{"id":300,"date":"2026-05-13T05:48:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T05:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.osto.one\/?p=300"},"modified":"2026-05-17T19:06:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T19:06:33","slug":"osto-at-gsf-spring-festival-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/events\/osto-at-gsf-spring-festival-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Osto at GSF Spring Festival 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"background:#EEF1FB;border-left:5px solid #1C267A;padding:20px 24px;margin:0 0 32px;border-radius:2px;\">\n<div style=\"font-size:11px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0.15em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#1C267A;margin-bottom:10px;\">TL;DR<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-size:16px;color:#1C267A;margin:0;line-height:1.65;\">GSF Spring Festival 2026 in Gurugram brought together Indian VCs and founders around an integrated approach to startup security. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/\">Osto<\/a>&#8216;s founder shares notes on the $50,000 Osto credits offered to portfolio companies and the ecosystem shift toward consolidated cybersecurity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"rank-math-toc\" class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block\"><h2>Table of Contents<\/h2><nav><ul><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<!-- GSF SPRING FESTIVAL 2026 BLOG POST -->\n<p style=\"font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.75; color: #333;\">GSF Spring Festival 2026 was held on 5th February 2026 at Museo Camera, Centre for The Photographic Arts, in Gurugram.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.75; color: #333;\">The Festival is organised by GSF, one of India&#8217;s pioneering tech accelerators and an early backer of Osto. It is hosted by Rajesh Sawhney, who has invested in over 150 Indian tech startups and sits on the boards of IndiaMART, ixigo, and Matrimony. The curation is what makes the Festival one of the most consequential founder-investor gatherings on the Indian calendar.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.75; color: #333;\">The room was roughly 150 strong and weighted heavily toward decision-makers. Partners from across the Indian VC ecosystem attended, alongside founders raising <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/case-studies\/handpickd-15m-series-a-investor-security-requirements\/\">Series A<\/a> and a curated slice of seed and pre-seed founders working on the next wave of Indian SaaS, deep tech, and agentic AI.<\/p>\n\n<h2 style=\"font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600; color: #111; margin: 40px 0 14px; padding-bottom: 10px; border-bottom: 2px solid #EEF1FB;\">A day of investment theses<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.75; color: #333;\">Across the day, partners from Stellaris, Nexus, Blume, Mirae Asset, and Info Edge Ventures presented their 2026 investment theses. The cross-cutting theme was clear. India is moving from being an AI services hub to building AI-native global companies, and the security and compliance posture of those companies will need to mature substantially.<\/p>\n<!-- FIRESIDE HIGHLIGHT CALLOUT -->\n<div style=\"background: #EEF1FB; border-left: 5px solid #1C267A; padding: 22px 26px; margin: 32px 0; border-radius: 2px;\">\n<div style=\"font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.15em; text-transform: uppercase; color: #1c267a; margin-bottom: 10px;\">The day&#8217;s highlight<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #1c267a; margin: 0; line-height: 1.7;\">A fireside between Aloke Bajpai (ixigo), Dinesh Agarwal (IndiaMART), and Sanjeev Bikhchandani (Info Edge). Three founders who built category-defining Indian companies, talking candidly about asset allocation, the discipline behind their angel investments, and why their balance sheets look different from India&#8217;s IT services giants.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.75; color: #333;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-353\" src=\"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GSF2.jpeg\" alt=\"Osto at GSF Spring Festival 2026 at Museo Camera Gurugram hosted by Rajesh Sawhney - image 1\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GSF2.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GSF2-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GSF2-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GSF2-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GSF2-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.75; color: #333;\">For Osto, the day carried a particular personal weight. Dinesh Agarwal is an early angel investor in the company, and meeting him in person always brings the kind of moment that compounds.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.75; color: #333;\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-354\" src=\"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GSF1.jpeg\" alt=\"Osto at GSF Spring Festival 2026 at Museo Camera Gurugram hosted by Rajesh Sawhney - image 2\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GSF1.