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North India’s Biggest ‘Incubator & Capital Summit 2025’ Kicks-Off at Chandigarh University

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100+ Incubators, 250+ Top Startups, 20+ Venture Capitalists, 40 Leading Corporations, Policy Makers Participate in Chandigarh University’s ‘Incubator & Capital Summit 2025’ 

CHANDIGARH, India, April 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Chandigarh University’s first-of-its-kind ‘North India Incubators & Capital Summit (NIICS) 2025’, a two-day flagship event aimed at fostering innovation, collaboration, and advancement within the startup and investment ecosystem, got underway on Friday bringing together over 100+ Incubators from eight states in the region, 250+ top Startups, 20+ Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors and Entrepreneur for creating innovation and investment opportunities in the region.

Organised by Chandigarh University’s Technology Business Incubator (TBI) in collaboration with T-Hub, one of the world’s leading startup incubators, the ‘North India Incubators & Capital Summit (NIICS) 2025’ brought together stakeholder from eight states – Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Punjab to outline the roadmap to transform North India’s entrepreneurial landscape.  The Summit has been endorsed by by STEPs and Business Incubators Association (ISBA), TiE (IndUS Entrepreneurs) Chandigarh, MeitY Startup Hub and Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

Besides Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and Chandigarh University Chancellor, Satnam Singh Sandhu, the dignitaries who attended the inauguration ceremony of the Summit included KK Yadav, Administrative Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Investment Promotion and Promotion of Information Technology Industry Punjab,  Kamal Kishor Yadav, PS Madanagopal, CEO, MeitY Startup Hub, Lalit Jain, Director of Census Operations and Citizen Registration in Haryana, Dr. Meer Murtaza, OSD Mission Youth J&K,  Kadam Sandeep Vasant, Secretary, Technical Education, Himachal Pradesh and Sujit Jagirdar, Chief Innovation Officer at T-Hub.

On the occasion, Sandhu launched Chandigarh University’s ‘Centre for Universal Business and Entrepreneurship’ to plug and play opportunities for the Startups across North India and ignite Next-Gen Innovation in the region.

Under the theme “Eight States, One Vision,” the Summit celebrated unprecedented collaboration among eight North Indian states, demonstrating the power of regional unity in building a robust innovation ecosystem. The event also spotlighted sustainable incubation models, introducing financial sustainability frameworks as a blueprint for incubators across the country. Driving collaborative efforts to address long-standing innovation divide across regions, the Summit’s focus extended “Beyond Convenience to Deep Tech,” urging startups in the region to shift from convenience-based solutions to deep technology innovation, in alignment with national priorities for technological self-reliance.

The Summit 2025 featured five thematic pavilions covering in emerging sectors like AI, Health & Wellness, Genentech & Sustainability, Business & Finance, Consumer Technology. These apart, two pavilions featured startups related to products and services. Four startups nurtured at the Chandigarh University were also launched by   Members of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) & Chancellor Chandigarh University, Satnam Singh Sandhu during the inaugural ceremony of the Summit.

To transform the nation into Viksit Bharat, we must strengthen our start-up ecosystem, says Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) & Chancellor Chandigarh University, Satnam Singh Sandhu

In his inaugural address, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and Chancellor of Chandigarh University, Satnam Singh Sandhu, praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visionary leadership for setting India on the path to becoming a Viksit Bharat (Developed Nation). “The most critical driver of this transformation is our startup ecosystem,” he said, emphasizing the need to strengthen it further.

Sandhu highlighted that under PM Modi’s leadership, the past decade has marked a golden era for Indian startups. “With supportive policies, India has become a nation of ideas and innovation — now home to the world’s 3rd largest startup ecosystem, growing from around 500 startups in 2016 to over 1.59 lakh today, including 110 unicorns. These startups have created over 16.6 lakh direct jobs. At Chandigarh University alone, students have launched over 150 startups. Our Technology Business Incubator (CU-TBI) is now mobilizing Rs 5 crore to further boost innovation and entrepreneurship,” he added.

