Starter Guide to Bengaluru

Namaskara! Welcome to Namma Bengaluru.

Are you beginning your startup journey in this city? We’ve got something for you.

At Plum, we’re always talking to Founders like you who want to build the best teams and products. That’s why they take the giant leap of moving to a new city — one that matches their aspirations.

But, navigating a new city’s ecosystem while running a business and maintaining a social life can be tricky. In this guide, we’ve compiled everything you should know about Bengaluru’s tech, startup, and life beyond the work scene.

Namaskara! Welcome to Namma Bengaluru.
Table of contents
Made with love by Plum
Introduction
TL;DR? We got you covered.
Event aggregators and communities
Startup programs
Active VCs and accelerators
PR and media in Bengaluru
People to follow on X
Workspace and setting up your own
Co-working
Looking to set-up your office space in tech parks?
Cafes to work out of
Cafes ideal for deep work
Cafes ideal for networking
Ideal team outing places
Finding housing
Neighbourhood breakdown for tech
Life beyond work: What’s in Bengaluru for you?
Miscellaneous 101s
Closing thoughts
About Plum

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Made with love by Plum

Whether it's working with founders to create the right business and health insurance policies or building a resource kit to help you communicate with empathy — we help you put your needs first.

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Introduction

But, why Bengaluru maga?

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A quick Google search will pull up the following stats:

Bengaluru hosts 10,000+ start-ups (worth ~ $50 billion).
In 2020, over $10 billion was invested into ventures located here - surpassing San Francisco and London. 🤯
Bangalore held 44% of India's start-up funding in 2020. This number has only increased since then.

No city can beat Bengaluru when it comes to tech and innovation. The city has top talent, great events, and plenty of communities for you to participate in.

Walk into any cafe, and you’ll likely meet people working on side projects or honing their craft. That kind of energy is infectious.

Overall, Bengaluru is a great city to live in. You have plenty of third spaces — nature, parks, museums, bookstores, and more — that will help you unwind and find your tribe. We’ve listed some below to give you a headstart in navigating your life here.

This guide would be incomplete without addressing the city’s challenges. Bengaluru’s traffic problem is real. Those traffic memes don’t show the real picture of how immobile the city could get. Choosing an office location can be challenging. The cost of living is high.

But all said and done, this is great city to live in. If you’re planning a move to Bengaluru or you’re already here, we hope this guide helps.

TL;DR? We got you covered.

Event aggregators and communities

Where are all the founders and their teams hanging out?

Name	What to expect	Website
FTX	One of India’s largest Fintech Summits. It happens every year and founders from many high-growth startups attend the event — as panelists and attendees.	https://razorpay.com/ftx
WeWork	Events, informative seminars and more for founders and their teams	https://www.instagram.com/wework.in/?hl=en
BHive	Leadership talks, VC check-ins, women-only entrepreneurs meetups and more	https://bhiveworkspace.com/events/
Founder’s Network	Entrepreneurs, investors, and experts meet up to talk about product, growth, raising money, marketing and sales, and anything else relevant to the startup world	https://foundersnetwork.com/
eChai	Startup meetup, marketing summits, demo days, and more	https://echai.ventures/cities/bangalore
Global Shapers Community	Self-organised meetups to address local, regional and global startup challenges. Ideal for Founders focused in environment tech and social impact	https://www.globalshapers.org/hubs/bangalore-hub/
Draper Startup House for Entrepreneurs	Friday social meetups with other founders, pop-up experiences	https://dshaccelerator.com/
Blockmeet Bengaluru	Ideal for Founders building in web3	https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/foundership-india-emerging-tech-community/events/297990766/
The Talent Deck	One of Bangalore’s most curated community of people leaders. TTD routinely hosts events on talent, policy, culture, leadership, and more	https://www.thetalentdeck.com/events
Bengaluru Tech Summit	Founders working across tech industry meet to discuss innovation, infra, and investments	https://www.bengalurutechsummit.com/
Techsparks by YourStory	One of the most influential startup-tech conferences to build and share solutions	https://yourstory.com/techsparks2024
TSOW	A community that routinely hosts events on how to shape talent, culture, and policy	https://www.springworks.in/the-shape-of-work-podcast/community/
The Product Folks	Founders and PMs who host meetups, demo days, and more	https://www.theproductfolks.com/
Nextplay	New opportunities, hosting gatherings, and curating content for founders	https://nextplay.so/
Leap.club	Leadership talks, VC check-ins for women-only entrepreneurs meetups and more	https://leap.club/
GrowthX	Invite-only community for ambitious founders, marketing, product‍ & business leaders	https://growthx.club/
Headstart	A startup community with events to help you grow in the ecosystem	https://twitter.com/Headstarters

