The initiative invites startups developing AI solutions for both BFSI and non-BFSI domains to present their products and demonstrate their potential for real-world enterprise applications. The selected participants will get an opportunity to engage with industry leaders and explore potential partnerships through the platform.
Dr. Debarag Banerjee, Chief Data & AI Officer at L&T Finance Ltd., said Pitch Point 2026 is intended to serve as a strategic launchpad for promising early-stage AI startups as the company advances its vision of becoming a risk-first, technology-first, AI-native retail financial services institution.
“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,” Banerjee said.
The second edition follows the first cohort, in which Arrowhead AI and SpoofSense emerged as winners from a competitive field of AI startups. According to the company, the programme helped the winning startups strengthen their enterprise readiness, advance commercial deployments and accelerate business growth.
Devyani Gupta, CEO of Arrowhead AI, an enterprise voice AI startup, said participation in Pitch Point provided access to senior decision-makers and helped establish the credibility needed to secure enterprise deployment.
“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,” Gupta said.
Kartikeya Bhardwaj, Founder of SpoofSense, which provides AI-driven digital identity verification and fraud prevention solutions, said the programme offered valuable enterprise validation and direct feedback from decision-makers assessing the scalability, security and operational readiness of AI technologies.
“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,” Bhardwaj said.
SpoofSense is now leveraging the recognition it received through Pitch Point to advance discussions across the financial services sector and establish its platform as a core security layer for digital identity verification.
The programme also provided mentorship and opportunities for design partnerships with L&T Finance leadership. Arrowhead AI now serves as LTF’s voice AI partner across different verticals, while SpoofSense used feedback from the company to refine its application programming interfaces (APIs) for enterprise deepfake and liveness detection.
Sushma Kaushik, Head of Innovation Fund at Larsen & Toubro, said AI is transforming financial services by shifting decision-making from reactive approaches towards predictive intelligence, which she described as a key differentiator for the BFSI industry.
“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,” Kaushik said.
Both winners have encouraged prospective applicants to approach Pitch Point as an opportunity to build partnerships and test their solutions against enterprise requirements rather than treating it solely as a pitching competition.
Bhardwaj advised startups to focus on demonstrating how their products can meet actual business needs. “Don't view it as just a pitching contest. Treat it as an opportunity to test your solution against real enterprise demands,” he said.
Gupta emphasised the importance of having a functional product and a clearly defined problem to solve. “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,” she said.
Under Pitch Point 2026, participating products must align with domains that complement the current and future offerings of any L&T Group company. The eligible areas include 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, AI Geospatial and Remote Sensing, Portfolio Optimisation Solutions, and Quantum Computing for BFSI.
L&T Finance has invited eligible startups to apply online by submitting a registration form along with their pitch deck. Applicants shortlisted through the initial screening will be invited to participate in a virtual interaction round, following which five finalists will be selected to present their solutions live at RAISE’ 26.
The application window closes on October 31, 2026, while the final shortlist is scheduled to be announced on December 1, 2026. The programme will culminate in a final event at RAISE’ 26 on December 16, 2026, at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai.
Startups can access the application details through www.ltfraise.com/event/Raise/pitch-point. Companies seeking clarification about the application process can contact the organising team at raise.pitchpoint@ltfs.com.
RAISE’ 26 is L&T Finance’s AI-focused event centred on the theme “Transforming Financial Services with AI”. The event aims to provide an opportunity to explore Enterprise Agentic AI solutions reshaping the BFSI landscape. Launched in 2024, RAISE brought together more than 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, reflecting the sector’s growing reliance on artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Further information about the event is available at www.ltfraise.com.
L&T Finance Ltd. is a Mumbai-headquartered non-banking financial company offering a range of financial products and services. The company has received AAA ratings, the highest credit rating, from four leading domestic rating agencies and is also rated by international agencies. S&P Global Ratings has affirmed its long-term issuer credit rating at BBB/Stable and short-term issuer credit rating at A-2. Fitch Ratings has affirmed its long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings at BBB- with a Stable outlook.
The company has also received leadership scores and ratings from global and national Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating providers for its sustainability performance. It is certified as a Great Place To Work® and has received several awards for its flagship corporate social responsibility project, Digital Sakhi, which focuses on women’s empowerment and digital and financial inclusion.
Under its Right to Win strategy, L&T Finance has focused on key retail financing businesses and is working towards becoming a risk-first, technology-first, AI-native retail financial services institution under its Lakshya 2031 plan. The company has a customer database of more than 3 crore, which it uses to support cross-selling, up-selling and customer acquisition.
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