AI world: Hype vs Reality — what gets funded?

An evening fireside chat at Giku-na, near the Memorial Chorten in Thimphu, hosted by Kelden Dradul Dorji and Roshan Chhetri.

Guest: Vijaykrishna Shetty — founder of ThoughtGenesis Technologies, which he built into Apple's largest partner in India, and co-founder of BreachX, a zero-day cybersecurity platform. He now backs deep-tech startups as an investor and helps shape government startup policy.

Topic: the complete tech journey from engineer to entrepreneur to investor, what he learned building and scaling companies, and what actually gets funded in today's AI landscape.

The session

The chat was moderated by Kelden and ran from 6:30 to 7:30 PM, followed by an hour of networking over refreshments. It was deliberately kept small, capped at 27 people so that everyone got meaningful time with the guest, with seven of those spots reserved for students interested in the startup world. The room was aimed at AI founders, tech professionals, government officials and students exploring deep-tech opportunities in Bhutan and connections to Bangalore's ecosystem. The event sold out on Luma with 33 registrations.

What people said

"I returned with great admiration for Bhutan's energy, vision, and its potential to emerge as a tech and AI powerhouse — rooted in mindfulness and purpose."

— Vijaykrishna Shetty, original post

"I recently went to an amazing session with Vijaykrishna Shetty and Kelden Dorji, which was really eye-opening and reminded me that we can't get lost in our own little world — there is a huge sea of opportunities out there."

— Bishal Dhakal, founder of Light WebX, original post

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