ZENTHINK
ZENTHINK PRESENTS

Venture
Quest

NATIONAL STUDENT
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
COMPETITION

Worried about your future? Here’s how you can take charge.

Turning student ideas into tomorrow’s businesses. Venture Quest is open to undergraduate and postgraduate students across India, with ideas from every sector, industry and customer segment.

Register your team
Fee₹1,200 + 18% GSTper participant
Team size1 to 3students
Registration16 Oct to 30 Nov2026
Three young founders at work: one explains a flow diagram on a whiteboard while two teammates listen at a table with a laptop and notebook
ABOUT VENTURE QUEST

From ideas to impact.

Who we are

ZENTHINK is an Indo-Japanese collaboration committed to promoting entrepreneurship in India: nurturing innovative ideas, supporting aspiring entrepreneurs, and providing mentoring and guidance to turn promising concepts into viable businesses. Venture Quest is its flagship annual National Student Entrepreneurship Competition.

Our objective

To build an entrepreneurial mindset among students and bridge the gap between having a business idea and building a sustainable enterprise. Students move beyond theory and experience the real process: developing a proposition, understanding the market, assessing financial feasibility, and planning for implementation and growth.

What you take away

Winning is one part of Venture Quest. The larger part is learning to think like an entrepreneur: testing assumptions, understanding customers, managing resources and building a business that creates lasting value. Shortlisted teams present to experienced evaluators at zonal rounds. Promising ventures may receive further mentoring and explore funding avenues, subject to independent assessment and the decisions of the investors or institutions concerned.

What counts is feasibility, relevance and the potential to create value, whatever the size of the idea. A local community problem, a technology start-up, a better version of an existing product or service, or a business with wider social or economic impact: Venture Quest invites you to take the first step.

Three founders building a cardboard and circuit prototype at a workshop bench
THE JOURNEY

From a student idea to a zonal final, in three stages.

  1. 1
    16 October to 30 November 2026

    Register and form your team

    The team leader registers up to three members, gives the leader's email and WhatsApp number, and pays the fee. A GST invoice arrives by email.

  2. 2
    Due 15 January 2027

    Submit your business case and pitch video

    A business case and a pitch video of up to 10 minutes. Judges look at customer need, market, business model, finances, innovation, risks and growth.

  3. 3
    [TBC: venues and dates]

    Compete in your zonal final

    Zonal finals start in Karnataka and Goa. Up to 20 shortlisted teams in each zone present live to the panel. The top teams in each zone win [TBC: prizes].

ELIGIBILITY

Open to students across India.

Undergraduate and postgraduate students: BBA, MBA, B.Com, M.Com, Engineering and other eligible programmes. Every sector, industry and customer segment is welcome, from AI and agriculture to healthcare, education and social enterprise.

WHAT YOU GAIN
  • A live stage for your idea in front of your zone
  • Feedback from an expert panel
  • Mentoring and guidance
  • Connections with business leaders, entrepreneurs, mentors and potential investors
REGISTRATION FEE
₹1,200 + 18% GST per participant (₹1,416)
₹2,832 for two · ₹4,248 for three, GST included · GST invoice by email after payment
Register your team
Three founders assembling a water prototype on a campus lawn in front of a red-brick college building

One form for the whole team.

The team leader fills it in for every member, then pays on the next page.

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