* The DPDP Zone summit drew 350 attendees, including 250 founders, while 15 startups pitched at an invite-only Demo Session.
DPDP Zone’s Privacy by Design 2026: Winning in the Era of AI, Security & Digital Trust brought together 350 attendees at Radisson Blu Atria, Bengaluru, eight weeks before the provisions governing Consent Managers under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Rules take effect on 13 November 2026. The gathering included 250 founders and 35 investors and fund representatives, supported by an ecosystem of more than 40 partner organisations.
With substantive provisions of the Act scheduled for enforcement from 13 May 2027, the full-day gathering convened founders, investors, incubators, enterprise leaders, legal experts, cybersecurity practitioners and AI professionals to examine how privacy, security and responsible data practices can become part of building and scaling a business, rather than a last-minute compliance exercise. The focus was on what readiness means in practical terms: product decisions, enterprise sales, customer trust, data practices and fundraising.
Opening the event, Sharath Shyamasunder, Founder and CEO of DPDP Zone and The Startup Zone, said, “Privacy, security and trust can no longer wait. Because waiting is always expensive.”
He challenged the frequently used comparison between data and oil. “Data isn’t oil. Data is us,” he said. “Behind every data point is a person, a customer, an employee, a founder, a child, a family. Privacy is not just about protecting data. It is about protecting people.”
The 35 investors present represented funds ranging from pre-seed to growth, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, Inflection Point Ventures, Campus Fund and Venture Catalysts.
A separate, invite-only Demo Session saw 15 startups pitch directly to those investors, creating a practical bridge between founder readiness, governance and access to capital.
Shyamasunder also urged founders to see privacy readiness as a business advantage. “The security and privacy questionnaire arrives before the first meeting with your enterprise client or a VC,” he said. “DPDP could be the GST moment for data privacy. Organisations that adapted early did not just survive. They got faster.”
The programme featured four technical sessions and four panel discussions, covering privacy by design, responsible AI, cybersecurity, founder trust and the role of governance in fundraising.
Dr. Ricky Jha, Founder and CEO of Zerogrey Global and Data Protection Officer at Course5i, led a session on Design by Privacy: The Mirrored Mindset. Archana Moturi, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Assurtiv, addressed responsible AI as a competitive advantage for startups. Shamsheer Khan, Chief Security Officer at fnCyber, spoke on cybersecurity as a growth strategy, while Antra Ahuja of Saga Legal discussed the cost of getting privacy wrong, drawing on lessons from real cases.
Nayaz Ahmed, CEO of JAIN Launchpad, said, “Too often, founders see data protection as an afterthought. We need them to consider it from day one, not as a compliance challenge, but as a way to build trust with their customers.”
The day closed with extended networking across the founder, investor and partner ecosystem.
Privacy by Design 2026 was presented by title sponsors Assurtiv and The Startup Zone, with Karnataka Digital Economy Mission, Startup Karnataka and the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce as strategic partners. Over 40 organisations collaborated as an ecosystem to support the summit, spanning banking, cloud, media, community, and outreach sectors. A full list appears in the notes below.
For more information, visit events.dpdpzone.com.
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