Noida startup scam: Ankur Warikoo, Chetan Bhagat, & influencers receive flak

A start-up funding event by the World Startup Convention that promised the presence of everyone from Elon Musk to the Prince Of Dubai, turned out to be a scam that thousands of start-up founders paid for and influencers promoted.

The 'Startup funding Festival' by World Startup Convention held at Noida, India turned out to be a fraud where none of the promised investors and keynote speakers turned up, and the startup founders shelled out thousands of rupees for attending the event but left without any investment and filled with agitation.

Several ground reports and tweets from attendees revealed that the young founders, students, and companies that hoped for investment were duped by World Startup Convention, and according to an attendee, the founders were more "eager to speak to the Police than investors."

The promotions of the event relied on reliable voices in the industry, which turned out to be unreliable. And the attendees are also holding Ankur Warikoo, Prafull Billore, and Chetan Bhagat, accountable for the 500 startup founders that were duped.

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According to reports, attendees paid between 6,000-8,000 INR for the WSC pass, and a few of the sponsors spent an estimated 50L INR, and now also suffer a dent in their brand image with the reputational harm being substantial given the scale of the event.