The August Fest is Back After a 7-Year Gap
To be held on August 9th & 10th, it will bring together 18,000 Founders, Investors & Innovators
Hyderabad, June 26, 2025: The August Fest, India’s biggest celebration of startups, creators, and innovation, is back with a bang after a seven-year hiatus. The 2025 edition was formally launched by Ramana Gogula, Musician, Entrepreneur, investor, along with several ecosystem partners in a curtain raiser ceremony held at T-Hub on Wednesday evening.
Speaking a 200-plus gathering comprised mostly of promoters, Ramana Gogula said August Fest is the Opportune Moment and urged his audience to make use of it.
Scheduled to be held on August 9th and 10th, The August Fest 2025 is expected to host over 18,000 participants, including founders, investors, innovators, corporators, artists, and ecosystem enablers, cementing Hyderabad’s position as one of the most vibrant innovation hubs in Asia, announced Kiran Maverick, the founder of the August
My original name doesn’t have ‘Maverick’, but when my friends saw me doing a lot of crazy, wacky things, they used to call me ‘Theda’. I found a good English word to it, ‘Maverick’, that is how I added the suffix ‘Maverick’ to ‘Kiran’, he explained
Speaking further, Kiran added that the city lacked big events. Small, small events are happening. We wanted to create a large platform for startups, something similar to TechCrunch, ‘Mobile World Congress’, ‘World Economic Forum’ in Barcelona, and WebSummit. We want to build August Fest a platform similar to the one he shared.
We have paused August Fest in 2017, now we are rebuilding. And we have been working on it for the past year. We need to invest anywhere in the range of Rs 1 to 1.5 crore. We would also like to build a Venture Capital ecosystem in the city. We will bring the world to Hyderabad, Kiran declared.
With multiple stages, hands-on workshops, startup showcases, and creative installations, the festival aims to position Hyderabad among the top 5 global startup hubs in the coming years.
The curtain raiser featured a high-energy panel discussion on “Founder Stories: From Zero to 100+ Crores”, moderated by Naidu Darapaneni, Founder of MeraEvents. The panel included inspiring homegrown entrepreneurs like Dr. Kishore Indukuri (Founder, Sid’s Farm) and Sravanth Gajula (Co-founder, Adonomo).
The August Fest 2025 will also host a diverse and distinguished speaker lineup, including:
- Mohd. Siraj – Noted investor and head of a $75M Dubai-based fund
- Swati & Vijay – Renowned mural artists who transformed public spaces in Telugu states
- Kavea R Chavali – Champion of Indian handlooms and women-led brands
- Sujit S. Nair – Chairperson, Europe India Centre for Business and Industry
- Tom Dawkins – Co-founder & Chief Impact Officer, Lend For Good (Australia)
- Csenge Csoka – London-based HR tech entrepreneur
- Shezzi Mirza – Popular radio jockey and podcaster
- Ramana Gogula – Entrepreneur, investor, and music composer
“Our ambition is to elevate Hyderabad into one of the world’s top five startup hubs,” Kiran reiterated. “This year’s edition will be a game changer for the Indian startup landscape.”
Those who want to participate in August may register online via theaugustfest.com 2025 or www.meraevents.com