Fintech CoE at NSRCEL, IIM Bangalore Selects 10 Fintech Startups for Grants in partnership with HDFC Bank Parivartan

NSRCEL at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM Bangalore), through its Fintech Centre of Excellence (CoE) supported by the Government of Karnataka, has partnered with HDFC Bank Parivartan, the CSR arm of HDFC Bank, to support startups creating measurable financial impact in India.

The initiative supports early- and growth-stage fintech ventures building solutions across lending, payments, insurance, wealthtech, regtech, embedded finance, and allied domains. The collaboration combines grant support with strategic ecosystem access to help startups strengthen business fundamentals, improve market readiness, and expand access to formal financial services for underserved segments.

Startups were selected through an open call curated by NSRCEL, followed by a joint evaluation process conducted by NSRCEL and HDFC Bank. A total of 17 startups presented their innovations during the Demo Day, after which 10 startups were selected to receive grant support under the HDFC Bank Parivartan Program.

The startups selected for the grants include:

1. Entitled
2. Dhiway
3. Finsall
4. PropLegit
5. Lark Finserv
6. INKA
7. ValuEnable
8. GreenFi
9. Xaults
10. Saventh

“Fintech has the power to meaningfully expand financial access and resilience in India-but only when innovation is grounded in real, measurable outcomes. Through this partnership with HDFC Bank, NSRCEL’s Fintech Centre of Excellence is deploying CSR capital to help emerging fintech startups move beyond pilots to market adoption. Our focus is on enabling founders to build market-ready, compliant, and scalable solutions that address critical gaps across India’s financial landscape,” said Anand Sri Ganesh.

Beyond grant support, participating ventures will receive outcome-driven engagement tailored to their growth challenges. Founders will have access to on-demand expert support, closed-door interactions with regulators and industry leaders, conversations with successful founders, and curated introductions to investors and ecosystem partners. Each intervention will be aligned to measurable business outcomes, with regular check-ins to track progress and ensure continued relevance.

The Fintech Centre of Excellence at NSRCEL is designed to scale beyond a single cohort, with the vision of becoming a leading hub for fintech startups building in India and scaling globally. The CoE is deepening its focus across areas including MSME financing, CBDCs, embedded finance, wealthtech, and AI in finance.

Through initiatives such as the Fintech Clinic, the CoE continues to bring together startups, regulators, BFSI institutions, and technology players to address emerging opportunities and challenges in financial innovation.

By supporting high-potential fintech ventures, the initiative aims to strengthen India’s innovation pipeline and help promising companies transition from experimentation to long-term growth, contributing to broader financial inclusion and economic value creation.

IIM Bengaluru Wins the 1st Edition of Air India Soar; 27 Premier Institutes Engage in Outreach Event

IIM Bengaluru wins the first edition of Air India SOAR

Innovative nation-wide B-School contest draws over 7,000 industry-best talent

Sets stage to engage young academics to aspire for career in aviation

Team Horizon of IIM Bangalore has won the top honours of the National Champion in the first edition of SOAR (Spirit of Aviation Reimagined), Air India’s business challenge based annual nationwide B-school competition. Team JMH, representing IMT Ghaziabad, was the 1st Runners-Up, while the teams Republic of Restless, representing IIM Shillong, and Horizon, representing IIFT, emerged joint winners for the 2nd Runners-Up position in the competition that saw 27 premier business schools vying for the top honours.

A first-of-its-kind student interactive programme in the aviation industry, SOAR is part of Air India’s campus outreach initiative to engage with young talent and build a strong leadership pipeline for tomorrow. In the process, the students are being offered an insight into Air India’s transformation journey to inspire them to be part of the new Air India.

Strengthening human resources through merit-driven recruitment programmes is a milestone that Air India had set out to achieve in its five-year transformation journey, Vihaan.AI. Ever since its coming back home to the Tata Group, Air India is getting firmly established as an employer of choice. The talent augmentation drives of Air India over the last one year have been receiving overwhelming response from the market and leading institutes with the initial recruitment drive for management post-graduates drawing response from over 25,000 applicants in just about one week. To strengthen its human resources in every stream, Air India is investing in shaping early careers and building a strong leadership pipeline for tomorrow.

"Air India is actively reimagining its role in the aviation sector, and our journey to top campuses in the country is more than just a recruitment drive. We are inviting the brightest young minds to join us on this exciting journey of innovation and leadership in aviation. We are consistently encouraging excellence and working to shape the future of aviation. SOAR is a platform which benefits industry, academia and students simultaneously," Dr Suresh Dutt Tripathi, Chief Human Resources Officer, Air India, said.

Since its launch in August 2023, SOAR had received an overwhelming response with over 7,100 registrations from B-Schools across the country. After evaluating the presentations, the shortlisted 12 final teams with three members each vied for the top honours in the grand finale on Monday, in Gurugram. Participants engaged in day-long brainstorming sessions to come up with solutions to real-world challenges of the aviation sector—from marketing to baggage coordination to technology to cultural issues.

The winners at the grand finale were selected by a high-level jury comprising senior Air India executives after evaluating the presentations. The second runners-up teams won a cash award and a Taj Stay voucher for each member. The first runners-up team received cash award and two round-trip Goa/Kerala flight tickets and a Taj Stay voucher for each team member. The champions received a cash award, two round-trip London/Paris flight tickets and a Taj Stay voucher for each team member.

This unique move to engage fresh talent to the nuances of the aviation sector will go a long way in not only augmenting Air India’s employee pool with the best talent but will also contribute to strengthening the aviation ecosystem in the country by inspiring bright minds to develop interest and aspire for achieving excellence in the airline industry.

About Air India:

Founded by the legendary JRD Tata, Air India pioneered India’s aviation sector. Since its first flight on October 15, 1932, Air India has built an extensive domestic network with non-stop flights to cities around the world, across the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Far East, Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Gulf. After 69 years as a government-owned enterprise, Air India and Air India Express were welcomed back into the Tata group in January 2022.

Air India is navigating through a major five-year transformation roadmap under the aegis of Vihaan.AI, with an ambition to become a world class airline with an Indian heart. The first phase of this transformation, the taxi phase was recently concluded, and focused on fixing the basics. These included bringing back to service many long grounded aircraft, addition of talent across flying and ground functions, rapid upgradation of technology, and strengthening of customer care initiatives amongst others. 

A member of Star Alliance, the largest global airline consortium of leading international airlines, Air India offers seamless connectivity and facilities to passengers all over the world.