Immense support system in place, there is no better time for Startups in India, says CEO, MeitY Startup Hub, PS Madanagopal

Participating in the Session on ‘Northern Constellation: Uniting Innovation’, PS Madanagopal, CEO, MeitY Startup Hub, said, “Most of our Startups are today solving problems for urban India. There is a strong need to push beyond this urban India’s convenience related problems so solve problems that matter to Bharat which is could be related to water, hygiene, sanitation, air, education and health. My urge to innovators and problem solvers is that every day when you travel, if you could identify one problem, you can start letting it grow in your mind. Eventually the solutions will stare at your face. And that is something if you pursue, you will end up being a very powerful problem solver but also an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is a real problem solver who works on a product which will change the status quo of society. That mind-set creates 10000 or 20000 jobs. The role of incubator is becoming extremely critical for felicitating an entrepreneur’s entire journey.  The first 1000 days of an entrepreneur are very important because it’s the critical phase. In way, there is immense support system at the incubator or the college level or the government level. There is no better time to Startup,”.

Need to inculcate entrepreneurial attitude, provide students with ideal environment for new ideas and skills, says KK Yadav, Additional Chief Secretary Industries, Industries and Commerce & Investment Promotion, Punjab

KK Yadav, Additional Chief Secretary Industries, Industries and Commerce & Investment Promotion, Punjab said, “When we talk about new start-ups; whenever someone comes up with a new idea whether you believe in that idea or not, whether that idea can be implemented or not but when we talk about solving a problem, an environment is automatically created to find its solution. An entrepreneurial attitude should be inculcated in the students and they should be provided with ideal environment in which they can create new ideas and learn new skills. This should not only be done by educational institutions alone, but we need to create a social environment for that. The governments have limited funding, but they can still help in many ways.”

He emphasised the importance of nurturing a mindset among students to become job providers rather than job seekers.

India will need a million startup to support the US$ 10 Trillion Economy by 2035, says CIO T-Hub Sujit Jagirdar

Sujit Jagirdar, Chief Innovation Officer at T-Hub, said, “India is a land of opportunities. There was a time when people used to say that US is the land of opportunities but now it’s no more the case. It’s India that is the land of opportunities as an option. The government has played a biggest role in making the startup eco system by providing policies infrastructure and funding for this.  Nine out of 10 founders make a startups to solve the problems they faced personally. So how do you solve problem in your area will matter the most. We are the fifth biggest economy and we will soon become third largest economy very soon. By 2035, the opportunity for us to move from US$4 Trillin to US$ 10 Trillion, we will need a million startups, which is about 10 times than what we have today, to support that economy. So there are phenomenal opportunities.  We just need the mind-set to focus on those opportunities,”.

Kadam Sandeep Vasant, Secretary of Technical Education, Himachal Pradesh, said, “Innovation begins with education. To foster it, we must build systems that encourage creativity and experimentation, By signing an MoU with T-Hub and the launch of an innovation fund to support students in prototyping, idea development, and patenting,”.

Lalit Jain, Director of Census Operations and Citizenship Registration for Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, said, “There’s no shortage of local startups offering unique solutions, especially in the tourism sector in Himachal Pradesh. But we are lagging in marketing. In today’s age, visibility is everything. Our startups need stronger promotion through government support, NGOs, and social media to attract investment and scale up.”

Meer Murtaza, OSD, Mission Youth J&K, said “We’re handholding youth to turn their ideas into ventures. With a recent paperless census covering 1.10 crore individuals across 25 lakh households, we have identified 8.45 lakh potential entrepreneurs. Now, it’s time for the youth to step out of their comfort zones—innovation requires taking risks,”.

About Chandigarh University

Chandigarh University is a NAAC A+ Grade University and QS World Ranked University. This autonomous educational institution is approved by UGC and is located near Chandigarh in the state of Punjab. It is the youngest university in India and the only private university in Punjab to be honoured with A+ Grade by NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council). CU offers more than 109 UG and PG programs in the field of engineering, management, pharmacy, law, architecture, journalism, animation, hotel management, commerce, and others. It has been awarded as The University with Best Placements by WCRC.

Website address:  https://www.cuchd.in/

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OPPORTUNITY ZONE HOME PRICE GROWTH LARGELY TRACKS OTHER AREAS

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Median home prices grew year-over-year in 48.9 percent of Opportunity Zone census tracts, compared to 51.6 percent of tracts outside the zones.

IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ATTOM, the leading provider of property data, AI-powered intelligence, and real estate analytics solutions, today released its third-quarter 2026 report analyzing qualified low-income Opportunity Zones targeted by Congress for economic redevelopment in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (see full methodology below). In this report, ATTOM looked at 3,805 census tracts in Opportunity Zones around the United States with sufficient data to analyze, meaning they had at least five home sales in the third quarter of the year.