Startup programs

Bangalore’s accelerators and startup programs to boost your 0-1 startup journey.

Name	Tags	Website
Bangalore Alpha Lab (BAL)	Tailored support for startups in their early stages	Reach out at +91 9341212569
IIIT - Bangalore Innovation Centre	IIIT leverages advanced technologies for startup growth	https://ic.iiitb.ac.in/
NASSCOM 10000 Startups	This program offers extensive network within the Indian IT industry to support startup founders	https://10000startups.com/
Microsoft for Startups	Access to Microsoft's vast ecosystem and technology stack for startup growth	https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/startups
Kyron Accelerator	Hands-on support tailored for early-stage startup growth	https://kyron.me/
Ginserv	Offers coworking spaces, mentorship, networking opportunities, and access to investors for startups	https://www.ginserv.in/
Tata ELXSI	Access to Tata Group's extensive resources and network for tech startups	https://www.tataelxsi.com/#
Techstars	Offers a global network of accelerators and mentorship programs aimed at helping startups scale rapidly	https://www.techstars.com/startups
TLabs Startup Accelerator	Structured program tailored for early-stage startup acceleration	https://www.linkedin.com/company/tlabs/
Entrepreneur First Startup	Brings together talented individuals to co-found startups, providing support from ideation to launch.	https://www.joinef.com/
NSRCEL - IIM Bangalore	This program integrates academic resources with startup incubation and acceleration	https://nsrcel.org/

Active VCs and accelerators

A curated list of active and popular VCs, recommended by other startup founders in Bengaluru

Name	Stage	Industry	Top companies invested in
Axilor Ventures	Early-stage	Supply-chain,SaaS,Healthcare,Agriculture	Solar Ladder, Brands of Bharat, BizzTM
Helion Venture Partners	Early-stage,Growth-stage	Outsourcing,Tech products,Retail,Healthcare,Education,Financial services	Whatfix, Moengage, Toppr, Livspace
3one4 Capital	Early-stage	Across the industry	Tracxn, Darwinbox, Licious, Inc42, Yulu, Wint Wealth
Nexus Venture Partners	Early-stage	SaaS,Tech products	Delhivery, Headout, Postman, Rapido, Proactive for Her, Unacademy
Accel India	Early-stage	Across the industry	BookMyShow, Bounce, Chargebee, Freshworks
Peak XV Partners	Early-stage,Growth-stage	Across the industry	Bira, Airmeet, Plum, Groww, Heads Up For Tails, Ixigo
Kalaari Capital	Early-stage,Seed	Tech products	Hiver, Cult, Dream11, Myntra, Koo
Chiratae Ventures	Seed	Across the industry	Cult, Firstcry, Lenskart, Flipkart, MyGlamm
‍Indian Angel Network (IAN)	Early-stage,Seed	Agriculture,Retail,F&B,Healthcare,Tech products	Wow Momo, Phool, Tattava Spa, Brevistay, Get My Parking
Tiger Global Management	Series A,Growth-stage,Pre-IPO	Tech products,Consumer tech,SaaS,Fintech	Zomato, Cred, PhonePe, Itilite
Matrix Partners	Early-stage,Seed,Series B	Enterprise,Consumer tech,B2B Commerce,Fintech	Atomicwork, Dailyhunt, Jupiter, Itilite, Razorpay
Blume Ventures	Seed,Pre-Series A	Across the industry	BHive, Dunzo, Yulu, Printo, Carbon Clean, Ultrahuman
StartupXseed Ventures	Early-stage	Tech products	Humalect, CloudSEK, Optiwise, Vitraya
Antler	Early-stage	Across the industry	OnArrival, PYOR, The Slate Plate, Flint, Adaptive
Unitus Ventures	Growth-stage	Fintech,Education,Healthcare	Cuemath, Masai School, Betterplace, SalesKen
Vertex Ventures	Early-stage	Across the industry	KukuFM, Threado, Licious, Tortoise
Foundership	Early-stage	Web3,AI	Lendr, Typof, TickEth, Bion, LinkDOT