Capgemini India and IIM Bangalore’s NSRCEL, Expand their Collaboration Until 2025 to Support Tech-driven Startups with Social Innovations

NSRCEL and Capgemini India have announced their collaboration once again for an incubation program in Social Entrepreneurship. Capgemini will support NSRCEL to launch 9 subsequent cohorts of Social Entrepreneurship Incubation programs for 3 years starting from 2023 till 2025.

The NSRCEL - Capgemini incubation program aims to solve the problem of validating solutions for product-market fit and evolving business models in Social Entrepreneurship that can scale. It aims to do so by identifying, and incubating startups that are innovating with technology and digital inclusion at their forefront.

There will be a cohort intake every 4 months. Each cohort will consist of 15-20 early-stage innovations with some market traction and is open for both for-profits & non-profits across sectors. Through this initiative, NSRCEL’s “Impact Orbit” aims to incubate 120 social enterprises in the next 3 years and lead the convergence across for-profit & non-profit business models in India, while also building a support stack of partners & service providers for startup success.

In the past, Capgemini's financial and network support to NSRCEL and its ventures came at a critical time during the pandemic in 2020. The collaboration over the last 3 years allowed 4 for-profit startups to pivot and 9 non-profit startups to enter the market from an idea stage. Collectively the 13 ventures have impacted 5.45lakh beneficiaries and gone on to raise 8.5cr+ through grants and equity. These ventures have also built a strong framework for scaling through the support received during the incubation program.

“It gives NSRCEL-IIMB immense pleasure to have an opportunity to work with Capgemini India CSR again, this time for a larger initiative. We are excited to bring them on board as NSRCEL Impact Orbit’s anchor funding partner to incubate 120 social ventures for the next 3 years and help play a pivotal role in us becoming the largest Social Enterprise incubator in India.”- said Anand Sri Ganesh, COO, NSRCEL

“As a leader in digital transformation, it is our firm belief that technology and innovation can be leveraged to create sustainable solutions and an equitable society for all. Capgemini’s digital Inclusion program relies on two pillars: bridging the digital divide and using technology to ensure social and sustainable development for everyone. Our partnership with IIM-B’s NSRCEL will further enhance this mission by supporting early-stage social ventures to tackle the country’s pressing social problems through scalable and sustainable business models.”, said Anurag Pratap, Vice President & Head of CSR – India, Capgemini.

About NSRCEL

With programs specifically catering to entrepreneurs with profit ventures and social ventures, also student and women entrepreneurs, NSRCEL offers its support to various players of the startup ecosystem.

NSRCEL brings together startups, industry mentors, and eminent academicians from its parent institution Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and researchers who thrive on continuous interaction of theory and practice. For details, visit www.nsrcel.org

Professor Srivardhini K Jha takes Over as Chairpersons at NSRCEL

Prof. Srivardhini Jha assumes charge as the chairperson of NSRCEL, the startup incubator at IIM Bangalore, earlier this month. Prof. Jha is Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at IIM Bangalore. Prior to joining IIMB, she worked as a researcher with the McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics. She has a Ph.D. in Corporate Strategy and Policy from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, an MS in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University and a B.Tech. in Information Science and Engineering from Bangalore University. Prior to moving into academia, she held several senior managerial positions at Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Infosys.

Prof Srivardhini Jha has been working as a researcher and teacher interested in innovation and entrepreneurship. Her research interests include innovation strategy of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) in emerging markets, innovation in the Indian startup ecosystem and social entrepreneurship. With a strong industry background in leading initiatives to build innovation/entrepreneurship capacity in the local ecosystem, she has pursued rigorous and practice-relevant research. Her works have been published in several peer-reviewed international journals such as MIS Quarterly, MIT Sloan Management Review, Management International Review, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, and others. She has co-edited a book titled “Shifting Orbits: Decoding the Trajectory of the Indian Startup Ecosystem”, which was published in 2021.

Announcing this key leadership appointment, Anand Sri Ganesh, Chief Operating Officer, NSRCEL, said, “We are pleased to welcome Professor Srivardhini Jha as NSRCEL's new chairperson. Her research focus on Innovation and Entrepreneurship will only accelerate the pace of impact on the ecosystem and our long-standing commitment of bringing together corporate leaders, investors, academia, and entrepreneurs on one platform.”

Commenting on her new role at NSRCEL, Professor Jha said, “Entrepreneurship will play a major role in propelling India towards becoming a US $5 trillion economy. As a prominent center for entrepreneurial learning, NSRCEL is uniquely positioned to nurture and grow entrepreneurs and their ventures at scale and contribute to nation building. During my tenure, I would like to see NSRCEL make a significant positive impact on the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India.”

About NSRCEL

With programs specifically catering to entrepreneurs with profit ventures and social ventures, also student and women entrepreneurs, NSRCEL offers its support to various players of the startup ecosystem.

NSRCEL brings together startups, industry mentors, and eminent academicians from its parent institution Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and researchers who thrive on continuous interaction of theory and practice. For details, visit www.nsrcel.org

IIMB’s NSRCEL and Yunus Social Business Fund Join Hands to Support Social Businesses from Rural India

NSRCEL- the innovation and entrepreneurship hub of IIM Bangalore, has signed an MoU with Yunus Social Business Fund Bengaluru (YSBFB), the pioneers in social business financing and scaling.

NSRCEL’s Impact Orbit Incubation Vertical recently launched its first-ever Rural Entrepreneurship Incubation program. The program aims to identify, nurture and scale social innovations in rural India. It is the first foray for NSRCEL to understand the challenges to scale for-profit impact businesses from rural India. NSRCEL will support nine early-stage startups in scaling their revenues through specialised businesses and investment-readiness training through this program. The goal of this incubation program is to support at least 25% of the cohort to double their revenue and to directly impact 500-700 livelihoods, and indirectly benefit 2500-3000 lives.

While NSRCEL is leading the incubation program, YSBFB will facilitate modules on investment readiness, working capital management, and exposure to different forms of funding, including an opportunity for two ventures to raise debt from the fund.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting digitization helped NSRCEL serve entrepreneurs from all over. We also started to see first-time founders moving to rural areas, noticing a local problem or a market opportunity, and innovating for the same. This incubation program is a result of unearthing such ventures with a focus on innovative route-to-market solutions & rural livelihood creation, especially employing local women. We are excited to work with an experienced partner like Yunus Social Business fund Bengaluru (YSBFB), which has worked with such ventures globally in other emerging markets like Kenya, Uganda, Colombia and Brazil. We look forward to having YSBFB team engage with our ventures during our November Bootcamp and ready them for future investments in the impact ecosystem.”- Anand Sri Ganesh, COO, NSRCEL.