Median single-family home and condo prices rose quarter-over-quarter in 48.1 percent (1,651) of the 3,431 Opportunity Zone tracts with sufficient data in both the second and third quarter. Year-over-year, home prices rose in 48.9 percent (1,598) of the 3,265 tracts with sufficient data in the third quarters of 2025 and 2026.

Typical home prices rose year-over-year in 51.6 percent (28,212) of the 54,704 census tracts outside of Opportunity Zones with sufficient data in both quarters to be included in the analysis, meaning that price growth was more common outside the targeted economic development zones than inside them.

In 9.4 percent (357) of Opportunity Zone census tracts, the third quarter of 2026 marked the highest median home value since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2008 and 27.1 percent of the Opportunity Zone census tracts experienced double-digit growth in home values year-over-year.

“Opportunity Zones remain a notably lower-cost segment of the housing market, with nearly 80 percent of these areas posting median home prices below the national median,” said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. “Even so, home values were only slightly less likely to rise in these areas in the third quarter, suggesting that many of these communities are still moving broadly with the market.”

The national median home sales price in the third quarter was $368,000. Inside Opportunity Zones, 79.5 percent of census tracts in ATTOM’s analysis had typical home prices below the national median. Outside the zones, only 50.4 percent of census tracts in the analysis had typical prices below the national median.

Due to the small number of sales in many Opportunity Zone census tracts, median price measurements can be volatile. The typical median sales price rose or fell by more than 5 percent quarter-over-quarter in 79.1 percent of the 3,431 tracts with sufficient data in the second and third quarters.

Major findings from the report:

Median single-family home and condo prices rose quarter-over-quarter in 48.1 percent (1,651) of the 3,431 Opportunity Zone census tracts with sufficient data in both the second and third quarter.Year-over-year, home prices rose in 48.9 percent (1,598) of the 3,265 Opportunity Zone census tracts with sufficient data in the third quarters of 2025 and 2026.Year-over-year, median home prices rose in 51.6 percent (28,212) of the 54,704 census tracts outside of Opportunity Zones with sufficient data in both quarters.Inside Opportunity Zones, 27.1 percent of tracts included in the analysis saw median home prices grow by at least 10 percent. Outside the zones, 29.4 percent of included tracts experienced at least double-digit growth.Among states with at least 25 Opportunity Zone census tracts with sufficient data to analyze, Maine had the largest share that experienced year-over-year median home price growth (64 percent), followed by South Carolina (61.3 percent), Wisconsin (58.3 percent), Virginia (53 percent), and Oregon (52.3 percent).ATTOM’s report incorporates ResiScores, AI-derived neighborhood rankings based on projected home price appreciation. Inside Opportunity Zones, 76 of the census tracts included in ATTOM’s analysis had ResiScores of 100, indicating that their housing markets were projected to perform better than most other census tracts in their respective metro areas.

Conclusion
ATTOM’s third quarter 2026 Opportunity Zones report showed that areas outside the zones experienced median home price growth at a greater rate than areas inside the zones and were more likely to see double-digit median home price increases.

Report methodology
The ATTOM Opportunity Zones analysis is based on home sales price data derived from recorded sales deeds. Statistics for previous quarters are revised when each new report is issued as more deed data becomes available. ATTOM’s analysis compared median home prices in census tracts designated as Opportunity Zones by the Internal Revenue Service. Except where noted, tracts were used for the analysis if they had at least five sales in the third quarter of 2026. Median household income data for tracts and counties comes from surveys taken by the U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov) from 2020 through 2024. The list of designated Qualified Opportunity Zones is located at U.S. Department of the Treasury. Regions are based on designations by the Census Bureau. Hawaii and Alaska, which the bureau designates as part of the Pacific region, were included in the West region for this report.

The report also included a ResiScore for each tract with sufficient data. The AI-powered scores combine housing market indicators including trends, appreciation, acceleration, forecast strength, and volatility into a single number between 0 and 100 that indicates the relative strength of a census tract’s housing market compared to other tracts in the same metropolitan area.

About ATTOM
ATTOM delivers AI-driven property intelligence built on the nation’s most trusted property data repository, covering 160+ million U.S. properties—99% of the population. Our engineered, multi-sourced, semantically rich real estate data spans property tax, deeds, mortgages, foreclosure, environmental risk, property conditions, natural hazards, neighborhood insights, and geospatial boundaries, rigorously validated for advanced analytics. ATTOM supports analytics, AI applications, and AI agents through flexible delivery options including APIs, bulk licensing, cloud delivery, and the MCP Server for AI-powered, agentic access to engineered property data, enabling organizations to automate analysis, power intelligent workflows, and scale property intelligence across industries.

