Indore: Bringing start-up enthusiasts closer for contesting their way to Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), NITI Aayog’s maiden start-up summit in city, ‘Road to GES’ was held here at IIM-I on Tuesday with much promises. City based start-up company Anaxee Digital Runners won the coveted ‘Golden Ticket’ to attend the GES, South Asia’s first mega entrepreneurship summit to be held in Hyderabad from 28-30 November.
Presenting a unique opportunity to start-ups, the ‘Road to GES’ was a live investor pitch competition, where start-ups pitched their strongest concepts to win over investors for their project.
After much deliberation, Anaxee Digital Runners won the coveted entry to attend GES 2017 at Hyderabad. This was in line with the objective of enhancing entrepreneurship and innovation in the ecosystem and providing start-ups exposure to investors, entrepreneurs, mentors and prospective partners.
Hundreds of start-ups had registered online with a potential pitch to investors for the event. Of the numerous applications from fifty-nine cities, ten start-ups were shortlisted through a rigorous selection process. The start-ups were also given pre-event mentoring and invited to pitch live at the event to a jury of investors. On-the-spot mentoring was also provided by the same group of mentors.
One among a range of ‘Road to GES’ events being held across India, Tuesday’s event at IIM-Indore was organised by NITI Aayog with Wadhwani Foundation as the knowledge partner. The event witnessed participation of leading investors, mentors, entrepreneurs, start-ups, students and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Manager of Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, Mudit Narain and deputy adviser (industry-textiles), NITI Aayog, Upendra Kumar Gupta spoke at the event. Setting the context for the gathering, Mudit Narain explained GES and its achievements over the last seven years in details. Senior members of the Wadhwani Foundation, EVP Atul Raja and VP RK Kalluri were also present at the event.
NITI Aayog adviser Anna Roy said “I would like to congratulate Wadhwani Foundation for supporting NITI Aayog and hosting this pitching competition, which serves as a great platform for budding entrepreneurs to excel and find able mentorship.
The 400+ strong audiences was also witness to an insightful panel discussion with investors on the theme, ‘Is funding always available for deserving start-ups?’ The discussion focused on ways and means to open funding opportunities for deserving start-ups and the need to create a strong framework for the same.
