Meet Seedstars' 9 Seed-Stage Indian Startups Selected To Pitch To Investors in Delhi Event

Last week, we reported that Seedstars World, a global seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets, has come to India for holding a dynamic pitch event on May 18th at Gurugram.

The shortlisted startups which will pitch on May 18th will have compete for a place in the finals at the Seedstars Summit, that annually takes place in Switzerland.

However, in a what could be called as a 'bonus' to startups in India, Seedstars, instead of shortlisting 8 startups, has selected the 9 seed-stage tech startups from India who will pitch to a jury of investors and successful entrepreneurs.

Below are the chosen ones :

Navia Life Care

New Delhi

Sector: Health / Wellness

Navia is a health tech startup building patient engagement solutions improve health outcomes, through increased compliance, monitoring & engagement. With its app it offers effective monitoring of patients out of clinical setting and digitization of health records.

Love In Store

Gurugram

Sector: Consumer Products

Love In Store is a mobile application to -- manage and track retail loyalty programmes, create, audit in store assets, receive payments and engage customers. The app allows retailers, who are struggling with managing multiple loyalty programmes, visibility assets and payouts, to track and manage their loyalty programmes, self merchandise the store.

Str8bat

Bangalore

Sector: Sports Tech (IoT)

For sports players who have No Instant visual feedback about their performance and if there's its only based on camera which is expensive. To solve this, str8bat has developed an IoT device which gives INSTANT, VISUAL & ACTIONABLE feedback to players & coaches to help them get better everyday.

Act It Out

Ahmedabad

The startup is an online platform to give and take auditions from anytime, anywhere at lowest cost by connecting actors and production houses online from comfort of their home through a smart phone to host and upload auditions. The startup is solving problem of unorganized audition market and current process. Expensive for productions to host auditions and inconvenient for actors to give auditions.

Aether Biomedical

Delhi

Sector: Medtech / Biotech

Aether is a medical device innovation platform with its core focus on medical robotics and rehabilitation developing Zeus - A bionic limb for amputees. eus is a bionic limb for upper limb amputees with multiple grip modes, anthropomorphic design and feedback control under $2000. Notably, the global robotics prosthesis market is worth 790 Million USD and there is no low cost - high efficacy prosthesis for upper limb amputees.

IMPEL LABS

Bangalore

Sector: Advertising and Marketing (Artificial Intelligence [AI])

With exploding content and choices, retail & digital businesses are struggling to engage customers, Impel Labs has a flagship product Recotap, a AI Powered Personalization Technology For Retail(offline) and media(online). Recotap is AI driven audience engagement platform for digital media portals, retail kiosks and displays virtual assistants, web/mobile apps.

Wobot

New Delhi

Sector: Enterprise Products (Artificial Intelligence [AI])

The amount of data that a CCTV generates each second is immense and CCTV footage's analysed by human eye is inaccurate and time consuming. Wobot helps businesses make sense of this CCTV data by implementing a layer of Artificial Intelligence that is taught to do surveillance on behalf of the human eye.

BYKUP

Jaipur

Sector: Travel and Transport

BYKUP is building single marketplace for motorbikes for emerging India’s 600 Mn population. It allows the purchase/sell of asset and also enables buyers to earn back the monthly costs via ride-sharing.

Curie Labs

Delhi

Sector: Energy/ Clean Tech

Curie Labs has built AI driven sensors to reduce power bills by 25%. As inefficiencies in a commercial buildings leading to a lot of wastage, which amounts to 40% in total, Curie Labs automate the entire building and hence do thermal profiling thereby optimizing the HVAC systems.

Meet Seedstars' 9 Seed-Stage Indian Startups Selected To Pitch To Investors in Delhi Event

Last week, we reported that Seedstars World, a global seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets, has come to India for holding a dynamic pitch event on May 18th at Gurugram.

The shortlisted startups which will pitch on May 18th will have compete for a place in the finals at the Seedstars Summit, that annually takes place in Switzerland.

However, in a what could be called as a 'bonus' to startups in India, Seedstars, instead of shortlisting 8 startups, has selected the 9 seed-stage tech startups from India who will pitch to a jury of investors and successful entrepreneurs.

Below are the chosen ones :

Navia Life Care

New Delhi

Sector: Health / Wellness

Navia is a health tech startup building patient engagement solutions improve health outcomes, through increased compliance, monitoring & engagement. With its app it offers effective monitoring of patients out of clinical setting and digitization of health records.