Media Contact:
Megan Hunt
megan.hunt@attomdata.com

Data and Report Licensing:
949.502.8313
datareports@attomdata.com

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VSCO Reveals Final 25 Photographers in The Fifty, Brings Nationwide Photography Exhibition to the Streets of Miami Ahead of Art Basel

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Celebrating 50 photographers in 50 states, VSCO champions the people behind the images with billboards across the country, public installations and community events in Miami

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — VSCO, the photography platform millions use to edit, build a portfolio and grow their businesses, today announced the final 25 photographers selected for The Fifty, its nationwide project celebrating one photographer from every U.S. state through billboards and large-format public displays in their home markets.

VSCO champions photographers with billboards across the country, and public installations and community events in Miami

The final 25 photographers expand the breadth of The Fifty, representing a wide range of disciplines, backgrounds and career stages. Selected from more than 13,500 submissions, the largest open call in VSCO’s history, The Fifty honors the people, places and communities shaping photography across America today.

As Miami prepares for Art Basel Miami Beach in December, VSCO is bringing The Fifty to public spaces and community events across the city. Beginning Friday, November 6, a four-week wheatpaste poster exhibition across 20 locations will showcase the photographers and their work, complementing the campaign’s Florida billboard.

“For 15 years, VSCO has championed photographers, giving them the tools and community to develop their craft and help them grow,” said Eric Wittman, CEO of VSCO. “The Fifty takes that further by putting photographers and their work in front of potential clients and brands with the goal of turning visibility into real job opportunities that help them build the careers they desire.”

Visual Perspectives Across America

From established photographers working with some of the world’s biggest brands to emerging photographers developing their own visual language, The Fifty reflects the many ways photography documents the world around us. Changing traditions, migration and belonging, environmental challenges and extraordinary moments found in everyday life.

Among the newly selected photographers, Bob Miller’s The Last Generation spotlights generational knowledge disappearing from family farms and in Pennsylvania, Cielito Mercado explores how food and family recipes preserve cultural identity. Indiana-based Jingyin Che stages self-portraiture to explore belonging within American institutions, while wedding photographer Emma Bostwick explores movement and nostalgia with her intimate images.

“It is an honor to be a part of this awesome project that celebrates photography, and that I can represent the great state of New Jersey, and share my personal work with the world,” said Ed Kashi, who photographed agricultural workers harvesting crops as part of a larger project examining climate change and labor.

The first 25 photographers were announced in September and their work is now appearing on billboards throughout the country since October, including on NYSE’s digital billboard in New York City’s Times Square.

“A billboard in California, my home state, and now a billboard in Times Square is truly an experience I will never forget and one I am immensely proud of,” said California photographer  Lin Bvtcher. “I never imagined that my little project featuring women and their cars would take me here but alas, it has. I am still in shock, quite frankly.”

VSCO Takes Over Miami

As The Fifty continues its nationwide rollout, VSCO’s Miami activation begins November 6 through a series of public wheatpasting installations and community events.

On Saturday, November 7, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., VSCO will host a free community event featuring local photographer Nat Segebre who was selected to represent Florida in The Fifty, together with photographers Melina Deya and Deun Ivory. Representing different stages of their careers, the three speakers will discuss their journeys from hobby to profession, the challenges they’ve faced and their defining “I made it” moments. The conversation will be moderated by Miami-based Paul Weaver, founder of The Freelance Photographer, VSCO’s professional education platform.

On Monday, November 9, from 7 to 10 p.m., VSCO will host The Fifty Exhibition Party, bringing photographers and the creative community together to celebrate the people behind the images.

The Final 25 Photographers

Explore all 50 photographers and follow the nationwide rollout at vsco.co/50. The final 25 photographers are:

State

Name

Alabama

Bob Miller

Alaska

Marlena Sloss

Arizona

Natalie Carrasco

Arkansas

William J. Hilliard

Connecticut

Peter Mendelson

Hawaii

Isaiah Thompson

Indiana

Jingyin Che

Kentucky

Maddie McCuddy

Louisiana

ShabazzBorn

Maine

Savannah Daras  

Maryland

Carina Laventure

Montana

Emily Brown

Nebraska

Amber Baesler

Nevada

Mikayla Whitmore

New Jersey

Ed Kashi

North Carolina

Robert Carl Swann

North Dakota

Chase Evert

Oklahoma

Alex Eischeid

Oregon

Bang Nguyen

Pennsylvania

Cielito Mercado

South Dakota

Carter Nelson

Texas

Megan Sumpton

Vermont

Emma Bostwick

Wisconsin

Julie Grace

Wyoming

Tony Cross

About VSCO

VSCO, the Visual Supply Company, is a complete photography platform—editing tools, portfolio sites, client workflows and community—that helps photographers hone their craft, grow their network, and build a photography business on their terms. Whether they’re landing their first paid gig or growing an established practice, VSCO champions photographers at every stage of the journey. Our mission is simple: to close the gap between the creative life photographers want and the confidence, tools and community they need to make it real.