“YSBFB has always supported social businesses that intrinsically work with rural populations, creating decentralised livelihood opportunities or enabling access to essential products and services. The Rural Entrepreneurship Program comes at an opportune time to build back a resilient India. YSBFB is thrilled to partner with NSRCEL, which has for the last many years promoted the entrepreneurship movement in India.” -Suresh K Krishna, CEO, YSBFB

Below is the list of selected ventures for incubation-

1. Sahrudaya Foods: Sahrudaya aims to bring regional rural recipes which are tasty as well as healthy to your doorstep.
2. Resham Dor: Resham Dor's vision is to revive diminishing craft clusters across India and establish artisans as custodians of their craft.
3. Kulture Street: Aimed towards building a brand that provides skilled Indian artisans a larger market access (online/offline) and a community of loyal customers that love Indian handmade products, across the globe.
4. Kalapuri: Kalapuri embraces artisan communities by giving new opportunities, developing artisans into independent entrepreneurs, training and developing artisan communities and providing global market through Kalapuri platform.
5. IVillage Social Solutions: IVillage aims to address the problem of migration of workforce from rural to urban areas by training rural women to manufacture high quality hand-made products and machine-based stitching processes thus giving them an opportunity to be financially independent.
6. Indian Yards: Indian Yards up-skills women from the communities in the Nilgiris to become fine macrame artisans and subsequently enables them towards becoming an independent producer group.
7. ForSarees: ForSarees is a for-profit social enterprise working with rural artisans, with a vison to revive and popularize indigenous weaves.
8. Bastar se Bazar Tak: Based in Bastar, the organization is working towards improving the livelihoods of tribal farmers through non-timber forest produce.
9. Ayang: Ayang Trust's Livelihood program provides training and market access to farmers in the north-east to help increase productivity and income.

Kotak Mahindra Bank Partners IIM Bangalore and NSRCEL for Developing India’s Future Women Entrepreneurs

Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (“KMBL/ “Kotak”), Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) and NSRCEL- the start-up hub at IIMB announced their CSR partnership to implement the Women Startup Program (WSP 4) to support women by developing their entrepreneurial and managerial skills. The program, launched under KMBL’s CSR project on Education & Livelihood, aims to support ambitious and innovative women entrepreneurs by enabling them to transform their ideas into successful business ventures.

NSCREL at IIMB started the Women Startup Program in 2016 and has constantly reinvented itself and addressed the needs of women entrepreneurs at every stage in their entrepreneurial journeys. It has incubated 400+ female led and owned start-ups.

WSP 4 is the fourth edition of this program by NSRCEL - the centre for excellence on innovation and entrepreneurship at IIMB. WSP 4 will incubate early-stage companies founded by women

entrepreneurs that demonstrate the potential to innovate, implement and create social or financial impact, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

The program commences with a five-week training through Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to be offered on the digital learning initiative of IIMB, IIMBx platform, for all applicants of WSP 4. In the next phase, shortlisted women will be chosen for a three-month-long virtual pre-incubation program

designed by NSRCEL. In the final phase, shortlisted women entrepreneurs will be selected for incubation for 12 months by NSRCEL based on their prototypes and their pitches to the screening committee. During incubation, the entrepreneurs would work towards product/ prototype

development. They will be assessed based on their performance and growth against the milestones set at the beginning of the incubation phase. At this stage, top entrepreneurs will also receive funding support to grow their ventures.

Professor Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore, said: "Our CSR partnership with Kotak Mahindra Bank will enhance the entrepreneurial and managerial skills of women business leaders by supporting the incubation and funding needs of their ventures early in the ideation stage. I am confident that the cohort of the program will build a vibrant ecosystem for women-led enterprises across the country.”

Rohit Rao, Joint President & Group Chief CSR Officer, Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited said, “With NSRCEL’s Women Startup Program, Kotak Mahindra Bank is aiming to build the next layer of fruitful business ventures run by women leaders. The participants will go through a rigorous process of selection and training. WSP 4 will give flight to their imagination and dreams. “Naari Shakti” will exhibit itself in full force when top-notch women of excellent calibre will strive to seek funding for their business ideas.”

Kotak Karma is the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) identity of Kotak Mahindra Group companies.

NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore partners with Acumen to Scale Startups Enabling Green Growth

NSRCEL- the innovation and entrepreneurship hub of IIM Bangalore has partnered with Acumen. Acumen is a global non-profit organization that is changing the way the world tackles poverty by investing in sustainable businesses, leaders and ideas. Acumen Academy is the educational arm of Acumen, that provides practical tools and resources to the community of social innovators and builders. Together, they launched their first “Green Growth Accelerator” in July, a 4-month program with NSRCEL serving as the knowledge partner. 

This program provides entrepreneurs with the leadership and business skills needed to promote equitable economic growth in India through the application of dignified work, climate mitigation, and circular economy principles. While Acumen Academy is delivering core modules, NSRCEL will facilitate workshops, and mentoring engagements and support the delivery of the demo day.

“Innovations in Waste to Value Productions, Waste Management and other business models in the circular economy are difficult to scale. Problems in this segment need a large consortium of partners including government, corporates and R&D institutes. NSRCEL & Acumen partnering with each other is the first step in building such a consortium, which would benefit startups in this space. For NSRCEL’s Social Entrepreneurship Incubation Programs specifically, as we diversify into for-profit social businesses, it is a great opportunity to collaborate and learn from a leader like Acumen. We look forward to nurturing the ecosystem together.” – Anand Sri Ganesh COO, NSRCEL – IIM Bangalore.

“As we scale our work on the challenging intersection of poverty and climate change, Acumen is excited to leverage NSRCEL’s demonstrated expertise in building an enabling ecosystem for entrepreneurs in India.” Mahesh Yagnaraman, Country Director, Acumen India

IIM-B Graduates' Green Energy Firm GPS Renewables Raises Series B Funding From Neev Fund II of SBICap Ventures

Team GPS Renewables

GPS Renewables, a Bengaluru based bioenergy technology firm, has closed its Series B funding from Neev Fund II, managed by SBICap Ventures, an alternative asset manager and a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI Capital Markets Limited, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI, the largest public sector bank in India. 

The latest round of funding will be used by GPS Renewables towards R&D and to support GPS Renewables’ next phase of growth and expansion.

