Stride Forward 2024: Celebrating Innovation and Entrepreneurship in India's Startup Ecosystem
The 'Stride Forward 2024' brought together industry leaders, innovators, and visionaries to discuss the future of entrepreneurship and investment
prativad 
Stride Ventures’ flagship event, Stride Forward 2024, marked a significant milestone in India’s startup landscape. It brought together industry leaders, innovators, and visionaries to discuss the future of entrepreneurship and investment. The event, a testament to Stride Ventures’ remarkable journey from a single co-working space to a global venture debt leader, showcased the dynamism and potential of India’s burgeoning startup ecosystem.
From Co-working Space to Global Ventures: Stride’s Remarkable Journey
At the heart of the event was the remarkable journey of Stride Ventures itself. Ishpreet Singh Gandhi, Founder of Stride Ventures and StrideOne, reflected on the company’s exponential growth over the past five years. “From a perspective of the last five years, learning briefly has been just trying to innovate as much in an agile manner, get the right people in the journey, co-create this with them, and find a fit which we never envisioned honestly,” Gandhi remarked, encapsulating Stride’s journey from its humble beginnings to its current status as a marquee player in the venture debt space across multiple continents.
Today, the company’s portfolio boasts an impressive 140 companies, including 13+ unicorns, with total investments reaching $650 million.
Powering the Green Revolution: Insights from the Climate Innovation Panel
The Climate Innovation Panel addressed pressing environmental challenges and opportunities in the cleantech sector. The panel, featuring Rajat Verma of Lohum, Neeraj Jain of Solar Square, Pulkit Khurana of Battery Smart, and Vivek Jain from Stride Green, addressed these urgent challenges and opportunities.
The panel delved into India’s unique challenges as the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses yet one of the lowest per capita energy consumers. The discussion highlighted the importance of frugal innovation, building trust, and fostering collaborative partnerships to drive the country’s sustainable transition.