PR and media in Bengaluru

Journalists covering the tech and startup beat in Blr

People to follow on X

Connect with people who’ve been active in Bengaluru’s start-up and tech scene

Name	What they talk about
Adithya Venkatesan	Head of Marketing at Last9io, ex-Gojek, talks about marketing, content, and brand. Follow them here.
amul.exe	Popular in Bengaluru tech twitter. Read up on their story and follow them on X.
Arnav Gupta	Popular in Bengaluru tech twitter, talks about engineering practices and frameworks. Check what they’re upto here.
Arpit Agarwal	VC at Blume, also founder of the Headstart Network. Follow on X here.
Brijesh Bharadwaj	Building Segwise.ai and talks about product and growth. See what they’re up to here.
Chetty Arun	Head of Culture at Razorpay, tweets about design, people, culture. See what Chetty talks about here.
Dharmesh Ba	Research, design and UX consultant, building 1990labs, a studio for consumer research in India. Follow them here.
Dhwani Nanavati	Startup operator. Tweets about startups, business, culture. Follow on X here.
Enthu-cutlet	Tweets on food and culture in Bengaluru. Does marketing things at Local Ferment Co. Follow her to learn about interesting things happening in Blr live.
Gaurav Munjal	CEO of Unacademy. Follow on X.
Gautam	Founder at Talented, tweets about marketing, startups, and operations. Follow on X here.
Geetanjali Chitnis	Chief Brand Officer at Geist Brewing Co, a fellow Bengalorean, tweets on marketing. See what Geetanjali talks about.
Hardik Pandya	OG Bangalorean. Currently SVP of Design and Product at Unacademy. Tweets on design and other interesting miscellaneous things. See what they’re upto on X here.
Ishavasyam	VC at Antler, works with early-stage founders. See what they’re upto here.
Joydeep Sen Sharma	CEO of Clearfeed. Follow on X here.
Kabandi Saikia	Co-founder at Omnify, tweets about women in tech, tech, and hiring. Connect with them on X here.
Kunal Shah	Founder of Cred. Follow on X here.
Mahesh Suthar	Recruiter at Rippling, tweets on engineering, culture, hiring. Check what they’re about here.
Malini Goyal	Founder of Unboxing BLR. Tweets about the hustle, culture, and vibes of Bengaluru. Follow on X.
Mehul Ved	Tweets on coffee, cats, and startups. Follow on X here.
Nandini V	VC at Antler. Follow on X here.
Neerja Shah	PR and Comms at Pixxelspace, also go-to person for housing in Bengaluru. Connect with them on X here.
Nikhil Jois	Building Bureau Identity. Follow on X.
Nikhil Kamath	Co-founder of Zerodha. Follow on X here.
Nirant K	Popular in Bengaluru tech twitter, tweets about LLMs, learning about Search/Ranking, board game enthusiast. See what they’re upto on X.
Nithin Kamath	Founder and CEO at Zerodha. Follow on X here.
Palak Zatakia	Tweets about interesting miscellaneous things. Connect on X here.
Paras Chopra	Two time founder, tweets about startups and culture. See what they’re upto on X.
Rahul Gonsalves	Co-founder at Obvious. Follow on X here.
Rajiv Srivatsa	VC at Antler, Co-founder of Urban Ladder. Follow on X here.
Ritesh Banglani	Tech VC at Stellaris Venture Partners. Tweets on startups. Give them a follow here.
Roshan Cariappa	Marketing at Vymo; tweets about startups and SaaS. See what they’re upto on X.
Sahil Khan	Product and Design at last9io. Follow on X here.
Sairam Krishnan	Head of Marketing at Atomicwork; Ex Accel and Freshworks; Writes the CMO Journal. See what Sairam tweets about.
Saurabh Arora	Co-founder at Plum. Talks about health and insurance, global affairs, culture, design, food, tech, and more. Connect with them on X.
Shankar Ganesh	Founding PM at Atomicwork, ex-Freshworks, tweets on product. Follow on X.
Shashank Mehta	Founding team Razorpay, tweets about startups, ops, tech, and growth. Connect with them on X.
Shobhit Bakliwal	Bengaluru tech twitter, tweets about software development. Follow on X.
Sidu Ponnappa	Two time founder, tweets on startup, operations, and tech. See what they’re upto on X.
Subhash Choudhary	CTO at Dukaan, tweets on tech and engineering. Connect with them on X.
Suhas Motwani	Founder of The Product Folks, tweets on product. Follow on X.
Swanand	Popular in the Bengaluru tech space. Tweets on software, humor, education, careers, mentorship, and remote work. Connect with them on X.
Tejas Kinger	Bengaluru boy, loves books and obscure things. Occasional tweets on marketing and growth. Drop by and say hello on X.
Udayan Walvekar	Founder of GrowthX, talks about growth, startups, and fitness. Connect with them on X.
Vani Kola	Managing Director at Kalaari Capital. Tweets on startups, entrepreneurship, leadership, and more. See what they’re up to on X.
Vardhman Jain	Founder of Bonomi, tweets about Bengaluru, culture, and coffee. See what they’re upto on X.
Varun Mayya	Founder, tweets about AI and AGI. Follow on X.
Vivekananda Hellekere	Building Bounce Infinity, tweets about growth, startups, and part philosophy. Connect with them on X here.
Shantanu Goel	Bengaluru tech twitter. Currently building things at The Trade Desk. See what they’re upto on X.