With the current round, GPS has cumulatively raised close to $20 Million in the form of equity. The earlier round was led by Netherlands based Hivos-Triodos Fund and Hyderabad-based Caspian Impact Investments in September 2020.

GPS Renewables started off with a captive biogas product called the ‘BioUrja’. Today, the company has 100+ BioUrja installations across South Asia, with Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Bosch, Cummins, Saint Gobain, Reliance, and several other leading hospitality chains such as Oberoi, Taj, ITC, Marriott, Hyatt and Accor Groups as clients. The Company has successfully expanded its capacity by over 5000x over the last couple of years, thereby positioning itself as the go-to project integrator in the bioenergy space, covering BioCNG, Bioethanol and Green Hydrogen.

Very recently, GPS Renewables commissioned Asia’s largest BioCNG plant based on SSO (Source Separated Organics) in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, which was inaugurated by Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Setup over 15 acres of land, this biogas plant is expected to produce 17 tonnes of BioCNG everyday from 550 tonnes of organic household waste. Nearly 400 city buses in Indore will soon run on the BioCNG generated from this biogas plant. The company is in the process of setting up the world's largest BioCNG plant in Hyderabad in association with project development partners from Japan.

GPS Renewables commissioned Asia’s largest BioCNG plant in Indore

Asia’s largest BioCNG plant in Indore

Commenting on the investment, Mainak Chakraborty, Co-founder and CEO of GPS Renewables, said, “Untreated organic waste streams, ranging from urban waste to paddy straw, are one of the biggest contributors to global warming and it poses serious health concerns for the current and future generations alike. Climate positive solutions to these problems are the need of the hour, and that’s where GPS’ bioenergy solutions suite comes in. We are excited to partner with Neev II as we further strengthen our mission towards making the world cleaner and more sustainable. This partnership will help accelerate our growth while capitalising on the organic feedstock to bioenergy market.”

Manav Bansal, CIO, Neev Funds, said, “This investment into GPS resonates with our mission to decarbonise and to support the next generation of climate entrepreneurs. We will continue to open the gates of capital to climate-focused purpose driven businesses”

Akshay Panth, Principal, Neev Funds, said, “We look forward to our partnership with GPS. It has been a great story of entrepreneurship, and we are impressed with the strong product the team has built from scratch. Neev is proud to partner with GPS in their journey to help the world transition to a more sustainable way of living.”

About GPS Renewables

GPS Renewables is a Bangalore based cleantech firm founded in 2012 by IIM-B graduates Mainak Chakraborty and Sreekrishna Sankar. The company currently focuses on biomethanation technologies to solve the organic waste management challenge, accelerate substitution of fossil fuel with bioenergy and play a key role in mitigating climate change.

For more information: http://www.gpsrenewables.com/

About Neev Fund II

SVL-SME Fund (Neev II Fund), the successor fund of Neev I, was launched in May 2021 and seeks to provide growth and capital expansion to SMEs offering solutions for clean energy, electric vehicles, efficient use of raw materials, and water and circular economy projects in the country. Neev Fund II aims to provide growth capital to emerging and innovative SMEs that focus on mitigating climate risks, promoting social development, job creation, and gender equality.

IIM Bangalore-SIGMA Club Joins Hands with Leher App to organize Product Management Case Competition

We are living in the Golden Age of Product Management. Considered a cornerstone of the current digital brand management sector, product management helps bring in connectivity among students and high-quality collaboration among team members. Interestingly, there is no formal teaching in the art of product management.

However, the drop-in audio/video discussion platform, Leher recognized the gap and joined hands with the premier institute of IIM Bangalore-SIGMA - The Product Management & Technology Club to organize Techzards - A Product Management Case Competition that would open the doors of the new role for the participants where the winners will take away a grand prize of Rs. 25,000.

The competition is slated to be held till 9th August and will test the participant’s knowledge of product management and technical understanding. Questions will be in the form of an MCQ Quiz and will help them gain an insight into the product management field. The first-round winners will be the ones with the most correct answers.

The winners will then move on to the second round where they will be given the opportunity to showcase their inner product manager with an innovative solution based on a live case on the Leher app. The panel will be judging the case studies based on their innovation, functionality and real-time usability based on which they will be promoted to the final round.

The final round will be a live virtual event on the 8th August 2021. The final presentation by the participants will be assessed before declaring the results.

Vikas Malpani-Co-Founder & CEO, Leher App said “This one-of-kind event by Leher App is a step forward in helping recognize the talent in the dynamic field of Product Management. Our aim is to enter the youth mind set and encourage them to resolve real-time dilemmas of the social audio platforms. It will not only help unearth the jewels of the industry but also bring forth awareness to students who are at the cusp of making their career decisions and initiate their product management journey in the ever-dynamic world of social networking”.

IIM Bangalore to Host Virtual Talk by Japanese Robot Creator Tomotaka Takahashi on Sep 25

Hosted by the India-Japan Study Centre at IIMB, the award-winning inventor will discuss strategies to promote new technologies

The India-Japan Study Centre (IJSC) at IIMB will host the next talk in its seminar series, ‘Tatsujin – Speak’, on 25^th September 2020 at 11:00 a.m. The webinar titled, ‘The Creation of a New Robot Era’ will be led by the well-known Japanese robot creator Tomotaka Takahashi, inventor of robot astronaut ‘Kirobo’, and the Grand Canyon climbing Panasonic TVCM ‘Evolta’, both of which hold four Guinness World Records. 

Takahashi San will talk about strategies to promote new technologies and qualities required of innovators in bringing about the next big leap in technology and lifestyle. 

The lecture will be livestreamed on IIMB’s YouTube page: https://youtu.be/mt4e4cuCSmg

 The registration link for the webinar is: https://bit.ly/2RitTNb  

 About the speaker:

Takahashi San is the Founder and CEO of ‘Robo Garage’, and the Founder of ‘Marine-X’. He is also a Research Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo and Visiting Professor at Osaka Electro-Communication University.  

About IJSC @ IIMB:

The India Japan Study Centre (IJSC) was set up as a Centre of Excellence at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore to serve as a facilitator for many collaborative initiatives among academia, industry, and the government agencies between India and Japan on various areas of mutual interest. 

About the lecture series:

IJSC’s lecture series called ‘Tatsujin – Speak’ or ‘Expert-Speak’, aims to bring high-quality information and insights about select areas of India-Japan interactions to the informed and interested members of the public, and also lead to sharing of the key indications and developments in the fields of management, technology, culture etc. Each invited speaker would be an outstanding personality in their specialized area of expertise and experienced in translating the specifics of their knowledge into more general terms. 

