– Somasekhar Mulugu (Hyderabad)

Hyderabad-based Lakshveer Rao (8) — co-founder of early-stage hardware and AI startup Projects by Laksh (estb.2025) — is a pre-teen prodigy representing good things to come from a growing tribe of young social innovators countrywide.

In December 2025, he received a Top-5 Finalist award at the Hardware Hackathon 2.0 — open to students, professionals and ICT (information and communication technologies) hardware enthusiasts above age 18 — for designing a wrist-mounted emotional companion tool for Indian astronauts to use on Planet Mars. Earlier in November, Lakshveer was declared a ‘Special Winner’ at the Yugantar Tech Fest hosted by Scaler School of Technology, Bengaluru. He impressed the jury by presenting CircuitHeroes, a cards-based game designed to teach electronics to children.

Encouraged by his father Venkat Rao, a serial entrepreneur and former Captain of the Indian Army, and mother Mrinalini, vice president, Bank of America, Hyderabad, Lakshveer is currently focused on developing Cookmate, a smart kitchen robot to assist in everyday meals preparation. Thus far, he has developed over 200 technology projects under his umbrella start-up Projects by Laksh that he co-founded together with father Venkat last year.

Recognising that his son’s learning style, interests and pace differed radically from the requirements of learning in a conventional classroom environment, Capt. Venkat withdrew Lakshveer while he was a class III pupil at Unicent International School to enrol him at Dreamtime Learning Hub, India’s first Gurukul-inspired micro school founded by veteran educator Lina Ashar. Lakshveer opted for the Cambridge curriculum delivered online.

“Today I have several mentor-guides from around the world. My father, who is my biggest support, takes me to industrial labs, shop floors, tech startups, and R&D centres where I see how different technologies work, how products are made, and how ideas turn into reality,” says this pre-teen whiz, who has also authored an e-book titled Kid’s Book of Creative Ideas. 

Looking ahead, Lakshveer is excited about his future trajectory. “Last year when I visited the IIT-Hyderabad campus to attend a drone workshop, I was made an offer to work on their research projects which I have accepted. Fundraising for my projects is also on my agenda. My dream is to build a company offering high-quality drones and robots to solve global problems,” says this amazing tech pro.

Wind beneath your wings!