Workspace and setting up your own

Places you and your team can work out of + where other founders are likely to set-up their workspaces

Co-working

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Best if you’re a lean team, just building up from scratch. P.S. The following prices are an average and not the exact quote you might receive from vendors. This is a disclaimer that there could be price discrepancies depending on the location you choose and demand vs supply.

Name	Hot desk cost (starting range)	Dedicated desk cost (starting range)	Private cabin (starting range)
WeWork	Rs. 17,000/month	Enquire for pricing.	Enquire for pricing.
The Obvious Residency	Enquire for pricing.	Enquire for pricing.	Enquire for pricing.
91Springboard	Rs. 7,100/seat [Choose and work at any desk within the community area.]*	Rs. 7,850/seat	Rs. 9,450/seat
Bhive	Rs. 6,000/seat	Rs. 8000/seat	Enquire for pricing.
Awfis	Enquire for pricing.	Rs. 8000/seat	Rs. 11,500/seat
UrbanVault	Enquire for pricing.	Rs. 7000/seat	Rs. 7000/seat
IndiQube	Enquire for pricing.	Rs. 7000/seat	Enquire for pricing.
Hustlehub	Rs. 6,500/seat	Rs. 7,000/seat	Enquire for pricing.
Novel Business	Rs. 8,500/seat	Rs. 9,000/seat	Rs. 9,500/seat
Work365 Spaces	Rs. 7,000/seat	Rs. 10,000/seat	Enquire for pricing.
ClayWorks	Rs. 8,000/seat	Rs. 10,000/seat	Rs. 11,000/seat
Beginest Harbor 5	Enquire for pricing.	Rs. 8,000/seat	Rs. 12,000/seat
LiftX Co-Works	Rs. 4,999/seat	Rs. 6,999/seat	Rs. 15,000/seat
WorkDen	Enquire for pricing.	Rs. 8,500/seat	Rs. 21,000/seat
Goodworks Coworks	Rs. 7,000/seat	Rs. 8,500/seat	Rs. 12,500/seat
Workoville Workspaces	Rs. 6,500/seat	Enquire for pricing.	Rs. 12,000/seat
Venus Palazzo	Rs. 4,000/seat	Rs. 4,500/seat	Rs. 7,499/seat
Incubex	Rs. 8,500/seat	Rs. 11,000/seat	Rs. 14,000/seat
CoWrks	Rs. 10,999/seat	Rs. 14,999/seat	Rs. 24,999/seat
Evolve Work Studio	Rs. 5,000/seat	Rs. 5,500/seat	Rs. 7,000/seat

Looking to set-up your office space in tech parks?