25 Fintech Startups Shortlisted for Pre-Incubation Trip at IIMB’s Start-up Hub NSRCEL

Launched in association with ICICI Securities, the initiative could see many of them receiving funding from the CSR fund of the financial services firm.

NSRCEL, the start-up hub at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), today announced the list of 25 shortlisted fintech start-ups for a 15-month extensive program, which could see many of them receiving funding from the CSR fund of ICICI Securities, India’s leading financial services firm.

The selected ventures will undergo a three-month pre-incubation journey during which they will be engaged in various sessions, workshops, peer-to-peer learning activities while they receive regular one-on-one mentoring and advisory sessions. Networking events, connects with industry experts, mock-pitches and interaction with investors will be major highlights of the program.

Post this, the ventures will be given an opportunity to pitch for incubation and funding and the selected ventures will be taken forward for a further 12-month incubation journey.

The initiative was launched in association with ICICI Securities as part of its CSR activity in April 2020 and received over 240 applications from across the country. The selection panel comprising of Mr. Rajiv Sawhney, COO, NSRCEL, and Prof. Venkatesh Panchapagesan, Chairperson, NSRCEL at IIMB, evaluated all applicants and interviewed over 60 entrepreneurs, before handpicking the finalists.

The ventures selected are early-stage startups working in areas like trading, lending, payments, wealth advisory, insurance tech, accounting and financial management, billing software and auxiliary sector-logistics. The cohort covers the participants from nine cities across India including Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Raipur, Noida, Udaipur, and Hyderabad.

ICICI Securities has undertaken to partner the initiative as it believes that fintech have immense potential in jobs creation and economic growth, something which is a need of the hour for India, which has a large population entering the workforce every year.

The selected start-ups are:

Insurtech Startups	Trading	Lending
Wellmo WIMWISURE Zimyo	Tradebeat Purpletrades	WhatsLoan Credochain Mudra Circle

 

Wealth Advisory/ Investment Platforms	Payments	Accounting and Billing SAAS	Auxiliary
7Prosper Jarvis Capital Quotient Patten Effect Labs	MinksPay Paperking Paymatrix Phi-Commerce Zopnote KhaaliJeb NearPe	GIM Books IDOS India Hylo Challenger	Docboyz

 

ICICI Securities to Fund Fintech Startups Selected by NSRCEL of IIM-Bengaluru

NSRCEL, the startup hub at the Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru (IIMB), on Monday announced a list of 25 shortlisted fintech startups for a 15-month extensive programme.

The programme could see many of them receiving funding from the CSR fund of ICICI Securities, a leading financial services firm.

The selected ventures would undergo a three-month pre-incubation journey during which they would be engaged in sessions, workshops, peer-to-peer learning activities while getting regular one-on-one mentoring and advisory sessions, a joint statement from NSRCEL and ICICI Securities said.

Networking events, connects with industry experts, mock-pitches and interaction with investors would be the highlights of the programme, the statement said.

After this, the ventures would be given an opportunity to pitch for incubation and funding and the selected ventures would be taken forward for a further 12-month incubation journey, it said.

The initiative was launched in association with ICICI Securities as part of its CSR activity in April 2020, and got over 240 applications from across the country, the statement said.

COO of NSRCEL Rajiv Sawhney and its chairperson Venky Panchapagesan evaluated the applicants and interviewed over 60 entrepreneurs before handpicking the finalists.

The ventures selected are early-stage startups working in areas like trading, lending, payments, wealth advisory, insurance tech, accounting and financial management, billing software and auxiliary sector-logistics. The cohort covers the participants from Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Raipur, Noida, Udaipur and Hyderabad, the statement added.

IIM Bangalore Gets New Director in Professor Rishikesha T. Krishnan

The Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) has named Professor Rishikesha T. Krishnan as Director of the premier management school. He will assume office on July 31, following the superannuation of the present Director, Professor G. Raghuram.

Professor R.T. Krishnan has served as Director of IIM Indore and is known as a thought leader on the management of innovation.

Dr. Devi Shetty, Chairperson, Board of Governors, IIM Bangalore, said: “We are delighted to have Professor Rishikesha Krishnan as IIMB’s Director. As a well-regarded faculty member of IIMB and a proven administrator during his term as Director of IIM Indore, Professor R.T. Krishnan combines academic and administrative excellence. Under his leadership, IIM Bangalore is sure to set impressive standards in innovation and technology. I would like to thank Professor G. Raghuram for leading the institute in times of tremendous change, such as the passing of the IIM Act."

Responding to the announcement, Professor R.T. Krishnan said: “It is an extraordinary privilege to lead India’s best management institution, IIM Bangalore, at this most challenging time when there is an opportunity to re-define management education.”

Congratulating Professor R.T. Krishnan on his appointment, Professor Raghuram said: “I am certain that IIMB will benefit from his excellent scholarship, and administrative and people skills. It is great that we will have the opportunity to work together, over the next four months, to ensure a smooth transition. I am particularly delighted, on a personal note, to be handing over office to my former student."

Professor Krishnan’s main areas of interest are strategy and innovation. He was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania (Fall 2008), and at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad (2011-12). He held the Jamuna Raghavan Chair in Entrepreneurship at IIMB from 2007-10. 

Professor Krishnan’s RESEARCH 

Professor Krishnan writes extensively, and has more than 140 publications spanning outlets that include refereed journals, the popular press, case studies, book chapters, and books. These include two books on innovation: From Jugaad to Systematic Innovation: The Challenge for India, published in February 2010, and 8 Steps to Innovation: Going from Jugaad to Excellence (co-authored with Vinay Dabholkar, and published by HarperCollins in March 2013). The latter won the Best Book Award 2013-14 from the Indian Society for Training and Development. 

Incubation Program for Fintech Startups by NSRCEL, IIMB and ICICI Securities Invites applications for its 1st Cohort

India’s financial technology (fintech) sector is growing rapidly, which is primarily fueled by the emergence of new Fintech startups, abundance of technical know-how and friendly government policies and regulations. 

ICICI Securities (I-Sec), India’s leading financial services firm, as a part of its CSR initiative, has joined hands with the N.S. Raghavan Centre of Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL), the startup hub at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), in supporting promising startups in the fintech space through a structured program. 

