Chandigarh
10 December 2022
DIVYA AZAD
Innovation Mission Punjab is a unique private-public partnership that aims to build, empower and act as a catalyst for local startup communities in Punjab. IMPunjab organized its first Demo Day on 8th December where budding entrepreneurs presented their funding proposals to investors. Startups that were part of the first cohort of the Mohali Accelerator, pitched to investors from various sectors. Every startup received interest from an average of 7 investors and the coming month will commence on deal closures. The cumulative ask from the startups at the Demo Day was ~65Cr.
During the 3-month Accelerator Program, startups were on a journey to build and scale by leveraging technology, identifying national and global markets to create go-to-market strategies, working on financial models, strategizing in lowering the customer acquisition cost and operating/servicing costs along with learning the best ways to pitch their startups to investors and other stakeholders. The program wrapped up with a demo day. Demo Day was dedicated to the 16 product-ready stage startups that pitched to investors and sought funding for their businesses. The following businesses pitched to the investors.
Several startups in various domains such as Add Veda of modern ayurvedic healthcare products and supplements including smart AI enabled sensors and softwares startup Blackeye Technologies, ed-tech startup Cipher School, Countryside Express a two-way logistics solution, DreamBIG Edtech– ed-tech startup for government employees, Enthu.AI a startup for speech and conversation recognition using ML, Innvocon Learning AI based SaaS based start-up, Jaggercane a women led startup to replace refined sugar with jaggery, Manjha Technologies an AI based startup for feed and seed calculation, Rimone Ingenious EVs based startup, ScratchNest a startup on hardware technologies, Verdant Impact a full stack animal husbandry startup, Vishwaaz.ai an AI based Deeptech create audio files, Vyavsay a SaaS-Based Innovative Tech Solution to scale businesses, Terafac Tech a startup that enables hands-on learning mimicing multiple industries, Pickkup.io a startup for logistics, have received guidance from industry experts on how to build scalable models as per market fitment and also learned how to pitch their startups to investors and other stakeholders.
Demo Day observed a diverse set of investors from across the country having a deep engagement towards deal closures such as Full stack capital, SucSEED, CIIE, Fluid Ventures, Omnivore, pi Ventures, IIML Incubators, Unicorn Venture Capital, Asha Ventures, July Ventures, LetsVenture altogether, First Cheque, Inflection, Venture Catalyst, Go North Ventures, Hunch, Ventures UNLTD, Exit Fund, OAKS, Indian Angel Network, Chandigarh Angels Network, Punjab Angels Network, IAN Advisors Pvt Ltd.
The event commenced with an IMPunjab Accelerator Program video showcase followed by a welcome note from key speakers Sibin C – IAS, Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Govt. of Punjab, D.S. Brar – Board of Director, IMPunjab and Somveer Anand – CEO & Mission Director, IMPunjab before the pitch began.
Commenting on the event, Mr. Pramod Bhasin, Chairman, IMPunjab said “IMPunjab envisions creating a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in Punjab. The state of Punjab already has a burgeoning startup ecosystem, with the finest education system, research institutions, and a highly bankable pool of talent. We have been able to support the early-stage startups throughout the Accelerator program by enabling them to utilize their best potential, to drive growth and leverage the ecosystem in the state”.
IMPunjab has already onboarded over 1100 startups with its ongoing initiatives and is building a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship by working on-ground with schools, colleges, industries, and MSMEs. They are building the startup ecosystem by bringing on board the best investors and mentors and setting up virtual networks of incubators to support startups across all sectors. They concluded the event by launching the applications for the next cohort scheduled in February 2023.