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Ideal to invest in working out of a tech park if you’ve crossed 300+ employees in scale. It also becomes cost-effective when compared to coworking spaces.

International Tech Park Bangalore, Mahadevapura
Manyata Embassy Business Park, Outer Ring Road
Global Village Tech Park, Mysore Road
Bagmane Tech Park, CV Raman Nagar
Embassy Tech Village, Outer Ring Road
RMZ Ecospace, Sarjapur
RMZ Infinity, Benniganahalli
Bhartiya City IT Park, Thanisandra — Contact info@bhartiyacity.com

Cessna Business Park, Kadabeesanahalli
Brigade Tech Gardens, Brookefield
Divyasree Technopolis, Marathahalli
Gopalan Global Axis, Whitefield
Prestige Tech Cloud Park, Devanahalli
Brigade Tech Park, Whitefield
Kalyani Tech Park, Brookefield
Mind Comp Tech parks, Whitefield

Cafes to work out of

Cafes ideal for deep work

Name	Location	Community-favourite orders
Paper and Pie	Indiranagar	• Paper & Pie Tartines with Poached Egg • Cookies, iced hazelnut latte, and Japanese cheesecake • Hot chocolate • Orange Iced Brew • American blueberry cupcake • French toast and chicken wrap
The Kind Roastery and Brew Room	JP Nagar	• Vietnamese cold coffee • Grilled mushroom sourdough • Tan Tan noodles • Avacado hass toast • Sundried tomato sourdough toast
Trippy Goat Cafe	Vasanth Nagar	• Grilled Pork & Pineapple Burger • Affagato • Mushroom Hummus • Mezze Platter • Garlic mushroom burrata on sourdough toast
Yogisthaan	Indiranagar	• Kada chai pot • Fresh orange juice with sabudana • Ragi dosa and nariyal chutney • Kodo millet burger with tapioca chips • Veg club sandwich • Aloo paratha
Maverick and Farmer	Halasuru	• Turkish poached eggs • Pastrami sandwich • Swedish meat balls and caesar salad • Teriyaki tofu bowl • Dark hot chocolate • Coffee cherry soda
Starbucks	The one closest to your home	• Classic cold coffee • Javachip and mocha frappuchino • Chilli cheese toast and passion fruit tart • New York cheesecake • Double chocolate chip and cheese toast
Third Wave Coffee	The one closest to your home	• Garlic bread with cheese • Capuccino • Hummus and pita platter • Cinnamon roll with cream cheese • Breakfast pancakes • Toffee nut latte • The Vietnamese shakerato
Araku Coffee	Indiranagar	• Chocolate coffee • Honey and lemon cream cake • Cafe mocha • Beetroot pudding • Burrata Shakshuka
Matteo Coffea	Ashok Nagar	• Cinnamon roll with white chocolate mocha • Tiramisu cake • Grilled chicken caesar salad (or caesar salad for veg) • Iced coffee latte • Caramel latte • Black-white shakerato
Kana By Coffee Mechanics	Hennur	• Spicy bird’s eye chilli burger • Ricotta mousse brioche French toast w Plum Preserve • Garlic bread with caramelized onions • Sourdough toast • Cortado
Beanlore Coffee Roasters	HSR	• Hot chocolate with marshmallows • Salted caramel latte • Mediterranean chips and dips platter • Banana latte • Liquid tiramisu
Blue Tokai	Koramangala	• Hot chocolate • Pistaccio and raspberry croissant • Parsley and cheese garlic fries • Mocha with sea salt • Mango and peach smoothie bowl • Butter croissant with cappuccino
Dialogues Cafe	Koramangala	• Mix sauce pasta • Kokum cool drinks • Chicken sandwich • Mushroom manchurian • Honey chilli potato
Cafe Coffee Day	Vittal Mallya Road	• Veg platter • Tandoori paneer sandwich • Peri peri potato wedges • Mocha coffee • Mexican burrito bowls

Cafes ideal for networking

The Courtyard Restaurant, Shanti Nagar
Costa Coffee, 4th Block, Koramangala
Yogisthaan, Indiranagar
DYU Art Cafe, Koramangala