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GSF1-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GSF1-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GSF1-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GSF1-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" \/><\/p>\n\n<h2 style=\"font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600; color: #111; margin: 40px 0 14px; padding-bottom: 10px; border-bottom: 2px solid #EEF1FB;\">A few takeaways from the day<\/h2>\n<!-- THREE TAKEAWAYS -->\n<div style=\"margin: 20px 0 36px; display: flex; flex-direction: column; gap: 12px;\">\n<div style=\"border: 1px solid #EEF1FB; padding: 20px 22px; border-radius: 2px; background: #FAFBFF;\">\n<div style=\"font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.15em; text-transform: uppercase; color: #1c267a; margin-bottom: 10px;\">Takeaway 01 \u2014 Where the next wave is going<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.7; color: #333; margin: 0;\">The Festival reinforced that Osto&#8217;s positioning is aligned with what Indian VCs and operators see coming. <strong>Multiple investors specifically asked about how Osto&#8217;s platform could simplify the security and compliance burden across their portfolio companies<\/strong>, particularly for startups raising Series A and preparing for first enterprise deals.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"border: 1px solid #EEF1FB; padding: 20px 22px; border-radius: 2px; background: #FAFBFF;\">\n<div style=\"font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.15em; text-transform: uppercase; color: #1c267a; margin-bottom: 10px;\">Takeaway 02 \u2014 A structural offer to the room<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.7; color: #333; margin: 0;\">Osto used the day to run a small experiment. For any VC in the room willing to introduce Osto to their portfolio companies, we offered <strong>USD 50,000 in Osto credits per portfolio company<\/strong>. The response was strong, and the conversations reinforced that consolidating security and compliance on one platform reduces operational drag across an entire portfolio rather than just one company.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"border: 1px solid #EEF1FB; padding: 20px 22px; border-radius: 2px; background: #FAFBFF;\">\n<div style=\"font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.15em; text-transform: uppercase; color: #1c267a; margin-bottom: 10px;\">Takeaway 03 \u2014 A partnership that compounds<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.7; color: #333; margin: 0;\">The day also produced an initial partnership conversation with <strong>Google Cloud<\/strong>, which is the kind of conversation that compounds over time.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- CLOSING WRAP-UP -->\n<p style=\"font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.75; color: #333;\">The Festival exists because Indian founders and investors needed a place to think out loud about the next decade in a room curated tightly enough to make every conversation count. GSF has built that into something the Indian startup ecosystem genuinely needs, and Osto will keep coming back to it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.75; color: #333;\">Thanks to GSF and Rajesh Sawhney. The curation is the product.<\/p>\n<!-- META LINKS -->\n<p style=\"font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75; color: #888; border-top: 1px solid #EEF1FB; padding-top: 20px; margin-top: 32px;\"><a style=\"color: #1c267a; text-decoration: none; font-weight: 500;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gsfindia.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GSF<\/a> \u00b7\n<a style=\"color: #1c267a; text-decoration: none; font-weight: 500;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/rajeshsawhney\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rajesh Sawhney<\/a><\/p>\n\n<!-- ALT GSF CTA \u2014 FOUNDER-TARGETED -->\n<div style=\"background:#1C267A;padding:28px 32px;border-radius:2px;margin-top:32px;\">\n  <p style=\"font-size:17px;font-weight:600;color:white;margin:0 0 10px;line-height:1.5;\">Building an AI-native company in India? Security and compliance should not slow you down.<\/p>\n  <p style=\"font-size:14px;color:rgba(255,255,255,0.75);margin:0 0 18px;line-height:1.7;\">Osto is one consolidated security and compliance platform for founders, with every module built in house. The Indian ecosystem is asking for exactly this kind of consolidation, and the conversations at GSF Spring Festival reinforced that. If your team is at the stage where security is becoming a real consideration, we should talk.<\/p>\n  <a style=\"display:inline-block;background:#FFFFFF;color:#1C267A;font-size:13px;font-weight:bold;padding:11px 22px;text-decoration:none;letter-spacing:0.05em;border-radius:2px;\" href=\"https:\/\/osto.one\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Talk to us at Osto<\/a>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inside GSF Spring Festival 2026 with Rajesh Sawhney. $50K Osto credits for portfolio companies, Indian VCs, and the founder ecosystem&#8217;s shift toward integrated security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[66,61,65,63,62,64],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-dinesh-agarwal","tag-gsf-spring-festival","tag-indiamart","tag-indian-vcs","tag-rajesh-sawhney","tag-startup-cybersecurity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":464,"href":"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions\/464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osto.one\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}