10 start-ups to pitch for on-spot funding at IIT-Bombay

Ten shortlisted start-up teams will get to present their entrepreneurship ideas in 10 minutes each to a panel of over 12 angel investors and get an opportunity to win on-the-spot funding up to Rs.10 lakh each at the two-day Entrepreneurship Summit organised by IIT Bombay which opened on Saturday

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The “10 Minute Million” event is one of the highlights of the summit, which each year brings together students, industry experts, business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs on the same platform. In its 10th edition now, the summit will feature this on-the-spot funding event for the first time on Sunday afternoon at the Lecture Hall Complex at IIT’s Powai campus.

The 10 selected start-up teams will get five minutes to pitch and explain their entrepreneurial idea, and five minutes to answer the questions raised by the investors on the durability of the concept, the revenue streams, the return on investment etc. “Only 10 start ups were shortlisted from over 250 applications were received,”said Sagar Sheth,

The panel of investors include Ajay Pandey, CEO and board member from the Tata Group, Ajeet Khurana, angel investor and CEO of IIT Bombay’s Society for Innovation and Entrepreurship (SINE), Bharat Banka, founder, Aditya Birla Private Equity, Ravi Gururaj, an investor who has funded five such start-ups in the past, Suneel Bandhu of Tata Teleservices among others.

An initiative by the Entrepreneurship Cell of IIT Bombay, E-Summit is a confluence of visionary students, professionals or anyone who wishes to be one of those crazy rebels who will change the world, start his own business or fund a business and become a trend-setter.

Inaugurating the summit, H.S. Pandalai, Deputy Director, Finance & External Affairs, IIT Bombay said, “E-Summit has grown bigger and better over the years and has become the one-stop destination for all budding entrepreneurs. IIT Bombay offers host of facilities to nurture entrepreneurship among students and I hope this Summit will provide an opportunity for young enthusiasts to interact with best of the minds and learn from their experiences.”

The keynote speakers at the inaugural session were Mr. Anil Gupta, Michael Dingman Chair in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and Mr. Salil Donde, Executive Vice President, NASDAQ, who spoke on Entrepreneurial Indigeneity and Globalization.

“Entrepreneurs may need to take risks, big risks but do not take fatal risks...Focus on the business model and not the business plan; Opportunity comes at most unexpected times, so grab it. Data and analytics are vital, irrespective of the field you are in. And you learn more when you fail than when you succeed,” Mr. Donde told students sharing experiences from his journey.