Publication: The Economic Times Manufacturing / Link: https://reurl.cc/3bQN18
Under the agreement, the three organisations will jointly identify, incubate and support between two and four early-stage cybersecurity startups starting in early 2026.
The Foundation for Science, Innovation and Development (FSID) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Cyberverse Foundation and Pantherun to collaborate on supporting early-stage cybersecurity startups in India.
The MoU was signed by Trishikha Kumari Wadiyar, Chairperson of Cyberverse Foundation; Prof B Gurumoorthy, Chief Executive of FSID; and Srinivas Lakshman Sekhar, Founder and Chief Executive of Pantherun. Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Cyberverse Foundation, was present at the signing.
Under the agreement, the three organisations will jointly identify, incubate and support between two and four early-stage cybersecurity startups starting in early 2026. The selected startups will receive assistance in areas including technical validation, operational support, market access, regulatory navigation and access to capital.
Focus on incubation and ecosystem support
The partnership brings together FSID’s incubation programme STEM Cell and academic network, Cyberverse Foundation’s training initiatives and laboratory infrastructure, and Pantherun’s domain expertise and market access.
STEM Cell at FSID will provide infrastructure, mentorship, faculty access, industry connections and support with grants. Cyberverse Foundation will design and deliver training and skill development programmes, provide access to cybersecurity laboratories and run incubation and accelerator initiatives. Pantherun will scout and evaluate startups, offer seed-stage financial support and guide product development and early market entry.
Prof B Gurumoorthy, Director at FSID, said the collaboration aims to address gaps faced by early-stage cybersecurity innovators. “Early-stage innovators face barriers in guidance and mentoring, limited access to advanced infrastructure, and the absence of systematic technical and market validation pathways. Through this MoU, we will address their challenges,” he said.
Skills, infrastructure and market access
Trishikha Kumari Wadiyar, Chairperson of Cyberverse Foundation, said the collaboration would focus on enabling founders through access to training and infrastructure. “We are happy to collaborate with FSID to empower young entrepreneurs, researchers and first-time founders by providing access to training, laboratories and an enabling ecosystem to build scalable cybersecurity solutions,” she said, adding that the initiative would also seek to position Mysuru as a hub for cyber innovation and talent development.
Srinivas Lakshman Sekhar, Founder and Chief Executive of Pantherun, said the partnership aligned with the company’s background as an FSID-incubated venture. “The challenges facing early-stage cybersecurity innovators are complex and demand both deep technical expertise and real-world validation,” he said. “
The partners said the collaboration is intended to create a pipeline of cybersecurity innovations and strengthen India’s digital security ecosystem through coordinated support for early-stage ventures.
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About Pantherun:
Pantherun is a cyber security innovator with a patent pending approach to data protection, that transforms security by making encryption possible in real-time, while making breach of security 10X harder compared to existing global solutions, at better performance and price.
