NewsVoir
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 24: L&T Finance Ltd. (LTF), one of the leading Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) in the country, has launched the second edition of ‘Pitch Point,’ a competition for AI startups ahead of RAISE’ 26, India’s premier Artificial Intelligence (AI)-themed event in the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance) sector. LTF is offering an opportunity to AI startups that are in their early to growth stage to present their solutions, applicable for BFSI or Non-BFSI domains, to a panel of Venture Capitalists, LTF’s senior management, and global industry experts at RAISE’ 26.
Dr. Debarag Banerjee, Chief Data & AI Officer at L&T Finance Ltd., said, "As L&T Finance advances its vision to become a Risk-first, Technology-first, AI-native Retail financial services institution, Pitch Point 2026 serves as a strategic launchpad for high-potential early-stage AI startups. More than a contest, Pitch Point offers gateway to a collaborative design partnership that bridges cutting-edge startup innovation with real enterprise scale. Artificial intelligence is rapidly redefining financial services into predictive intelligence. We encourage all forward-thinking AI entrepreneurs to apply, validate their solutions against real-world enterprise demands, and join us in shaping the future of intelligent finance."
Past winners share experience, enterprise impact, and growth
The first cohort of Pitch Point saw intense competition, culminating in Arrowhead AI and SpoofSense emerging as winners from high-caliber AI startups that participated. For them, Pitch Point served as a catalyst for enterprise readiness, commercial deployment, and rapid scale of business.
Ms. Devyani Gupta, CEO of Arrowhead AI, an enterprise voice AI Start-up, said, “Pitch Point came to us at exactly the right moment. Being chosen as one of five finalists and then as one of the two winners gave us direct access to senior decision-makers and the credibility to turn that access into real deployment. Pitch Point shortens the long, uncertain path to winning the trust of a large organisation.”
Mr. Kartikeya Bhardwaj, Founder of SpoofSense, a provider of AI-driven digital identity verification and fraud prevention, said, “The main benefit for SpoofSense was enterprise validation, it gave us direct feedback from decision-makers who evaluate AI solutions on scalability, security, and operational readiness. Winning provided strong third-party validation, reassuring prospective clients that our technology performs in real-world enterprise environments."
Following this success, SpoofSense is leveraging its Pitch Point recognition to advance discussions across the financial services sector and establish its platform as a core security layer for digital identity verification.
Beyond recognition, mentorship from L&T Finance leadership offered startups crucial design partnerships. Arrowhead AI now serves as LTF’s voice AI partner across different verticals. Meanwhile, SpoofSense utilised LTF’s feedback to refine its Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for enterprise deepfake and liveness detection.
Reflecting on the Pitch Point’s vision, Ms. Sushma Kaushik, Head of Innovation Fund at Larsen & Toubro, said, "AI is reshaping financial services from reactive decision-making to predictive intelligence. This will be the key differentiator in the BFSI industry. I commend L&T Finance for taking the lead and creating a platform like this that brings diverse voices from across the ecosystem to discuss how AI can be applied responsibly and at scale."
Advice for the next cohort
Both founders encourage incoming applicants to view Pitch Point as a partnership opportunity rather than just a contest.
"Don't view it as just a pitching contest. Treat it as an opportunity to test your solution against real enterprise demands," advised Bhardwaj. Gupta added, "Come with a working product and a clear, specific problem you can solve. Winning opens the door, but how quickly and reliably you deliver afterwards decides how far the relationship goes."
About Pitch Point 2026
The product offering that will be evaluated at ‘Pitch Point’ must align with one of the domains that synergises with any of the L&T Group Company’s current and future offerings, namely, Cyber Security & Fraud Prevention, Rural & Agri Fintech, Gen AI Application, Embedded Finance Solutions, Alternate Data Based Lending Solutions, AI-Driven Credit Scoring & Risk Assessment, Regulatory Technology & Compliance Tools, AI-Powered Collections & Recovery Solutions, AI-based BFSI ready Enterprise Agentic AI, Image Processing and Recognition, and AI Geospatial and Remote Sensing, Portfolio Optimisation Solutions, and Quantum Computing for BFSI.
LTF encourages eligible startups to apply online by submitting the registration form along with their pitch deck. Shortlisted applicants will be invited for a virtual interaction round, and five finalists will then be selected to present live at RAISE’ 26.
The application period for this programme is open till October 31, 2026. The final shortlist is set to be announced on December 1, 2026. The programme culminates in a final event at RAISE' 26 on December 16, 2026, which will be held at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai.
Link to the ‘Pitch Point’ page: www.ltfraise.com/event/Raise/pitch-point
For any questions pertaining to the application process, eligible companies can contact the organising team at: raise.pitchpoint@ltfs.com
LTF’s RAISE’ 26 is an AI-focused event centered on the theme, ‘Transforming Financial Services with AI’ and offers a unique opportunity to explore the latest Enterprise Agentic AI solutions reshaping the BFSI landscape. RAISE was launched in the year 2024, with resounding success, convening over 4,500 participants including regulatory leaders, unicorn founders, deep tech innovators, and media representatives. It has since emerged as the largest AI-themed gathering in the BFSI domain, underscoring the sector's growing reliance on AI and ML.
Find more information at: www.ltfraise.com
L&T Finance Ltd. (LTF) ( www.LTFINANCE.com ), is a leading Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC), offering a range of financial products and services. Headquartered in Mumbai, the Company has been rated ‘AAA’ — the highest credit rating — by four leading domestic rating agencies. LTF is also rated by International Rating Agencies. S&P Global Ratings has affirmed LTF with long-term Issuer Credit Rating at “BBB/Stable” and short-term issuer credit rating at “A-2”. Fitch Ratings has affirmed LTF Long-Term Foreign and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings of “BBB-” with a Stable outlook. It has also received leadership scores and ratings by global and national Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) rating providers for its sustainability performance. The Company has been certified as a Great Place To Work® and has also won many prestigious awards for its flagship CSR project – “Digital Sakhi”- which focuses on women's empowerment and digital and financial inclusion. Under Right to Win, being in the ‘right businesses’ has helped the Company become one of the leading financiers in key Retail products. The Company is focused on transforming into a Risk-first, Technology-first, AI-native Retail financial services institution as part of the Lakshya 2031 plan. The Company has over 3 Crore customer database, which is being leveraged to cross-sell, up-sell, and identify new customers.
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