Noida startup event promised to bring SoftBank CEO, Sundar Pichai, Elon Musk. Instead, cops showed up

World Startup Convention was organised by 'investors' Luke Talwar and Arjun Chaudhary. (Image credit: @santhoshd/Twitter)

World Startup Convention was touted to be the "world's biggest funding festival" with business giants such as SoftBank's CEO Masayoshi Son, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Tesla's Elon Musk on the panel along with venture capitalists Sequoia and Tiger Global. But, when the day arrived, the convention in Greater Noida, near Delhi, turned out to be what's being called a scam.

Organised by "investors" Luke Talwar and Arjun Chaudhary, the event was scheduled to begin on March 24. It promised to provide a platform for budding entrepreneurs to connect with potential investors and industry experts for funding. The organisers also used pictures of union cabinet ministers such as Nitin Gadkari, suggesting that they would be present at the event as well. Financial content creator Ankur Warikoo and author Chetan Bhagat too faced backlash due to their alleged association with the World Startup Convention.

hey @chetan_bhagat now you also part of this scam..

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‘Big Scam’ Founders Slam Ankur Warikoo, Chetan Bhagat For Promoting Fyre Festival-Like World Startup Convention#WorldStartupConvention #scam #startupsduped #biggestscamwithstartupsever #chetanbhagat pic.twitter.com/lDLq7kMoIM

— 444969.eth  StatueOfUnity.eth (@comtoeth) March 29, 2023

But on the day of the convention, March 24, it turned out to be a scam bereft of big industrialists, politicians, and poorly organised.

The World Startup Convention was originally scheduled from January 14 to 16 before it got postponed to March 24-26. Attendees flew in from cities like Nashik, Chenna and Surat, spending amounts for registration, stay and travel.

But on the day of the event, participants were shocked to find that none of major names used to promote the event were in attendance. The quality of the programmes and events too proved to be subpar. That's when irate entrepreneurs began to ask for refunds.

No investors, No format, No explanations, No chief guests.
Absolutely a fraud show at World Startup Convention in Noida.
They made a fool out if all startups here. Shame@nitin_gadkari @Prafull_mbachai @chetan_bhagat @warikoo @rajshamani @kpmaurya1 @pushkardhami @myogiadityanath pic.twitter.com/iN9T7HTym9

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— Gestureminds Webservices (@gesturemindsllp) March 24, 2023

Tickets to the World Startup Convention were priced at about Rs 8,000 each. Several attendees had travelled from different parts of the country and had to pay hefty amounts for food and accommodation as well.

According to a report in The Mint, Ankur Warikoo denied any direct involvement in the event and reportedly said that his team had asked the organisers to take down ads involving him after he disassociated from the event in January, but they never complied.

"I am not involved in the conceptualising or organising of the event. We had done an Instagram collab reel on January 19... video will not be used for promoting the event. However, I realised that this was not respected. While they took down the ads when we asked them to, the video was still used on their website and in all of their communication," he told CNBCTV18 News.

Read more: 'I'm so offended...': Ashneer Grover miffed after comparison with Ankur Warikoo. Watch