At a time when the startup ecosystem in India is in an overdrive, the Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF), which kicks off in Philadelphia on February 22, is creating a platform for Indian entrepreneurs to help make their ideas flourish and get funded. What’s more, for the first time this year it will also hold a competition that will feature innovative India-focused startups.
Over the last couple of years, there has been a concerted action around startups in India with a new breed of risk-taking, entrepreneurial talent coming out of the famed IITs and IIMs wanting to start something of their own instead of opting for lucrative jobs at bulge-bracket investment banks and consultancy firms. Investor interest, too, has kept pace adding the much-needed capital a startup needs to take shape.
Colleges and universities have always been fertile grounds for startups to blossom. In India, most IITs have tried to create an ecosystem with entrepreneurial cells on campus. IIT-Bombay, though, leads the pack with one of the largest number of startups coming out of the Powai campus.
Students coming off campus today are inspired by first generation Indian entrepreneurs who have found success over the past few years. E-commerce players like Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Myntra, among others, have achieved impressive valuations, which has encouraged a lot of young students to go the entrepreneurial way.
The startup competition at this year’s WIEF intends to promote Indian entrepreneurship by building a robust platform that encourages ideas exchange and collaboration across to schools and alumni networks in the US and India. The startup competition comprises two separate innovation tournaments for early-stage ideas and post-proof of concept startups, which was launched on November 24 last year. Ten finalists across the post-proof of concept and idea categories were chosen on January 30, 2014.
Winning entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to pitch to a panel of venture capital investors and established entrepreneurs on the day of the conference and will compete for prize money of up to $10,000.
The final pitches will be judged by Games2win CEO Alok Kejriwal, Sanjeev Bikchanadani of Naukri.com, Mukund Mohan, head of Microsoft Ventures, Rajesh Sawhney, founder of GSF Accelerator, and Kartik Hosanagar, a professor at Wharton and a serial entrepreneur.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/emerging-businesses/startups/platform-for-desi-startups-to-compete-for-funds/articleshow/30714362.cms
