It is needless to say that the startup culture has been booming in India as well as the world over the last couple of years and it has been growing by leaps and bounds. To commemorate this outstanding growth in the startup culture in India, a first of its kind Seaside Startup Summit was organized in Goa.
The summit was organized by Hakob Hakobyan, founder of Startup Armenia Foundation; Anil Chhikara, founder of Startup India Foundation; Tripti Singhal Somani, founder of KGS Advisors; and Uma Ghurkha, National President Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs India. The State Government of Goa, Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, National Small Scale of Industries, SIDBI and Invest India, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion rendered their support to the event.
The grand success of Seaside Startup Summit UAE, Ras Al Khaimah on February 8-12, prompted the organizers to move the event to India. And what better place for an exciting tent camp business forum than the beautiful, serene and vivacious beaches of Goa?
Over 300 attendees came together at Cabo De Rama beach to celebrate another big step towards the development of the Global Startup Ecosystem. Startups, investors, speakers, and mentors from all over the world became a part of this amazing initiative where the participants shared their modes of loves, gained new knowledge, competed with each other and had loads of fun.
What did the four days involve?
On the first day of the Summit, 6 March the participants got introduced to each other and got familiar with the environment.The major event of the day was the grand inauguration/opening ceremony.
Minister for Commerce & Industry, Mr. Suresh Prabhu and Minister of Information & Technology, Mr. Rohan Khaunte supported the event.
Secretary Government of Goa, Mr. Ameya Abhyankar also supported the startup summit initiative and graced the event for the closing ceremony on 10th March.
The second day, 7 March was passed fruitfully with adventures at the beach as well as workshops and campfire talks to hone the skills of the participants.
Select women entrepreneurs from Seaside Startup Summit in Goa were hosted by Ms. Mridula Sinha, Governor of Goa at Raj Bhawan on 8th of March, the third day. The event was aimed to inspire, motivate and cheer up the women entrepreneurs.The participants were preparing for the next day as the Big Battles and the Seed Battles were upcoming.
The fourth day, 9 March, was filled with fun and frolic as well learning around the campfire talks and enriching life experiences of the speakers.
On March 10th, there was a panel discussion on government support for startup ecosystem in India. The esteemed panelists include Mr. Akadas, Director- MSME-Goa; Mr. Vijay M Kalinani, AGM, Branch-in Charge, SIDBI (Panaji); Mr. S.R. Chandra Murthy, Manager, SIDBI (Panaji); Mr. Suresh Siraparapu, ZGM, NSIC; and Mr. Guneet Malik, Assistant Manager, Invest India. The panel was moderated by Tripti Singhal Somani, CEO, KGS Advisors.Secretary Government of Goa, Mr. Ameya Abhyankar also supported the startup summit initiative and graced the event for the closing ceremony on this day.
But it has to be mentioned that the showstoppers during these four days were the Startup battles wherein startups from various fields participated. The Summit organized a Big Battle, a special type of battle designed for all the participating startups regardless of the field they are active in and Brand Battle, designed only for those ‘early stage’ startups that work in specific fields viz. Retail, Enterprise, Edutech, Fintech, Mobile, Social, Healthcare, IoT.
Oceo Waters founded by Vikram Gulecha in the Smart Cities sector won the ultimate Big Battle and an amount of $5000. It was competing with 75 other companies. The second place was held by Wolkus Technologies, founded by Shailendra Tiwari; they won $3000. Third place was Prescrip, founded by Shekhar Rawtani, who won $2000.
All the brand battle winners got $1500.
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