MUMBAI: Riding high on the success of its blockbuster Mumbai debut, Anime India is accelerating its nationwide expansion with the announcement of Amazon MX Player as the co-presenting partner for Anime India Kolkata. The partnership marks a significant step forward in the festival’s mission to deliver large-scale, accessible, and fan-first anime experiences across the country.

Scheduled for 14 and 15 February 2026 at the iconic Biswa Bangla Mela Prangan, Anime India Kolkata will launch the first regional chapter of what is set to be a year-long, multi-city tour. As the curtain-raiser for the 2026 circuit, the Kolkata edition aims to fuse the energy of global Japanese pop culture with India’s fast-growing community of anime, manga, and pop-culture fans.

A household name in digital entertainment, Amazon MX Player brings unmatched reach and cultural relevance to the Anime India platform. With its expanding focus on anime and youth-driven content, Amazon MX Player’s involvement as co-presenting partner reinforces Anime India’s vision of making anime culture more inclusive breaking barriers of language, geography, and accessibility to connect with fans nationwide.

Anime India Kolkata 2026 will showcase cosplay competitions, interactive zones led by the Indian Gunpla Community, India-39 Vocaloid Community, The Japan Curry, and Adda-o-Otaku by The Otaku Guild. Fans can join tournaments across fighting games, Pokémon VGC, and more. Acclaimed Japanese director Susumu Mitsunaka (Haikyu!!) will attend as guest of honour, appearing in panels and live sessions. Positioned as an immersive celebration of fan culture and industry collaboration, the Kolkata edition marks the beginning of Anime India’s nationwide expansion.

Sharing their perspective on the partnership, Amazon MX Player director Aruna Daryanani expressed, “Anime in India has evolved from a niche interest into a mainstream cultural movement, driven by an increasingly engaged and passionate fanbase. At Amazon MX Player, our focus is on expanding access by bringing anime to audiences across the country for free and in multiple local languages. Our association with Anime India reflects our commitment to supporting the growth of anime in India and deepening connections with fans, while continuing to build Amazon MX Player as a trusted destination for free, high-quality entertainment.”

“Anime India Kolkata is a celebration of how anime has grown beyond entertainment into a powerful cultural and creative force. By bringing fans, creators, and industry leaders onto one shared platform, the festival is helping define the future of pop culture in India,” said Anime India co-founder and director Neha Mehta.

The debut edition of Anime India 2025 in Mumbai attracted over 29,000 fans, quickly cementing its status as a landmark celebration of anime and Japanese pop culture. Riding on this overwhelming response, the Kolkata chapter is projected to draw more than 40,000 visitors across two days, positioning it as one of the biggest anime conventions ever held in eastern India.

Anime India is focused on bringing together fans from across the country to create a truly pan-India celebration of anime, manga, cosplay, gaming, and Japanese culture. With plans to expand into four key metropolitan hubs in 2026—east (Kolkata), north (Delhi), west (Mumbai), and south (Hyderabad)—the festival seeks to deliver globally benchmarked experiences while supporting and uplifting creators, artists, and fan communities throughout India.

Day One of Transcend Goa 2026 marked a significant step for India’s creative industries, as the inaugural transmedia conclave unfolded at the Marquinez Palace in Panjim on 15 January. The summit brought together leading voices from cinema, publishing, gaming, animation and emerging technologies to discuss how stories can move fluidly across formats and reach audiences in new ways.

Conceived as a platform to showcase India’s growing strength in original IP and cross‑media innovation, the conclave set out to highlight the country’s transition from service‑driven work to globally recognised creative leadership. With the support of the Government of Goa, the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) and Goa Future Proof curated the event to spark dialogue on the future of storytelling and its impact on culture and commerce.

The day opened with an address by a Government of Goa representative and ESG chief executive officer Asvin Chandru. He said, “Goa has been envisioned as a future facing space where cinema, publishing, gaming, technology and artificial intelligence converge, reflecting the state’s ambition to emerge as a hub for creative, innovation and cultural exchange. Over the next two days, we hope this conclave inspires meaningful dialog, learning and collaboration across disciplines.”

Next, government of Goa chief secretary and planning secretary V Candavelou took the stage, setting the tone for the discussions ahead. He noted, “You all know that transmedia storytelling has undergone a transformational change. With the evolving of new technologies, this storytelling keeps on changing. The Transcend Goa summit is making this platform available to all the stakeholders to exhibit their talents. I hope that these two days spark meaningful conversation and ideas for the future.”

The event was graced by Goa’s chief minister Dr Pramod Sawant. “Transcend Goa is a simple idea to create a space where the culture meets technology, creates a space where the creativity connects with opportunity,” he said taking the stage. “The summit is also a pilot. It allows us to learn and understand how Goa can position itself as a large, creative and digital economy. Even small steps matter when we move in the right direction. If this discussion is of value to the creators’ businesses and the students, then these efforts will serve its purpose.”

He further said, “Goa always attracted the artist and thinkers. Today, it also has the students who code, design, animate, write and build the digital products. This summit gives them the exposure. This platform can open new doors and sparks new ideas. The government of Goa has extended support to Transcend Goa because we believe in the enabling of this platform. The Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) has been entrusted and with the responsibility because it understands the culture landscape and has the capacity to execute such initiatives. We see the summit as a part of the larger efforts, our efforts to strengthen the Goa’s creative economy.”

The keynote was delivered by Creativeland Group chairman Sajan Raj Kurup, who underscored the importance of building narratives and transmedia content that resonate across platforms and markets.

