India, March 23 -- MeitY Startup Hub CEO Panneerselvam Madanagopal said Tier II and III cities are set to drive India's next wave of startup growth, with "hundreds of companies" expected to emerge from these regions in the coming years.

Madanagopal was speaking at the 'NextGen Startup Summit' hosted by Vivekananda Global University (VGU) under the Genesis initiative in Jaipur. The event brought together policymakers, investors, incubators and early-stage founders to discuss scaling startups beyond metro ecosystems.

Organised in collaboration with VGU's Atal Community Innovation Centre (ACIC), the one-day Summit focused on enabling startups from non-metro regions to scale, with discussions spanning global market access, funding challenge...