Blue Tokai, Koramangala
Nerlu, Gandhi Nagar
Araku Cafe, Indiranagar
Dialogues, JP Nagar and Koramangala

Ideal team outing places

House of Commons, JP Nagar
The Pump House, JP Nagar
Uru Brewpark, JP Nagar
Indian Biere House, JP Nagar
1522 The Pub, JP Nagar
Indian Darbar, Halasuru
The Biere Club, Ashok Nagar
Cubbon Pavilion, Ashok Nagar
Lotus Pavilion, Ashok Nagar
Vapour Pub and Brewery, Indiranagar
Sanchez, Indiranagar
MisoSexy, Indiranagar
Jook Taproom, Indiranagar
Big Pitcher, Indiranagar
Toit, Indiranagar
Chianti, Indiranagar

21st Amendment, Indiranagar
The Local, Koramangala
The Bier Library, Koramangala
Truffles, Koramangala
Barbeque Nation, Koramangala
Sultans of Spice, Koramangala
Hanoi, Koramangala
Boho, Koramangala
Nagarjuna, local neighbourhood
Nandhana’s, local neighbourhood
Punjab Bistro, Mahadevapura
Biergarten, Whitefield
Windmills Craftworks, Whitefield
Skygarden, Whitefield
Zodak Pub and Brew House, Whitefield
Oota, Whitefield

Finding housing

Finding the perfect home in a new city is hard work. Here are some tips on renting a house in Bangaluru written by a fellow woman in tech. Shoutout to @Neerjargon.

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Learn more about:

Shortlisting the right area or location
Everything about rent, water, and electricity bills
House hunting process: PTR, brokers’ list, & flat and flatmate group links
House finalisation process: speaking to owners, brokerage, security deposit, and more.

Neighbourhood breakdown for tech

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P.S. The following breakdown is a subjective POV. We also advise our readers to conduct their own research before making a final choice.

Name	Type	Popular for tech	Good to live in	Notes
HSR Layout	Residential,Office	Yes	Yes	HSR is popular amongst folks working in startups and tech. Most houses here are more spacious than your usual Blr house hunt drives. Perhaps, the only con is that HSR can be quite far from OG Bengaluru spots. But, communities like HSRisHome should solve that.
Electronic City	Office	Yes	No	Most Blr tech parks are located in and around Electronic City. But, if you’re starting up from scratch in Blr, a place like E-city can be isolating to live in. It’s far from the usual chill spots.
Koramangala	Residential,Office	Yes	Yes	The dream place for folks living and working in Bengaluru. It’s a lively and young neighbourhood.
Indiranagar	Residential,Office	Yes	Yes	Dense with tech people living here. The neighbourhoods are very posh. The cost of living in Indiranagar can, thus, be pretty high.
Banashankari	Residential	No	Yes	Old Bengaluru. You’ll likely run into quieter and family-oriented people + lifestyle. Great area to live in.
Sarjapur	Office	Yes	No	Up and rising for tech but further away from the city. Wouldn’t recommend unless you’ve decided that your office space is around HSR or Sarjapur.
Jayanagar	Residential	No	Yes	Yet again, a quieter and family-oriented neighbourhood. Time feels like it moves slowly and differently there. Would highly recommend living in Jayanagar and working from there, if possible.
Whitefield	Residential,Office	Yes	Yes	This neighbourhood has a high concentration of offices, buildings, and high-rise apartments. It’s an up and coming neighbourhood, occupied by a lot of tech people. It has great metro connectivity to all the hotspots in the city.
Devanahalli	Residential	No	Yes	It’s said that Devanahalli could be the next IT Hub of Bengaluru but that’s going to take time to manifest. Lots of retired folks live here – recommended for people with families.
Bannerghatta Road	Residential	No	Yes	Not a lot of tech folks live here. There are also fewer startups located in this area. But, the locality is residential and a great place for families and youth.
JP Nagar	Residential,Office	Yes	Yes	Old Bengaluru but with tech. There are many cafes and co-working spaces around – perfect for working folks. Lots of space to run and go on long walks around the area.
Sadashivanagar	Residential	No	Yes	Quiet and a bit further away from the action of Bengaluru, but worth checking out as residential
Rajajinagar	Residential	No	Yes	Quiet and a bit further away from the action of Bengaluru, but worth checking out as residential
Malleshwaram	Residential	No	Yes	Old Bengaluru. Unlikely to have a tech scene going on. But, residential and a good place for families given the area is well-developed and has all basic amenities covered.
Frazer Town	Residential	No	Yes	Serene and lots of good places around for food. Good for a Sunday morning hangout but not too much tech
Cooke Town	Residential	No	Yes	Just like Frazer Town. Lots of places around for food and things to do. But, not too much tech happening.
BTM Layout	Residential,Office	No	Yes	You might see established software companies around this area. But good for residents.
Halasuru	Residential,Office	Yes	Yes	Dense with tech people living here. The neighbourhoods are decently posh. However, they’re unlikely to be as expensive as Indiranagar though.
Marathahalli	Office	Yes	No	High concentration of offices, buildings, and high rise apartments. A lot of tech people live here. Cons: Farther away from the city.
Kengeri	Residential	No	No	Far from the city and tech scenes. Unlikely for startups to be found here.
Kalyan Nagar	Residential	Yes	Yes	Upcoming tech area and a new-age Indiranagar. Recommend folks check Kalyan Nagar out as an alternative to Indiranagar.

