By Tricitynews
Chandigarh
18th October:- The
Chandigarh round of ASSOCHAM Launchpad-Startup Elevator Pitch Series, an
initiative and platform for budding entrepreneurs concluded today at Indian
School of Business (ISB), Sector 81, Mohali.
Sukhmeet
Singh, Co founder of Agri to Power won the first prize for his startup
idea, Piyuesh Rai Bhatia and Manish Garg (Empower Datalyzers) secured the 1st
runners up position and Lt Cdr Johan Livingstone (Retd) Founder, CEO &
Product Architect- Johnnette Defence & Aerospace was declared 2nd runners
up.
Of
over 100 applications received by ASSOCHAM from across Punjab, 15 upcoming
startups were shortlisted and they got a chance to meet world class mentors,
investors, companies having decades of industry experience to help them give a
better shape to their business idea and pitch for funding & technology
partners to generate business opportunities.
The
startups are mostly from the category of early stage startups i.e. between 0-2
years of operations and established startups between 3–5 years of operations.
The top three winners from Chandigarh will now be invited for grand finale in
February 2020 in Delhi.
Besides,
they will also get an opportunity to scale up and raise finance and/or
technology or even marketing partnership with venture capitalists, mentors or
independent professionals of global repute.
As
part of the Elevator Pitch all 15 shortlisted entrepreneurs and founders were
given 300 seconds to explain the concept and idea of a service or product to
set of jury members which included eminent names -Anil Khaitan, chairman,
ASSOCHAM Startup Council; J.D. Ghai, founder & CEO, santabanta.com
Mrigank Singh, CEO, Atal Incubation Centre at ISB Mohali; Ravindra Chawla,
professor, NDIM; Raman Chadha, Co-Founder & CEO, Adreno Technologies India
Pvt. Ltd.; Arvind Mehan, ED, NCI (India) Pvt. Ltd.; Jagjit Singh Majha, MD
& CEO, PCL Group and president, CREDIA, and Karanbir Singh, consultant
prosthetist and orthootist, Deep Artificial Limb Centre.
Anil
Khaitan said that the ASSOCHAM Elevator Pitch event continues to showcase best
startups from across different cities in India, proving ASSOCHAM’s dedication towards
highlighting most forward-thinking innovators/budding entrepreneurs.
He
added that we are thrilled to offer recognition to each of the winners from
Chandigarh as they continue their journey towards evoking change within our
society and country as a whole to further propel our economy on a high growth
trajectory.
He
further added that the ASSOCHAM ‘Startup Elevator Pitch Series,’ is to be held
in 12 cities, while three winners have been selected each from Jaipur, Lucknow,
Pune and now Chandigarh, after this brief stopover we now on move to Jammu
where top startups will vie for the winner's slot on October 30.
The
ASSOCHAM Startup Launchpad is giving the budding startups in tier II and III
cities of India an access to industry experts who can give them the guidance
they need on business, product, marketing and also connect them with right
people that can help with funding process and proper guidance on how to setup
business case for funding.
The
program both complements and supports Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship
initiative of ‘Startup India,’ thereby supporting the spurring entrepreneurship
ecosystem of the country. It incorporates mentorship and guidance from
industry’s best leaders together with co-working space for all selected
startups for a period of three months with no cost. Each of the startups making
it would get three meetings with investors and a chance to pitch directly to
them.
There
would be Google Cloud vouchers available, besides it will provide a direct
entry into the accelerator programme with IncubateIND, India’s fastest growing
technology community network.
36
finalists (3 each to be selected from 12 cities) are expected to present their
ideas at the grand finale in February 2020 in Delhi, of which the top three
will be selected. There are prizes worth Rs 1.5 Cr to be won. While top five
startups will get $5000 each from AWS (Amazon Web Service), next 15 startups
will get $2000 and the next 80 will get $1000 worth credits.
PayTM
being a partner will provide payment gateway boosters i.e. INR one lakh of free
payment gateway transactions for 12 months to top 3 startups in each city. Offering
$2500 credit for Superb Cloud to all startups. Cloud telephony solutions worth
INR 28,500 to all associated startups of growth centers, at zero-cost for 6
months. The setup includes - Virtual business number + customized IVR solution;
Call tracking, recording & monitoring and Dedicated account manager for
your support, and more. Besides, access to free Incubation Centre at NDIM (New
Delhi Institute of Management) will also be provided.