Love In Store

Gurugram

Sector: Consumer Products

Love In Store is a mobile application to -- manage and track retail loyalty programmes, create, audit in store assets, receive payments and engage customers. The app allows retailers, who are struggling with managing multiple loyalty programmes, visibility assets and payouts, to track and manage their loyalty programmes, self merchandise the store.

Str8bat

Bangalore

Sector: Sports Tech (IoT)

For sports players who have No Instant visual feedback about their performance and if there's its only based on camera which is expensive. To solve this, str8bat has developed an IoT device which gives INSTANT, VISUAL & ACTIONABLE feedback to players & coaches to help them get better everyday.

Act It Out

Ahmedabad

The startup is an online platform to give and take auditions from anytime, anywhere at lowest cost by connecting actors and production houses online from comfort of their home through a smart phone to host and upload auditions. The startup is solving problem of unorganized audition market and current process. Expensive for productions to host auditions and inconvenient for actors to give auditions.

Aether Biomedical

Delhi

Sector: Medtech / Biotech

Aether is a medical device innovation platform with its core focus on medical robotics and rehabilitation developing Zeus - A bionic limb for amputees. eus is a bionic limb for upper limb amputees with multiple grip modes, anthropomorphic design and feedback control under $2000. Notably, the global robotics prosthesis market is worth 790 Million USD and there is no low cost - high efficacy prosthesis for upper limb amputees.

IMPEL LABS

Bangalore

Sector: Advertising and Marketing (Artificial Intelligence [AI])

With exploding content and choices, retail & digital businesses are struggling to engage customers, Impel Labs has a flagship product Recotap, a AI Powered Personalization Technology For Retail(offline) and media(online). Recotap is AI driven audience engagement platform for digital media portals, retail kiosks and displays virtual assistants, web/mobile apps.

Wobot

New Delhi

Sector: Enterprise Products (Artificial Intelligence [AI])

The amount of data that a CCTV generates each second is immense and CCTV footage's analysed by human eye is inaccurate and time consuming. Wobot helps businesses make sense of this CCTV data by implementing a layer of Artificial Intelligence that is taught to do surveillance on behalf of the human eye.

BYKUP

Jaipur

Sector: Travel and Transport

BYKUP is building single marketplace for motorbikes for emerging India’s 600 Mn population. It allows the purchase/sell of asset and also enables buyers to earn back the monthly costs via ride-sharing.

Curie Labs

Delhi

Sector: Energy/ Clean Tech

Curie Labs has built AI driven sensors to reduce power bills by 25%. As inefficiencies in a commercial buildings leading to a lot of wastage, which amounts to 40% in total, Curie Labs automate the entire building and hence do thermal profiling thereby optimizing the HVAC systems.

Seedstars World in Delhi to Discover the Most Promising Startup in India

Seedstars World, the global seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes is coming to India for the 5th time. With the support of the local partner Startup Safari and host WeWork Gurgaon, Seedstars will be holding a dynamic pitch event on May 18th at 3pm.

The companies selected to pitch at the Seedstars Delhi event need to be less than 2 years old, have raised less than USD 500,000 in funding and built a minimum viable product, ideally with existing traction. The Seedstars team is searching for one additional criterion - the startup’s regional and global scalability.

The applications are open until May 10th and startups are invited to apply at http://bit.ly/SSW18Delhi. After a careful screening, the Seedstars team will shortlist 8 of the best seed-stage startups in Delhi to pitch on May 18th for a place in the competition finals at the Seedstars Summit, that annually takes place in Switzerland.

Seedstars World is the first global startup competition focused on emerging and fast-growing markets. For five years now, it has built a network in 65+ countries, with the teams traveling the world to source innovative startup investment opportunities.

This year, Seedstars World Asia has partnered with Merck Accelerator to support seed-stage companies with a focus on Life Sciences (Biotech, AgriTech, Healthtech, Environment and Lab Solutions). The most promising startups in these verticals will compete on Seedstars Summit to receive office space at the Merck Innovation Center in Germany, mentoring and coaching on a regular basis and financial support of up to €50,000.

“At Seedstars, we believe talent and good ideas are everywhere. We see ourselves as a platform connecting investors to the next generation of startup entrepreneurs in places where normally people wouldn’t think startup ecosystem have such traction, growth and buzz. We are very excited to be in India, highlighting such a bustling entrepreneurship ecosystem”, explains Rosie Keller, Regional Manager for Asia at Seedstars, “We’re impressed by what we have seen in the region so far and cannot wait discover more innovative solutions coming out of the Indian ecosystem this year.”

