At IndiaFOSS 2025, we made our public debut. Back then, Xeneva was mostly in the wannabe startup stage, trying to build an operating system completely from scratch while balancing college. Since then, a lot has happened. We got backed by Zerodha's grant, exhibited at MangaloreFOSS, took our prototype to AWE Asia in Singapore, and engaged with multiple industry professionals to take our project forward. Ultimately, we managed to build a small team, gave up everything else, and are shifting to Bangalore to pursue this full-time.
This talk is a reality check on what happens after the initial hype. Building an independent, indigenous OS is... not really an easy task. Plus, we had to get into a niche to begin with. After careful research, we got into XR/AR/VR. But building it as an open-source startup, especially in the XR and smart glasses space where companies usually lock down their ecosystems, is kind of a different approach.
Xeneva actually started six years ago, and for the first five, it was more of a hobby. We want to share the unfiltered experience of making that jump from a 5 year old side project to a full time deep-tech startup. Specifically, we want to talk about this at IndiaFOSS because this time last year, we were at IndiaFOSS, and this event is what helped us make the transition. We’ll talk about why we actively chose to remain open-source when going closed might seem like the obvious route for an XR Startup whose main USP is its IP.
Most importantly, we want to highlight the beauty of open source and how we are only still here because we are open-source. The community support, the early equity-free grant, and the sheer visibility of building in the open are the exact reasons a project like Xeneva could survive.