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Harbinger Raises $240 Million Series D Funding Round, Led by Tiger Global

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Fidelity Management & Research Company, Capricorn, Greycroft, Ridgeline, and PanaceaVC also participated in the round

The new funds will support Harbinger’s growth as a manufacturing platform powering the AI economy and electrification across mobility, defense and autonomy

GARDEN GROVE, Calif., Nov. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Harbinger, an American industrial technology platform company, today announced that they have raised $240 million in Series D funding to help fuel the company’s next phase of growth. The funding round was co-led by Tiger Global, Capricorn‘s Technology Impact Fund and Ridgeline. Additional investors in the round include crossover investors Fidelity Management & Research Company; Squarepoint Capital and Xantium; returning investors Maniv and Greycroft, Australian Gulf Capital, PanaceaVC, ArcTern Ventures, and Leitmotif; and strategic investors in mobility FedEx and THOR Industries through TechNexus, as well as BuildGroup in data centers; among others.

The new funding will support Harbinger’s further expansion across multiple verticals, spanning commercial vehicles, energy storage systems, power generation, autonomy software and defense applications, as well as the continued ramp up of its medium-duty platform manufacturing capacity. With the new financing, Harbinger has raised over $650 million since its founding in 2021.

“Harbinger exists to challenge what industry has learned to accept, and reinvent the critical systems the world depends on,” said John Harris, Co-Founder and CEO of Harbinger. “By rethinking critical systems from first principles, we aim to unlock better performance, greater reliability, safer operations, and more room to grow. Electrification is at the core of everything we do, and increasingly, electrification is at the core of industry, defense, mobility, and AI. Harbinger’s role is not simply to give customers another option. It is to reset expectations for what critical systems should deliver.”

The critical industrial systems that serve the United States have long been constrained by outdated technology and accepted compromises. These are the essential systems that are depended upon to move goods, power infrastructure, protect people and enable autonomy. Rather than optimizing existing products, Harbinger engineers systems from first principles, using deep vertical integration to control product development, performance, cost and scale. This approach, first demonstrated through its medium-duty electric vehicle platform, is now being applied across industries, enabling Harbinger to address longstanding challenges and raise the standard for what customers should expect.

“Harbinger excels at electrification, and electrification has become one of the most pressing bottlenecks of the AI era,” said Griffin Schroeder, Partner, Tiger Global. “We led this financing because we see tremendous value in bringing Harbinger’s technical expertise and manufacturing capabilities to new markets.”

Harbinger recently announced that FedEx Senior Vice President of Safety and Transportation Paul Melander has joined Harbinger’s Board of Directors, to support Harbinger’s focus on enhanced driver safety, delivery quality, and enabling outstanding customer execution. FedEx recently placed an order for 2,000 all-electric Harbinger trucks valued at more than $300 million.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley served as placement agents on the financing round.

About Harbinger
Harbinger is an American industrial technology platform company reinventing the critical systems the world depends on across transportation, power, defense, autonomy and components. The company develops advanced electrification technologies, including all-electric and hybrid medium-duty vehicle platforms, battery and drivetrain systems, energy storage and auxiliary power solutions, autonomous driving technology and defense applications.

Harbinger engineers systems from first principles, using deep vertical integration to deliver safer, more reliable, more capable and more efficient solutions at economic parity. Its technologies serve a range of applications, including medium-duty trucks, recreational vehicles (RVs), mobile healthcare units, power infrastructure and defense vehicles. Harbinger’s mission is to solve the problems industry stopped questioning and raise the standard for what customers should expect.

Harbinger: Familiar Forms. Revolutionary Foundations.

To learn more about Harbinger, please visit www.harbingermotors.com. You can find the company newsroom HERE.

Harbinger Media Contact
Kylee Keskerian
PR Director
419-822-6417 | kylee@futuristacommunications.com

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