Life beyond work: What’s in Bengaluru for you?

Are you nervous about making new friends in a new city? Don’t worry, we got you covered.

Here’s a curated list of communities, groups, and places in Bengaluru where you’re likely to meet people interested in the same things as you.

Community, groups, and places	Type of hangout	Frequency of meetups
Bangalore International Centre	Exhibitions, events, and conferences	Depends on BIEC’s calendar. Find out here.
Lahe Lahe	Arts, theater, crafts yoga, and pottery community	Depends on Lahe Lahe’s calendar every week. Find out here. For latest updates, follow them on Instagram.
Museum of Art and Photography	A private art museum in Bengaluru featuring collections across art, textiles, photography, craft, and design objects. Features objects dated from the 12th century to the present	Open throughout the week. Check their latest exhibitions and community events here. For latest updates, follow them on Instagram.
National Gallery of Modern Art	Museum featuring paintings by modern & contemporary Indian artists. Also has a cute cafe, a museum shop, and an auditorium	Depends on NGMA’s calendar. Find out about current and upcoming exhibitions here.
Maraa Collective	Maraa is a media and arts collective in Bengaluru. They explore art through the lenses of caste, labour, gender and culture in curation, production and research	Depends on Maraa’s calendar. Find out about their ongoing exhibitions here.
Cubbon Park	Leisure hangouts. A great place to walk and explore the city’s most-loved public park	Open to everybody throughout the week. There are multiple micro-communities within Cubbon Park – some of them are mentioned below.
Cubbon Reads	Bengaluru’s popular reading club	Hangouts happen every Saturday. You can catch-up to speed with what the community’s up to here.
Lalbagh Reads	Yet another popular silent reading club	Hangouts happen every Sunday. Follow what Lalbagh Reads are upto here.
Cubbon Paints	Bengaluru’s weekend painting club	Hangouts happen every Saturday. Catch-up to speed with what the community’s up to here. Community guidelines and prerequisites here.
Cubbon Writes	Quiet writing community at Cubbon Park	Community catch-ups happen every Saturday. More details here.
Cubbon Knits	Knitting and crocheting community in Cubbon Park	Every Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm. More details here.
Cubbon Run	A running club in Cubbon Park	Free 5K runs happen every Sunday. Get more updates here.
Cubbon Dog Park	A hangout place for pet parents and a place for your dogs to make new friends	Open throughout the week. Follow their IG to know what they’re upto.
Bengaluru Skaters	Rollerblading, skateboarding, and waveboarding community	Hangouts happen every week. Find out here.
Bangalore Mountaineering Club	One of Bengaluru’s oldest trekking clubs	Depends on the club. Follow their social media to stay up to date.
Gully Tours	City walks, tours, and niche experiences	Gully tours launch their schedule for each month ahead of time. Find out here. Their community events include dosa walks, women-only meetups, night walks, and more.
Ajit Bhaskar’s Thindi Walks	Food hopping around Bengaluru’s most loved and famous thindis	DM Ajit Bhaskar on Twitter to get yourself added to the larger WhatsApp community. Frequency: Tends to happen every/most weekends.
Underline Center	Recently opened community centre + board game hangout spots.	Follow Karthik Balakrishnan, Punjit Sharma, and Underline Center on X to know about frequency of hangouts + meetup schedules.
Putting Scenes	Go-to place for interesting events in Bengaluru	Join their WhatsApp community here.
Ranga Shankara	Performing arts theatre in Bangalore	Play schedule is launched ahead of the month. Follow them on Instagram to learn more.
Draper Startup House for Entrepreneurs	Events for founders and entrepreneurs	Depends on the community’s schedules and planning. Follow their Instagram for more updates.
HSRisHome	Activities in the HSR neighbourhood – walks, startup tours, food walks, board games, cookouts and potlucks, cycling and much more	Fill this form to join Radhika’s community.
Sisters In Sweat	Exclusive sports community for women – badminton, football, swimming, running, cycling, and more	Sign up for the sport you prefer here.
Crossfit9 One	One of the best crossfit communities in Bengaluru	Day passes are available. But if you’re interested in a membership, contact the team here. No affiliation with them, just admiration.
Creative Mornings Bengaluru	Virtual/real meet-ups amongst folks in the creative industry	Hangouts depend on schedule. Check them out here.
Leap	Professional networking for women	Join their community to see what events they host in Blr. No affiliation with them, just admiration.
Headstart	A startup community to help you grow in the ecosystem	Depends on Headstart’s schedule and planning. See what they’re upto here.
eChai	A startup network to meet fellow founders and aspiring ones	Depends on eChai’s schedule and planning. See what they’re upto here.
Sunset Cinema club	An offline community for movie buffs	Events are announced ahead of time here.
Namma Trip	Tours, adventures, and trekking activities	Treks are hosted throughout the week and even more so during weekends. Follow them to know more.
Poets of Bangalore	Poetry community	Depends on community’s schedule. Stay up-to-date here.
Bangalore Storytelling Society: Meetup	For lovers of storytelling, fiction, and non-fiction	Hangouts happen on the last weekend of every month. Sign up here.
Dhurii	Dancing community	Learn about their schedule, classes, timings, and more here.
Kalanataka	Performative arts community	Get workshop updates here.
City-based walks	Walking and touring community	Learn more about the various City-Based Tours companies organising these walks.
V The Volunteers	Volunteering community	Volunteer to help senior care homes, animal shelters and more here.