“India is a young nation with over half its population at under 25 years. While the country has made significant strides in digitalization and technological innovation which has made it more competitive in the global landscape, there exists a larger challenge on creation of employment opportunities and jobs for the young population. With the immense potential of the Fintech Sector in jobs creation and economic growth, I-Sec, as part of its CSR initiative, is happy to partner with NSRCEL, one of the oldest incubator cells in the country, to provide mentorship to these startups. We do hope that that this joint initiative will lead to many successful ideas which will provide large employment generation opportunities,” said Mr. Vijay Chandok, MD & CEO, ICICI Securities.

“We had largely remained sector-agnostic in 20 years and this is our first attempt to create impact in a particular domain. Our motivation is simple – focus on an area where there are highly renowned faculty, sufficiently interested students, a large roster of illustrious alumni in that area and finally a thriving Centre of Excellence with deep connections to the industry. Fintech became the natural choice and we are excited to partner with I-Sec to kickstart our maiden program,” said Professor Venkatesh Panchapagesan, Chairperson of NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore.

Startups in ideation to early customer stage will be guided by mentors through need assessment, one-on-one interactions and workshops. The 15-month program is for professionals in Insurance, Trading, Personal Finance, Banking, Wealth Advisory, Lending and Payments and Taxation. These startups can then glide through to the Go-to-Market stage and work on scaling up through guidance, workshops, shared learning, funding, goal-setting through launch of POCs and extensive business growth opportunities. Startups will be getting exclusive access to IIMB resources and industry connections in Fintech. At the end of the program, select startups will also be receiving funding support. 

Apply now to take your fintech startup to the next level!

For more info visit- WWW.NSRCEL.ORG/FINTECH

About NSRCEL

With programs specifically catering to entrepreneurs with profit ventures and social ventures, also student and women entrepreneurs, NSRCEL offers its support to various players of the startup ecosystem.

NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore brings together startups, industry mentors, eminent academicians from its parent institution Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and researchers who thrive on continuous interaction of theory and practice.

NSRCEL is also the first incubator with a program for tailored for social entrepreneurs and their unique challenges.

Visit www.nsrcel.org to know more

About ICICI Securities

ICICI Securities Limited (I-Sec) is a subsidiary of ICICI Bank Ltd. The company began its operation in May 1995 and continues to grow its operation through expanding its client base and providing different type of services.

I-Sec operates www.icicidirect.com, India’s leading virtual financial supermarket, meeting the three need sets of its clients- investments, protection, and borrowing. Through its three lines of businesses -- broking, distribution of financial products, and investment banking-- I-Sec serves customers ranging from the retail and institutional investors to corporates to high net-worth individuals to government.

IIMB and MSDE welcome 1st Cohort of 74 Students to the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF) programme on March 08

The Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF) programme, launched by the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), with support from the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, welcomed the first batch consisting of 74 students, in an orientation ceremony at IIMB on March 08, 2020. The first cohort comprises 44 per cent women candidates.

Programme Director Arnab Mukherji, faculty from the Public Policy  area at IIM Bangalore, explained: “The MGNF programme helps the Fellows to discover growth paths and associated skill development needs at the district level that can change the development journey in many parts of the country. At one level, it focuses on the district as the unit of economy activity and inverts the top-down process endemic to public policy.

At another, it seeks to build bridges to enable go-to-market strategies and create value chains and skill growth pathways that start from the district and link to domestic and international markets. We hope the cohort will uncover a constellation of culturally appropriate pathways for sustainable incomes by creating inclusive skilling ecosystems."

[caption id="attachment_142709" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Mahendra Nath Pandey[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_142708" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] MGNF - Lamp Light[/caption]

In his plenary address, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, said: “It is very encouraging  to see that IIMB has a clear and impact-oriented design and structure for the MGNF programme with an emphasis on field work."

Reiterating his government’s commitment to skill development training, he observed that the State Skill Development Missions, especially those in Karnataka and Jammu & Kashmir, had launched their own initiatives in villages towards this end. “Unless we involve districts, which are the engines of growth in our economy, in the skill development drive, we cannot hope to achieve our goal of making India the skill capital of the world,” he said.

The minister recalled an incident from his days at Benares Hindu University when as general secretary of the student union, in 1977, he was instrumental in getting the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai to sanction Rs 22 lakh to BHU, from which all first-class MA, MSc and MCom students of BHU  would get a fellowship of Rs 300 -- “a princely sum in those days, especially because until then only students of medicine and engineering got financial support”.

He lauded the city of Bengaluru for providing a pipeline of talent to the country and the world, be it in the domains of science, technology, engineering, industry or entrepreneurship. 

In his inaugural address, Pravin Kumar (IAS), Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Govt. of India, observed that skilling of the youth is a key priority of the government so that the growing economy is not starved of manpower. “Skilling had become a supply-driven system. We are making it demand-driven with a focus on districts.”  He said he hoped to extend the MGNF programme to all districts in the country. “It is significant to launch the MGNF programme on International Women’s Day as the programme has 44 per cent women candidates,” he added.

Juthika Patankar (IAS), Additional Secretary, MSDE, Govt. of India, said she was delighted to welcome the 74 Fellows, selected after a rigorous process, to the MGNF programme. “Skill training has to encompass all sectors of the economy and all sections of society. The MGNF programme, we hope, will give everyone, in the districts and at the grassroots, an equal and good chance to earn a livelihood. MSDE is happy to partner with one of the most prestigious institutes in the country – IIM Bangalore. IIMB has given the idea of this fellowship, a definite form and shape. The focus, we hope, will be in providing skill training services required in villages for the development of agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry etc.”

Dr. S. Selva Kumar, Principal Secretary, Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihoods, Govt. of Karnataka, said he looked forward to the MGNF Fellows filling the skill gap training in the country. He said his department was keen on augmenting need-based skill training by also working with private firms and engineering colleges in the state. “Verticals in our department in the districts work in isolation. They need convergence. The MGNF Fellows could help in addressing this gap.” 

Jayasudha Thiagarajan, Chief Operating Officer, SANKALP Cell, National Instructional Media Institute (NIMI). Ms Thiagrajan informed the Fellows about MGNF IT portal in a special session at the event. NIMI is the implementation partner for MGNF and will play a critical role in ensuring that the entire programme is successful, particularly the district module of the programme.

In his vote of thanks, Programme Director Sankarshan Basu, Professor of Finance & Accounting at IIM Bangalore, said: “MGNF looks to redefine the model of ideating about the developmental process by truly decentralizing the whole concept. Instead of a top-down approach, it seeks to create a bottom-up approach and can significantly help in the development landscape of the country as specific requirements will be highlighted. In some sense, it is an attempt o indigenize the ‘market town’ model of development in medieval Europe, suitably adapted to the current Indian ecosystem."

