booth to booth exploring solutions in:
AI-powered hiring (Calibr.ai, Hirepanda, Neuminds)
Employee productivity & engagement (Thriving Workplace, Leap10x, HR Cosmos)
Background verification & compliance (OnGrid, Surepass, TrstScore)
Future of work enablement (AccioJobs, ProofOfSkill, SmartStaff)
The interactive demos were not mere product showcases but conversations about how work is evolving. HR leaders engaged with founders not as vendors, but as partners in co-creating the future of work.
A platform for growth
For the participating startups, the value of the TechHR Startup Program extended beyond visibility. Benefits such as:
Logo placements across the venue and online collaterals
Exclusive content coverage by People Matters’ editorial team
Discounted participation and networking opportunities all ensured that the startups’ reach extended far beyond the two days of the event.
In fact, past editions of the program have seen startups go on to secure funding, pilot partnerships with corporates, and scale into new markets. The 2025 edition continued this tradition of being a springboard for future growth.
Themes shaping conversations in 2025
The TechHR stage, beyond the startup program, echoed with discussions that mirrored the startups’ innovations:
AI integration in HR – balancing automation with empathy
The Talent Hunger Games – strategies for talent acquisition and retention in hyper-competitive markets
Cost-efficiency vs. employee engagement – designing models that achieve both
Leadership for the future – preparing leaders for hybrid, global, and AI-augmented workplaces
It was clear that the startups and the conference themes were in perfect sync, together sketching the roadmap for HR’s future.
The next wave of HR innovation
The People Matters TechHR Startup Program has now supported over 1200 startups globally, and the 2025 edition cemented its position as the definitive launchpad for HR and WorkTech ventures in Asia. By bringing together visionaries, disruptors, mentors, and decision-makers under one roof, it showcased what’s possible when innovation meets opportunity.
For Dehurdle, Calibr.ai, Leap10x, HR Cosmos, TrstScore, Kivo.ai, Hirepanda, SmartStaff, Thriving Workplace, Bind Bee/Raha AI, FINTERVUE.IO, Ideabrix, AccioJobs, Hirebound, Neuminds, ProofOfSkill, IntelloHire, Surepass, and OnGrid, this was not just participation. It was a defining milestone on their journey to reshape the future of HR and work.
As the startups from this year move forward some to pilots, others to funding discussions, and many to accelerated scaling the event stands as a reminder that the future of work is not being written by incumbents alone. It is being authored, in real time, by these ambitious innovators. The question isn’t whether HR will transform, but how fast and which of these startups will be leading the charge.
As the event drew to a close, one message resonated deeply: the startups of today are building the workplaces of tomorrow. And the future looks bold, human-centric, and brimming with possibility.
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