SIG Tattva, AGI Greenpac and Pontaq Ventures Launch Manufacturing-Tech Innovation Workshop; Five Start-ups Secure ₹75 Lakh PoCs

Two-day Hyderabad programme connects deep-tech founders with live factory operations, resulting in pilot engagements worth ₹75 lakh within 48 hours.

SIG Tattva, the Corporate Venture Capital and Innovation arm of Somany Impresa Group, in collaboration with Pontaq Ventures, organised a two-day Founder Immersion & Start-up Workshop on June 24 and 25, 2026, at the manufacturing facilities of AGI Greenpac Limited, one of the Group companies of Somany Impresa Group and a glass packaging manufacturer.

The programme was designed to strengthen engagement between start-ups and the manufacturing sector through an immersive factory visit on the first day, followed by a workshop on the second day that encouraged knowledge sharing, industry interaction and opportunities for innovation-led collaboration.

The workshop featured eight deep-tech start-up founders selected from Pontaq Ventures' portfolio for direct engagement with the manufacturing operations of SIG Tattva and AGI Greenpac.

According to the organisers, the programme followed a structured workshop model in which founders visited the production floor, observed manufacturing processes, worked alongside department heads to develop solutions for operational challenges and presented pilot proposals to the company's leadership team for evaluation. The initiative was described as AGI Greenpac's first structured factory-floor collaboration of this kind and among the few similar programmes in India's manufacturing sector.

The first day included introductory sessions with leadership teams from AGI Greenpac, SIG Tattva and Pontaq Ventures, followed by guided factory visits where department heads explained operational processes and current manufacturing challenges.

After completing the shop-floor interactions, participating founders developed solutions individually and collaboratively before presenting them to the AGI Greenpac and SIG Tattva leadership teams. Presentations were followed by question-and-answer sessions to assess the feasibility of the proposed solutions. The programme concluded with the evaluation and allocation of Proof of Concept (PoC) pilot engagements based on merit, readiness and commercial deployment potential.

The eight participating start-ups were shortlisted from more than 20 companies selected from Pontaq Ventures' portfolio of approximately 180 start-ups. Selection was based on alignment with AGI Greenpac's manufacturing technology priorities, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, industrial automation, robotics, energy management, quality inspection, emissions control, supply chain traceability and cybersecurity.

The participating start-ups and founders included:

Novorbis Itus — Harsh Neekhra (Founder & CEO), specialising in industrial emission control and pollution reduction systems.
Kredily — Devendra Khandegar (Founder & CEO), providing an AI-driven HRMS platform.
Cairovision — Vedpal Singh (VP Singh) (Founder), offering AI and computer vision-based industrial video analytics.
mSense AI — Surekha Gupta (Co-founder & CBO) and Shiv Shankar Maurya (Co-founder & CEO), developing AI-powered quality inspection solutions using computer vision and acoustic intelligence.
Maxbyte Technologies — Ramshankar C.S. (Co-founder & CEO), focused on Industry 4.0, industrial automation, robotics and decarbonisation.
Presage Insights — Atul Sharma (Co-founder), providing AI and IoT-enabled predictive maintenance and asset performance management.
Goat Robotics — Muthu Vangaliappan (Co-founder & CEO) and Mugesh S (Co-founder & MD), developing Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) for industrial applications.
Borlaug Web Services — Ayon Hazra (Founder & CEO), offering blockchain-based supply chain transparency, carbon accounting and sustainability traceability solutions.

At the conclusion of the programme, five deep-tech start-ups received Proof of Concept (PoC) engagements worth ₹75 lakhs. The selected projects covered Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), computer vision, emission control, predictive maintenance and logistics technologies.

According to the organisers, the workshop represents the first phase of an ongoing open innovation programme that AGI Greenpac and SIG Tattva intend to expand beyond Pontaq Ventures by collaborating with other venture capital firms.

Commenting on the initiative, Shashvat Somany, Founder, SIG Tattva, said:

"The future of innovation lies in breaking down the barriers between start-ups and industry. For too long, founders have been expected to solve industrial challenges without direct access to the environments where those challenges exist. My vision is to democratise start-ups access to the shop floor, where the action really takes place. ‘Floor to Future’ is India’s first initiative to create a platform where start-ups, operators, and business leaders collaborate closely. This is the exact kind of structured, outcome-driven collaboration that accelerates successful pilots and drives long-term value creation for both start-ups and corporates. Through this initiative, we aim to bridge that gap by opening up SIG’s manufacturing ecosystem to entrepreneurs."

Sriharsha Bandaluppi, Head, SIG Tattva, said:

" As an operator-led venture platform, our focus is on creating pathways from innovation to implementation. We believe this model can redefine corporate-start-up collaboration—moving away from superficial conversations and pitch decks toward real problem-solving, real pilots, and real outcomes. In the first chapter of 'Floor to Future,' we partnered with Pontaq bringing founders on the shop floor. What differentiated this workshop was the depth of execution, interactions with functional leaders to understand bottlenecks firsthand, and co-created solutions grounded in operational realities. Through this initiative, we aren’t just talking about the future of industry—we are building a repeatable model that transforms innovation from conversation into execution."

Mr. Rajesh Khosla, CEO, AGI Greenpac Limited, said:

"At AGI Greenpac, operational excellence and continuous innovation remain central to our growth strategy. As India’s leading glass packaging manufacturer, we see immense value in bringing external innovation into our manufacturing ecosystem. This workshop provided an opportunity for our teams to engage with entrepreneurs bringing fresh perspectives and emerging technologies to solve real business challenges. We are excited by the quality of ideas generated and look forward to exploring opportunities that can create tangible value for our operations, customers, and industry."

Mr. Prem Barthasarathy, Founder & Managing Partner, Pontaq VC, said:

"Large industrial conglomerates do not look for isolated point solutions; they seek integrated solutions that can improve quality, enhance productivity, increase revenues, and reduce costs across the value chain. Yet, for start-ups, breaking into large enterprises and securing pilot opportunities typically takes between 8 and 18 months. Through 'Floor to Future', we are fundamentally changing this dynamic. By bringing founders directly onto the shop floor alongside operational and business leaders, start-ups gain first-hand insight into real-world challenges while enterprises gain access to cutting-edge innovation. What is particularly exciting is that potential proof-of-concepts emerged within just 48 hours of engagement. This demonstrates that when industry and innovation come together in the right environment, the path from conversation to execution can be dramatically shortened."