Earlier in the morning, Professor Gopal Naik, Dean, Faculty, IIM Bangalore, set the context for the launch of the MGNF. 

IIM Bangalore launched the MGNF in collaboration with Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), Government of India (GoI), and State Skill Development Missions (SSDMs). The institute has undertaken this endeavour in support of the launch of Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) Project.

MGNF, a two-year academic programme, is a unique opportunity for young, dynamic individuals to contribute to enhancing skill development and promote rural employment at the district level. It aims to strengthen the district-level skill ecosystem for decentralized skill development governance. It will provide academic inputs and a field immersion component that jointly seeks to raise economic output and promote livelihood in rural areas.

The inaugural cohort of MGNF was selected through a gruelling process comprising written tests, personal interview and case analysis. MGNF Fellows were shortlisted from an eclectic mix of disciplines ranging from social sciences, business administration, law and engineering. These Fellows will be placed in 74 districts across the states of Gujarat, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh. Upon completion of these components, the Fellow will be awarded a Certificate.

As Programme Directors, Prof. Arnab Mukherji, from the Public Policy area, and Prof. Sankarshan Basu, from the Finance and Accounting area at IIMB, will oversee the execution of the MGNF programme.

IIMB’s Prof. Ritwik Banerjee and Prof. Soham Sahoo win Prof. M.J. Manohar Rao Award for Young Researchers by The Indian Econometric Society (TIES)

Prof. Ritwik Banerjee, from the Economics & Social Sciences area, and Prof. Soham Sahoo, from Centre for Public Policy, at IIM Bangalore, have been conferred with the Prof. M.J. Manohar Rao Award for Young Researchers by The Indian Econometric Society (TIES).

Prof. Ritwik Banerjee has been recognised for his work at the intersection between behavioural economics and development economics. He has been working on corruption, discrimination, self-confidence and gender using the tools of experimental methods. Prof. Soham Sahoo has been selected for his research and work in the area of Economics of Education, Development Economics, Labour Economics, and Political Economy.

TIES has instituted this award for young scholars in India to commemorate Professor M.J. Manohar Rao’s contributions to economic research as well as to the TIES. This award is given every year during the TIES Conference, which is a renowned platform for economists and econometricians to have a dialogue on significant issues on the subject as also present their findings.

IIM Bangalore launches Digital Disruption and Fintech program with Gabelli School of Business in NYC

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore has announced an Executive Education Programme in ‘Digital Disruptions and Emerging Technologies in Financial Services’, along with the Gabelli School of Business, Fordham University, in New York City (NYC).  

The 15-day programme has a five-day module at NYC with the rest of the course being delivered at IIMB. As a hub of innovation in Fintech, NYC offers an ideal opportunity for programme participants to interact with some leading startups in the Fintech space. 



Professor Pulak Ghosh from IIM Bangalore and Professor Sudip Gupta from Gabelli School of Business will lead the programme through its design and delivery phases. 

To register, please go to:  https://bit.ly/2JvPXQQ

“The programme, with its accent on conceptual building blocks and immersive learning experience through field trips and projects, will fill the long-felt need for a quality programme in the Fintech space in India,” said Madan Mohan Raj, Chief Programme Officer, Executive Education Programmes at IIMB. 

The programme has adopted a pedagogical style that requires the participants to work on a digital disruption project relevant to his/her field guided by a faculty mentor. 

A seminar, a panel discussion with leading industry experts, and project presentations will be part of the concluding module of the programme.

Digitalization is bringing in new-age business models aided by technology in all sectors of the economy, and even more so in the Financial Services industry. The banking industry as we know it is set to change forever. The application of blockchain and cryptocurrencies to financial services opens the door to offering these services in a secure, reliable, manner and at a lower cost, thus creating more value. These changes have implications for the existing players in the financial services industry, as well as for startups and entrepreneurs. IIMB has been doing cutting-edge research in Business Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and its application to Fintech. As a logical next step, IIMB has launched the programme, ‘Digital Disruptions and Emerging Technologies in Financial Services’, along with the Gabelli School of Business, Fordham University, in New York City (NYC).  

Texas Instruments, AICTE, DST and IIM-B Tie -up to bring Innovation Challenge Contest to Engg. Students in India

Texas Instruments India (TI India), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the statutory body and a national-level council for technical education in India, Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) have joined hands to strengthen the innovation ecosystem, enhance skills and drive a start-up culture amongst engineering students by ensuring that India Innovation Challenge Design Contest (IICDC) is accessible to students even in remote corners of the country. IICDC is a national design contest for engineering students.

The announcement was made at the finals of IICDC 2018, coinciding with the announcement of this year’s top 10 winning teams. The 10 finalists will get an opportunity to take their start-up idea from the lab to the market, supported by a fund from DST of INR 4.94 Crore, incubation at NSRCEL, the innovation and entrepreneurship hub at IIM Bangalore, and technical mentorship from TI engineers along with access to TI tools and technology. To-date, IICDC has incubated 20 start-ups.

[caption id="attachment_132591" align="alignleft" width="550"] Chairman Award, SRM Institute of Science &Technology, Tamil Nadu[/caption]

SRM Institute of Science and Technology from Tamil Nadu won the Chairman Award for Technical Innovation on ‘Inkless Printing Technology’. A. P. Shah Institute of Technology from Maharashtra was the first runners up for their innovation ‘Solar Energy Harvesting for Wireless Sensor Node’ and Sri Manakula Vinayagar Engineering College from Puducherry was adjudged second runners up award on their innovation ‘Mustard Seed Processor Machine’.

[caption id="attachment_132590" align="alignleft" width="551"] First RunnerUp Award for IICDC 2018, A. P. Shah Institute of Technology, Maharashtra[/caption]

Congratulating the IICDC 2018 winners, Sanjay Srivastava, Director, TI India University Program said, “IICDC’s vision is to give students an opportunity to be innovators and entrepreneurs, launching path-breaking technology products and solving tough, real-world challenges. In 2018, IICDC reached more than 26,000 students from 1760 colleges and we received over 10,000 ideas! The diversity of students fuelled the diversity of ideas. For instance, several ideas focus on agriculture – a segment widely deprived of technology advances. Interestingly, more than 90% of participation comes from Tier II and Tier III towns. That’s the kind of grassroots innovation we want to drive through IICDC.”

