Shashikiran Gopinath

Founder

Sacred Startups · Everywhere

Present

Sacred Startups began as a sabbatical research project and evolved into a deep inquiry into one of the defining questions of our time: How can entrepreneurship enrich the human inner world? As the world faces a global mental health crisis—and simultaneously experiences a growing fascination with consciousness—we set out to study movements at the intersection of innovation and ancient wisdom. This exploration seeks to uncover frameworks, principles, and inspirations that can guide founders in building ventures that elevate mental health, wellbeing, and the quality of human life.

Co-Founder

acapella labs Inc · Berlin, Germany

Acapella, a micro-acceleration SaaS platform designed to support underrepresented founders and SMEs through self-organizing digital cohorts—think of it as a democratized YC Startup School powered by global mentors and community builders. The goal was to help all types of founders—not just VC-fundable ones—access critical venture-building support, while also creating new ways for mentors and community builders to monetize their expertise. By breaking down traditional walled gardens in startup support, Acapella aimed to decentralize and localize acceleration. The venture was unable to raise capital during the COVID crisis and ultimately had to shut down.

Cofounder (Europe & India) Draper Startup House

Draper Startup House · Lisbon Area, Portugal

Draper Startup House (DSH) is a global network of hacker houses designed to support early-stage founders with access to community, venture education, and capital. Through its co-living and co-working spaces, DSH has created environments where entrepreneurs can connect, grow, and launch their ideas. To date, it has impacted over 100,000 founders worldwide—both digitally and through physical locations. Now operating under the Draper Venture Network with headquarters in Singapore and San Francisco, DSH continues to expand globally. Following its acquisition, I helped its growth for DSH across India and European markets.

Co-Founder

Camp Monk · Bangalore, India

India lacked organized, family-friendly campgrounds—and our love for the outdoors led to the creation of Campmonk, the country’s first camping and caravan park network. With over 600 aggregated sites, Campmonk remains a category leader. Backed by angel investors and impact funds, it now helps over 5,000 people reconnect with nature every year—and that number continues to grow.

Entrepreneur in Residence

Airbus · BizLab Bangalore

Bizlabs is an intrapreneurship initiative by Airbus designed to bring innovation and creative thinking into the company’s manufacturing, sourcing, supply chain, and production optimization—leveraging cutting-edge technology and startup collaboration. Upon entering India, Bizlabs partnered with NUMA to launch and run two custom accelerator cohorts, tailored to meet Airbus’s stringent security and operational requirements. Over the lifetime of the project, we supported and enabled more than 100 companies, helping integrate innovative solutions into Airbus’s core operations.

Eir

NUMA · Bengaluru Area, India

NUMA is a startup accelerator head quartered in Paris and now scaling to various parts of the globe. In Bangalore, I operate as EIR mentoring and helping startups with outreach, access to market and helping them identify viable business models

Founder - Construkt Festival

Construkt · Bengaluru, Karnataka

Construkt Festival was created as a platform for interdisciplinary startups to collaborate, learn, and co-create. Designed to celebrate innovation across sectors, the festival brought together over 4,000 participants and 100 speakers from around the world—reigniting Bangalore’s reputation as one of the top 10 cities globally to start a company in 2012. After successfully fulfilling its mission, Construkt Festival concluded in 2014, evolving into new formats to continue supporting the startup ecosystem in fresh and impactful ways.

Co-Founder

First Agro · Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

India faced a significant gap in the supply of fresh, consistent, and traceable produce—especially staples and exotic vegetables used by high-end restaurants & conscious consumers. Most available options lacked backward integration and reliability, making it hard for businesses to plan effectively. Meanwhile, maintaining an organic farm proved expensive, and certification costs were often prohibitive. In response, First Agro pioneered a new category: Zero Pesticide produce. By integrating vertical farming, greenhouse technologies, smart water management, and a fully controlled supply chain, First Agro became India’s first agri-startup brand to offer pesticide-free produce at scale—delivering consistency, trust, and traceability to chefs, retailers, and consumers alike.

Associate Director

TiE Bangalore · Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

In 2008, during the early boom of internet-enabled startups in India, TiE Bangalore—part of the global TiE network of entrepreneur-led think tanks and action bodies—played a pivotal role in seeding a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across the country. As part of the core team, I was responsible for planning and executing strategic initiatives that catalyzed the rise of the cloud economy, hyperlocal services, social media startups, the smartphone revolution, solar energy, and clean technology ventures—laying the groundwork for what has become one of the most robust startup ecosystems in the world. My role involved designing and running mentorship clinics, acceleration programs, and founder-facing initiatives. I also led partnerships, supported investor and trade body engagement, and collaborated with the board on chapter strategy, government liaison, and ecosystem development.

Project Manager

Xerox