L&T Finance Pitch Point 2.0: Where an AI startup’s big idea meets enterprise scale

A pitch ends in minutes. A partnership can last years. That is the idea behind the second edition of Pitch Point, by L&T Finance Ltd. (LTF), one of India’s leading non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). The competition serves as a strategic launchpad for AI startups to showcase their innovations ahead of RAISE’ 26, to be held on December 16. RAISE is India’s premier AI-focused event for the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector.

Pitch Point is a platform for early- to growth-stage startups, from the BFSI or non-BFSI sector, to present their solutions to a panel of venture capitalists, LTF’s senior management, and global industry experts.

Launched in 2024, RAISE has since drawn over 4,500 participants, including regulators, unicorn founders, and deep tech innovators. Ever since, it has emerged as the largest AI-themed gathering in the BFSI domain, underscoring the sector's growing reliance on AI and ML.

A design partner, not just a judge

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 a 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.”

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.”

What the first cohort took away

The inaugural edition drew a competitive field from which five finalists were chosen, and two winners emerged: Arrowhead AI, an enterprise voice AI company, and SpoofSense, which builds AI-driven identity verification and fraud-prevention tools. For both, the programme became a catalyst for enterprise readiness and commercial deployment.

For Arrowhead AI, the timing mattered. Ms. Devyani Gupta, CEO of the company, 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.” Today, Arrowhead AI is LTF’s voice AI partner across several business verticals.

SpoofSense’s gain was of a different kind. Founder Mr. Kartikeya Bhardwaj 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.”

Mentorship from LTF leadership also helped. SpoofSense used LTF’s feedback to refine its APIs for enterprise deepfake and liveness detection, and it is now using the recognition to advance discussions across financial services and establish its platform as a core security layer for digital identity verification.

How to apply

Applicants should fit areas that align with L&T Group’s current and future offerings. These include cybersecurity and fraud prevention, rural and agri-fintech, Gen AI applications, embedded finance, alternate-data lending, AI-driven credit scoring, regulatory technology, collections and recovery, enterprise agentic AI, image recognition, geospatial and remote sensing, portfolio optimisation and quantum computing for BFSI.

Startups can apply online with a registration form and pitch deck. Shortlisted applicants will go through a virtual interaction round, and five finalists will be announced on December 1. They will present live at RAISE’ 26 on December 16, 2026, at the Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai.

Advice for the next cohort

The winner’s advice to incoming applicants is practical. “Treat it as an opportunity to test your solution against real enterprise demands,” said Mr. Bhardwaj.

Mr. Gupta’s counsel was to arrive with a working product and a clear, specific problem to solve. "Winning opens the door, but how quickly and reliably you deliver afterwards decides how far the relationship goes."

Pitch Point

For any questions about the application process, eligible companies can contact the organising team at: raise.pitchpoint@ltfs.com