The Amrita Technology Business Incubator (TBI) has committed a total of $120,000 in seed funding for four promising start-ups. These were shortlisted out of 702 startups from all over India at the PitchFest organized from January 9-10, 2016, at the Bengaluru campus of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. The winning startups are Preksh Innovations (ecommerce), B2BSphere (ecommerce), Meladath Auto Components, and MaaxMarket (social media marketing).
“As PM Modi prepares to unveil his ambitious ‘Startup India Standup India’ action plan, Amrita TBI, an incubator supported by the Government of India and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, is doing its part by organizing this PitchFest every year. Amrita TBI has grown to be amongst the top-five most prolific start-up incubators due to our commitment to promote ground-up innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. With 29 incubated startups and 0% loss in investments, Amrita TBI is committed to providing the right ecosystem and mentor support for its incubates,” said Dr. Krishnashree Achuthan, CEO of Amrita TBI.
Initially, Amrita TBI had planned for a total seed investment outlay of USD 100,000 for the Top-3 startups at the PitchFest. During the final review, however, the quality of the top startups was found to be exceptional. The Amrita TBI review board then decided to increase the outlay to USD 120,000 and provide funding to top four startups instead of three.
The Amrita TBI PitchFest, which is being held since 2012, was organized this year in partnership with the Government of India, NASSCOM 10K, Indian Angel Network and FreshersWorld. It attracted a total of 702 startup applications from all over India, with product/service offerings spanning more than 25 areas, including IT, IT services, mobile apps, advertising/media, agriculture, financial services, and social media. The maximum number of applications was received from Bengaluru, followed by Mumbai, Kerala and Delhi.
Out of the startups which applied, the top-30 startups were shortlisted and invited to pitch on Day-1 of the PitchFest. The top-13 startups were shortlisted for Day-2. Finally, the top-4 startups were selected for funding. Amrita TBI also received 80 applications for co-working space at its startup facilities in Bengaluru and Kollam.
Amrita TBI is one of the very few business incubators in India that provides startups a national platform to showcase their ideas/products/services and receive funding, that too at a large scale. Most other TBIs only cater to regional markets. Till now, Amrita TBI has incubated 29 startups, mentored 181 startup ideas, built 31 products, filed for 5 patents and trained 6,700 students, and incurred 0% loss from its investments. The Amrita TBI PitchFest is a platform for startups to showcase their ideas, qualify to receive seed investments, and get incubation space at Amrita TBI.