Elaborating on the partnership with IICDC, Prof. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE, said, “AICTE’s mission to develop robust technical institutions and promote a scientific mind-set is perfectly aligned with IICDC’s mission to strengthen technical innovation in India. We see students as India’s change-makers with the responsibility to drive cutting edge technological innovation. We understand that the next big idea can come from any corner of the country! Our message to the student community is simple - no matter which college you study in or which pin code you reside in, if you have a powerful idea and a drive to make a difference, IICDC will give you an opportunity to achieve your goal.”

The last three editions of IICDC saw students file over 150 patents, and the numbers are increasing every year. Dr. Anita Gupta, Associate Head, DST, said, “We continue to partner with IICDC because it is a unique, powerful platform to drive student-led, tech-focused innovation. DST’s goal is to transform India to a global hub for innovation in science and technology. We also want to support innovation that can make an impact on the ground, tackling social, economic and environmental challenges. IICDC helps strengthen the innovation ecosystem by providing an opportunity to students to develop creative solutions for real world problems. Our seed funding to the winning teams aims to bring the best of these ideas to life.”

Professor Venkatesh Panchapagesan, Chair, NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore, said, “Though IIMB is not a technical institution, we believe strongly that we can aid in the creation of sustainable technical ventures through our expertise in developing businesses. Our collaboration with TI-DST in the last 4 years’ IICDC is a testimony to that. At NSRCEL, IIMB’s innovation and entrepreneurial centre, we have successfully incubated around 50 students to help shape their entrepreneurial ideas into start-ups."

By forging partnerships with multiple stakeholders with far reaching influence in technical education, expertise in business and management, industry knowhow, IICDC aims to foster an innovation and entrepreneurial culture amongst engineering students in India, and to empower them to launch successful companies with a clear purpose to make the world a better place.

IICDC 2019 launch officially announced

TI India also announced the upcoming edition of TI India Innovation Challenge Design Contest (IICDC) 2019 which opens for registration from July 23, 2019 to August 30, 2019. Students can register their innovative ideas and participate in the contest through this link: innovate.mygov.in/iicdc2019/

Infineon and NSRCEL, IIM-Bangalore Tie Up to Nurture Startups in Artificial Intelligence

India unit of German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon and NSRCEL, the startup incubator and entrepreneurship centre at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-Bangalore), have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen Artificial Intelligence and Software Development ecosystem in India by mentoring and nurturing the early and growth stage startups.

Under the collaboration, Infineon will share problem statements and NSRCEL at IIMB will introduce Infineon to the developer community of NSRCEL to foster joint innovation projects in Artificial Intelligence and Software Development. The partnership enables Infineon to offer dedicated training, lab facilities and support strategically relevant startups from NSRCEL with product samples and development kits. Furthermore, Infineon has agreed to provide its technical subject matter experts, as mentors. The partnership also includes introduction of the startups to Infineon’s customers to explore collaboration or business potential and Infineon’s participation in NSRCEL events as a speaker or panelist.

[caption id="attachment_127441" align="alignleft" width="605"] Mr. Rajiv Sawhney, COO - NSRCEL, IIM Bengaluru, Mr. Vinay Shenoy, Managing Director, Infineon Technologies (India)[/caption]

Professor G Raghuram, Director, IIM Bangalore, said: “IIMB is very happy to partner with Infineon, a leading technology company from Germany, in supporting startups. This partnership will be operationalized through NSRCEL, the innovation and entrepreneurial hub of IIMB, and with support from NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission. NSRCEL will now be able to offer incubation to startups in deep dive technology in a meaningful way.”

“Artificial Intelligence unleashes enormous innovation potential in our industry and offers great business opportunities,” said Dr. Reinhard Ploss, CEO of Infineon Technologies AG. “We see increasing demand for our energy-efficient power and IT-security solutions, which are a prerequisite for developing A.I. In addition, A.I. opens up a vast array of possible applications for the Internet of Things and Smart Mobility.” Reinhard Ploss added: “We want to accelerate the way we learn about A.I. and identify use cases early on. By working together with NSRCEL and IIM Bangalore, we aim to join forces with India’s innovative entrepreneurs and startups in this field.”

NSRCEL, the center for innovation and entrepreneurship at IIMB, is supported, among others, by the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) of NITI Aayog. Infineon had signed a Statement of Intent with NITI Aayog earlier this year to support the Atal Innovation Mission. NSRCEL also supports academic research to promote a better understanding of the entrepreneurial context and entrepreneurial strategies in the Indian context.

It may also be recalled that earlier this month, and another private firm, Mphasis, has too partnered with NSRCEL at IIM-Bangalore, as part of its Social Venture Incubation Program, to support ‘early-stage social ventures by incubating and supporting 'for profit' social ventures and comprises start-ups that have been in operation for one to three years

Headquartered in Neubiberg, Germany, Infineon Technologies AG is a leading semiconductor solutions firm that make life easier, safer and greener. Microelectronics from Infineon is the key to a better future. In the 2018 fiscal year (ending 30 September), the Company reported sales of €7.6 billion with about 40.100 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX) and in the USA on the over-the-counter market OTCQX International Premier (ticker symbol: IFNNY).

~ Business Wire India

IIM-Bangalore Alumnus Founded Home Services Marketplace SendHelper Raises $610,000

Singapore-based Sendhelper, an online jobs search platform for blue-collared workers, has raised around $500,000 in seed funding from Asian technology investor Captii ventures. Sendhelper, which has plans to foray into India soon, enables individuals, service providers and households to book and pay for home services.

Founded in 2014 by Rupam Biswas, an IIM Bengaluru alumnus, Sendhelper also has its sibling B2B platform 'SendJobs', which is touted as a "LinkedIn for blue-collar workers" and is an e-commerce platform dedicated to providing household services such as cleaning, cooking and laundry in Singapore but plans to use the funds raised to expand its online jobs search business.

The freshly raised funds will be utilized by the startup for growing their services across markets and launching Sendjobs, which according to its Linkedin page, uses artificial intelligence to allow employers to identify suitable candidates to chat with, and hire.

According to Biswas, who's also CEO of the company, “Our experience in the B2C services segment led us to discover that there was also a constant challenge for Singapore’s employers to fulfil demand for manpower for non-executive positions."

“We believe similar challenges exists in many developing markets as also in India where we plan to foray”, he said.

Sendjobs, the jobs search business of Sendhelper, has already on-boarded 500 employers in Singapore in the past five months, according to Biswas.

Prior to founding Sendhelper, Biswas was a former investment manager at India’s IDFC group.

In its future plans, Sendhelper aims to expand its services into other markets including the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and South America.

Source - Straits Times