The day opened with the session Beyond the Screen: Creating Stories that Travel, which examined how narratives moved across film, television, games, social media and immersive experiences. It considered strategies for designing stories that adapted and engaged audiences across formats. Speakers included Emmay Entertainment producer partner and CEO Monisha Advani, Zebu Animation co‑founder and creative director Veerendra Patil, TVF president Vijay Koshy and Creativeland Studios CEO Shobha Sant, with the discussion moderated by Mediasmiths founder Sanjay Ram.

The session The Evolution of India’s Media Ecosystem: Transitioning from Outsourcing to Transmedia IP Creation examined how India’s media sector moved from providing back‑end services to developing original intellectual property that attracted global investment. Speakers included Punnaryug Artvision founder Ashish Kulkarni, Brhat founder Raghav Krishna, with the discussion moderated by Bulletproof Entertainment founder Harish Rao.

Post lunch, the session India’s Original IP Powerhouse: The Raj/Alpha Comics Story presented a case study on how publishers such as Raj Comics and Alpha Comics developed Indian superhero stories into transmedia properties. Speakers included Raj Comics founder Sanjay Gupta, Raj Comics and Alpha Comics founder Vasu Gupta, with the discussion moderated by Animation Xpress India director Mishaal Wanvari.

The session The Art of Creating Multiplatform Narratives explored the craft of building cohesive story worlds that unfolded across film, television, games, social media and other formats. It considered approaches to creative planning, audience engagement and maintaining narrative consistency while using the strengths of each medium. Speakers included filmmaker Raja Krishna Menon, filmmaker Reema Maya and filmmaker Q, with the discussion moderated by Mediasmiths founder Ram.

The session AR Rahman’s Secret Mountain: Building a Transmedia Music Universe introduced the composer’s latest project, Secret Mountain. It highlighted India’s first Meta Band and explored its potential across music, digital platforms and immersive experiences. The presenter for this session was Secret Mountain cofounder Vignesh Raja.

The last session of the day, Animating Success: Green Gold Entertainment’s Journey, highlighted Green Gold Entertainment founder Rajiv Chilaka and his team’s work in building one of India’s leading original animation studios. It traced how Green Gold Entertainment created hit franchises such as Chhota Bheem, developed a merchandise and licensing strategy, and showed that Indian stories could find global resonance. The session featured Chilaka in conversation with Bulletproof Entertainment founder Harish Rao.

The day concluded with a lively networking evening, leaving participants energised and looking forward to the sessions on the second day.

SEOUL: Forget speed dating. Seoul is bringing speed pitching to Las Vegas. The Seoul Business Agency, the city government’s startup wingman, is rolling out the red carpet at CES 2026 with its “Global Innovation Forum”—a souped-up version of last year’s debut that aims to turn tech exhibition wandering into actual business deals. Think of it as Tinder for startups, minus the awkward small talk.

The forum is Seoul’s attempt to answer a perennial question: how do you turn expensive trade show participation into something more than branded tote bags and jetlag? Their solution: gather promising tech firms from seven countries, throw them into a pitching ring with venture capitalists and media, then see who emerges with funding and headlines. It is brazenly transactional, which is precisely the point.

Last year’s “Seoul Innovation Forum” brought together five national pavilions—Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Taiwan and South Korea—in what amounted to a diplomatic experiment in startup speed-networking. It worked well enough that Seoul has expanded the guest list for 2026. Now,  Taiwan Tech Arena, Switzerland Global Enterprise, Israel Economic and Trade Office, Japan External Trade Organization, Québec’s government office, and Business France are all piling in. That is a lot of acronyms chasing the same dream: turning their scrappy startups into global players.

The centrepiece remains the IR pitching competition, now turbocharged with a judging panel that combines global media reach and hard-nosed venture capital scrutiny. Gone are the days of polite applause and vague promises of “keeping in touch.” This year, startups pitch for actual money—$3,000 for the grand prize, $2,000 for second place, and $1,000 for third—alongside trophies and, more importantly, potential investment connections. The categories are suitably grandiose: Grand Award, Scale-up Award, and Impact Award. Because if you are going to hand out prizes, you might as well make them sound impressive.

Each participating country gets to showcase its finest tech hopefuls before a crowd of investors and journalists prowling the CES floor. The competition promises “tangible outcomes beyond simple promotion”—code for “we are actually trying to get you funded, not just featured.” Whether that materialises depends on the quality of the pitches and the appetite of the VCs, but Seoul is betting that concentrated dealmaking beats aimless booth-hopping.

Beyond the main event, the forum will host panel discussions where representatives from each country swap notes on startup support strategies and ecosystem trends. Translation: bureaucrats comparing notes on what works and what does not, which could prove useful if anyone is paying attention. Then comes the networking session, where the real business happens—over canapés and coffee, naturally.

Seoul Business Agency president and chief executive Hyunwoo Kim has lofty ambitions. He wants the forum to become “a representative collaboration model that connects the global startup ecosystem into one through CES.” That is Silicon Valley-speak for creating an annual fixture where Seoul plays kingmaker. Whether the forum becomes indispensable or just another CES side-show depends on one thing: do startups actually land deals, or do they just collect business cards?

For now, Seoul is doing what ambitious cities do—using a massive global stage to punch above its weight. The Global Innovation Forum may not revolutionise startup diplomacy, but if it helps a few clever firms secure funding and partnerships, it will have done its job. And if Seoul cements itself as the connective tissue of the global startup circus? Even better. Place your bets, startups. Vegas awaits.