IIM Kashipur’s Foundation for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (FIED) recently concluded the seventh edition of its annual entrepreneurship summit, Uttishtha 2023. The three-day event, held from February 24 to 26, aimed to bring socio-economic value to Uttarakhand’s entrepreneurship ecosystem by enabling raw entrepreneurs to see big dreams. The summit was supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, and saw over 100 startups and nearly 20 venture capitalists keen on investing.
The National Business Plan Pitching Competition, a highlight of the event, saw Uttarakhand-based startups present their business ideas to venture capitalists, investors, and other stakeholders. Promising startups, including HimMadhu, AI-MRI, MyPahadiDukan, TheFitBread, FLAAR, Vikalp Herbals, GeeComIndia, PahariHaat, and SuperFarmers presented marvelous business ideas that impressed the investors and other stakeholders. VCs committed over Rs 5 crore of investments on the spot to the startup founders.
The event also included an entrepreneur’s conclave, an investor’s meet, and an agri startup mela. The second day of Uttishtha featured a series of panel discussions, keynote speeches, and workshops. Eminent industry leaders from various sectors, investors, and new startups brought in good networking possibilities for mutual growth together.
Professor Kulbhushan Balooni, Director of IIM Kashipur, said, “IIM Kashipur’s FIED platform has reached a high level, especially with Uttishtha. We are creating socio-economic impact in the home state by promoting entrepreneurship with the support of the state and central governments.” Professor Safal Batra, Director of FIED, said, “IIM Kashipur stands tall nationally by hosting such a platform for agri startups in Uttarakhand. We have seen incubators going to the remotest places in the state to identify entrepreneurs with unique business ideas who can represent the future of Indian business.”
The event showcased the success of the FIED team’s efforts over the past seven years in incubating over 140 startups, of which around 50 have crossed the Rs 320 Cr mark with 1200+ employment generation. Some of the IIM Kashipur FIED-incubated startups are making success stories in the country. Bijak raised USD 34.1 million, LoopWorm raised USD 3.4 million, and Greenpod Labs raised USD 0.54 million from external investors. PoultryMon, NKosh, InfiU Labs, and many more have also generated funds on merit and shown ways to other registered startups.
The summit’s investor’s meet saw venture capitalists like PinCap, FitSol Supply Chain Solutions, HBF Limited, GSF Accelerators, Omnivore, and other venture capitalists keen on investing. The FIED team’s efforts in facilitating the right platform for bringing the right human resources, branding, investors, larger market place, price, and packaging have put Uttarakhand’s startups into the mainstream business.
The event’s entrepreneur’s conclave featured a thoughtful panel discussion on “How an Ecosystem can be Created in Uttarakhand State,” which made the conclave more interesting with different viewpoints of marquee startups founders such as Subhadeep Sanyal of Omnivore, Monika Pandey of YourNest, Sachin Sheron of HBF Direct, Manish Srivastava of Alphavalue. Eminent startup dignitaries like Rajat Jain, Founder of Sunfox; Nitin Jain, Co-Founder of OFBUSINESS; Anubhav Dubey, Founder of Chai Sutta Bar delivered keynote addresses and motivated the startup participants.