Among the InnoTrekers shortlisted for the week long immersive program, 17 are Deep Tech start-ups and 10 from towns beyond metros
New Delhi, 26 April 2018: Reaffirming its efforts to evangelize and bridge India’s entrepreneurial dream to the global arena, National Association of Software and Service Companies’ (NASSCOM) 10,000 start-up program is all set to host the 5th Edition of NASSCOM InnoTrek 2018. Giving wings to a carefully curated set of 39 innovators, this year’s edition of the platform will offer the brightest technology startups of the country a chance to go to Silicon Valley and interact with global investors, attend workshops and sessions from the biggies of the tech space and visit the global nerve center of entrepreneurial ecosystem. The program will have Mr. Ravi Gururaj, Member Executive Council, NASSCOM, Mr. KS Viswanathan, Vice President (Industry Initiative), NASSCOM accompanying the delegation this year.
Beginning on 30th April till May 5th, the program aims to provide the group of Indian technology entrepreneurs & founders, an opportunity to get International exposure and encouragement through workshops, networking sessions, investor panels, expert roundtables and corporate briefings with subject matter experts and global veterans. 17 out of the 40 InnoTrekers shortlisted this year to embark on the week long immersive program are Deep Tech start-ups. The strong emergence of Deep Tech ventures in this year’s cohort is an encouraging testament of NASSCOM’s efforts over the years to strengthen industry connect and mentoring, as they are critical enablers in catapulting promising Deep Tech ventures from academia and labs to the global arena. As a promising marker of the start-up wave reaching beyond the metros, 10 start-ups out of the ones shortlisted this year are from Kochi, Pune, Kozhikode and Vishakhapatnam. (Detailed list of the selected start-ups in Annexure I)
Commenting on the initiative, Mr. Ravi Gururaj, Member Executive Council, NASSCOM said “Driven by its entrepreneurial zeal, the nation’s start-up ecosystem has not only registered steady growth over the past few years but also drawn the interest of several major accelerators, investors, angel groups across the world to join the growth story. To strengthen their competitive edge and stay committed to learning and adopting best practices from their counterparts in the valley, InnoTrek continues to offer an enriching interface for our brightest innovators to help showcase their prowess, exchange ideas and evolve. Into its fifth edition, the program continues to grow and encourage new start-ups to rise and shine in the global arena.”
Catalyzing an exchange of ideas, the program agenda this year is evenly punctuated with visits to campuses of tech giants to meet their product leadership and development teams, pitches to prominent Valley investors, several action-packed conferences, culminating in the TieCon conference at the end of the week. The annual flagship annual conference will feature two full days of networking and programming with a large number of entrepreneurs, VCs, industry executives, and thought leaders. Noteworthy among them are, Kellogg’s Alumni dinner reception and Plug and Play sessions – supported by IT services Council, 25 key partners, customers and investors meeting with the startups. In addition to this, for the time, NASSCOM InnoTrek 2018 is organizing specific enterprise connect session with top Silicon Valley enterprises. The day-long event will see intense pitches from delegates and interaction with some of the big names in the valley.
Noting the emergence of Deep Tech and other category leaders in this year’s cohort, Mr. KS Viswanathan, Vice President (Industry Initiative), NASSCOM said “Over the years India’s start-up ecosystem has evolved into a fertile ground of promising ideas and InnoTrek, since its inception five years ago, has remained focused on equipping the best budding innovators at home with the right global exposure, opportunities and mentoring. Along, with the maturing of Indian entrepreneurial landscape we have witnessed the emergence of focused domain solutions, Deep Tech start-ups, and emerging enterprises from Tier II/III towns, a trend that is mirrored in this year’s cohort. We are energized by the enterprising spirit of young disruptive minds and are excited to make this journey with InnoTrekers this year to the Valley of Dreams”
The 2018 edition of InnoTrek had received around 370 application, out of which 170 start-ups were shortlisted. A 7 member jury team, comprising of who’s who of the start-up and entrepreneurial world selected the final 40 after a series rigorous discussion and scrutiny. The jury consists of Digvijay Singh, COO, Indian Angel Network, Arpit Agarwal, Co-Founder & Director, HeadStart Network Foundation, Sateesh Andra, managing Partner, Ventureast Tenet Fund, Ganapathy Venugopal, Co-Founder & CEO, Axilor Ventures, Venkatesh Peddi, Executive Director, IDG Ventures India and Ajeya Motaganahalli, Director, NetApp India PVT.LTD.
Over the past four editions, participating start-ups as well as industry have given an encouraging response to the Innotrek initiative for promoting entrepreneurship, and providing a learning and networking platform. By driving discussions, engagement and mentorship the platform will continue to evangelize India’s entrepreneurial prowess across the globe.
In order to bring continuous support to the selected 40 start-ups, NASSCOM, as next steps will track the process of the participating startups for a period of atleast 2 years; Monitor data of any investments, growth revenue and exits; Engage them in future programs, providing regular mentorship and guidance in terms of acceleration, scaling up and funding to continue to disrupt.
Link to InnoTrek 2018 website
About NASSCOM
NASSCOM® is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the Technology and services industry in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 2500 members, which include both Indian and multinational companies that have a presence in India. NASSCOM’s member companies are broadly in the business of IT services, Software Products, BPM, Internet and Ecommerce, Engineering services and start-ups. NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in India and employs over 4 million professionals.