*Grand finale in Feb 2020 at New Delhi
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 30: The Jammu round of ASSOCHAM Launchpad – Startup Elevator Pitch Series, an initiative and platform for budding entrepreneurs concluded today, calling all `startups’ and entrepreneurs from Jammu and Kashmir region to bring their technology and business ideas to the most important investors and industry leaders.
Out of the total 80 applications received by ASSOCHAM from across J&K, 25 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.
All the applications received have been evaluated on the basis of certain parameters including – innovation, problem solving, social impact, team qualification, experience, business scalability, profitability and others. Budding startups from different sectors have been invited for pitching.
The participants 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 J&K 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 or technology or even marketing partnership with venture capitalists, mentors or independent professionals of global repute.
As part of the Elevator Pitch all 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; Ms Tripti Somani, co-chair; Ms Rachana Bhusari, VP-SME, National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. and Manik Batra, Director, Batra Group.
“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,” said Mr Khaitan.
“The ASSOCHAM ‘Startup Elevator Pitch Series,’ is to be held in 12 cities, while three winners have been selected each from Jaipur, Lucknow, Pune, Chandigarh and Jammu, we now on move to Goa where top startups will vie for the winner’s slot on November 8,” Mr Khaitan added.
Talking about the ASSOCHAM’s initiative, Ms Somani said, “This initiative for the first time brought industry, association and startups to come under one umbrella and provide a unique opportunity both for startups to pitch to industry leaders who would in turn get exposed to young entrepreneurs with new ideas which can help them with techniques and innovation in their industry.”
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.
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. 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.
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