Miscellaneous 101s

As we curate this guide, Bengaluru is going through a water crisis. If you’re already living here and have faced an issue, here is a list of contacts shared by a kind stranger on the internet. We hope this helps you tackle your water problems swiftly.
Our good friend, Tejas Kinger, has put together a short Twitter thread on books about Bengaluru. Immerse in them to learn more about Karnataka in an engaging way.
If you want to get acquainted with the history of Bengaluru in a fun way, follow Arun Pai on Instagram.
Dealing with problems in your neighbourhood (pertaining to waste management, water clogging, open police cases, and more)? Reach out to St. Broseph on X, an online social worker helping people in Blr, Chennai, and Hyderabad.
Looking to volunteer or contribute to NGOs? Check this curated guide by LBB, offering you a chance to donate your time and skills while gaining valuable life experiences.
Speaking the language of the city you’re living in is a kind gesture. It shows your respect and appreciation for the place and people. If you’re interested in learning Kannada, check this out. BONUS: You can learn Kannada on WhatsApp → temptation bundling done right, if you ask us.
Emergency numbers:

Police: 100
Women’s safety: 1091
Senior citizens: 1090
Ambulance: 105711 /1062/ 108
Traffic helpline: 1095 / +91-80-2294-3030/131
Harassed by auto drivers: +91-80-2558-8444 /555
Fire service control room: +91-80-2297-1500

Closing thoughts

We hope this guide is full of information that has been useful in your Bengaluru startup journey. Consider this a V1 and if you have any recommendations, resources, or information you’d like to contribute, please fill this form, and we’ll be happy to add.

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