It’s Seedstars’ goal to place the spotlight on entrepreneurs from emerging markets, especially targeting solutions that align with UN Sustainable Development Goals. With that in mind, Seedstars World is travelling to more than 65 countries to identify the most innovative seed-stage startups, awarding them the opportunity to win up to USD 1 million in equity investment and network with investors and mentors from around the world at the global Seedstars Summit in Switzerland, and at their local Regional Summits. Previous Seedstars participants have raised over USD 92M collectively, providing employment to more than 2,100 employees worldwide.

Seedstars is a Swiss based group with the mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship. Seedstars connects stakeholders, builds companies from scratch with public and private partners and invests in high growth startups within these ecosystems. Through different activities, that range from startup scouting to company building and acceleration programs, the team has built the most powerful network of entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, corporations and government officials from 65+ fast growing economies around the globe. Seedstars group includes Seedstars World, a worldwide startup competition, sourcing the top talent in technology and entrepreneurship in emerging markets; Seedstars Growth, a three month virtual acceleration program; Seedspace, a network of coworking and co-living spaces now in 35+ countries and Seedstars Academy, a six months intensive training for aspiring local entrepreneurs on how to build sustainable businesses. Some of Seedstars main partners are Enel (Energy), School of Management Fribourg (HEG Fribourg) & TRECC - Transforming Education in Cocoa Communities (Education), BBVA (Finance), Tag Heuer (Entrepreneurship and Innovation), Merck (Health) and Continental (Mobility).

Seedstars World in Delhi to Discover the Most Promising Startup in India

Seedstars World, the global seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes is coming to India for the 5th time. With the support of the local partner Startup Safari and host WeWork Gurgaon, Seedstars will be holding a dynamic pitch event on May 18th at 3pm.

The companies selected to pitch at the Seedstars Delhi event need to be less than 2 years old, have raised less than USD 500,000 in funding and built a minimum viable product, ideally with existing traction. The Seedstars team is searching for one additional criterion - the startup’s regional and global scalability.

The applications are open until May 10th and startups are invited to apply at http://bit.ly/SSW18Delhi. After a careful screening, the Seedstars team will shortlist 8 of the best seed-stage startups in Delhi to pitch on May 18th for a place in the competition finals at the Seedstars Summit, that annually takes place in Switzerland.

Seedstars World is the first global startup competition focused on emerging and fast-growing markets. For five years now, it has built a network in 65+ countries, with the teams traveling the world to source innovative startup investment opportunities.

This year, Seedstars World Asia has partnered with Merck Accelerator to support seed-stage companies with a focus on Life Sciences (Biotech, AgriTech, Healthtech, Environment and Lab Solutions). The most promising startups in these verticals will compete on Seedstars Summit to receive office space at the Merck Innovation Center in Germany, mentoring and coaching on a regular basis and financial support of up to €50,000.

“At Seedstars, we believe talent and good ideas are everywhere. We see ourselves as a platform connecting investors to the next generation of startup entrepreneurs in places where normally people wouldn’t think startup ecosystem have such traction, growth and buzz. We are very excited to be in India, highlighting such a bustling entrepreneurship ecosystem”, explains Rosie Keller, Regional Manager for Asia at Seedstars, “We’re impressed by what we have seen in the region so far and cannot wait discover more innovative solutions coming out of the Indian ecosystem this year.”

It’s Seedstars’ goal to place the spotlight on entrepreneurs from emerging markets, especially targeting solutions that align with UN Sustainable Development Goals. With that in mind, Seedstars World is travelling to more than 65 countries to identify the most innovative seed-stage startups, awarding them the opportunity to win up to USD 1 million in equity investment and network with investors and mentors from around the world at the global Seedstars Summit in Switzerland, and at their local Regional Summits. Previous Seedstars participants have raised over USD 92M collectively, providing employment to more than 2,100 employees worldwide.

Seedstars is a Swiss based group with the mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship. Seedstars connects stakeholders, builds companies from scratch with public and private partners and invests in high growth startups within these ecosystems. Through different activities, that range from startup scouting to company building and acceleration programs, the team has built the most powerful network of entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, corporations and government officials from 65+ fast growing economies around the globe. Seedstars group includes Seedstars World, a worldwide startup competition, sourcing the top talent in technology and entrepreneurship in emerging markets; Seedstars Growth, a three month virtual acceleration program; Seedspace, a network of coworking and co-living spaces now in 35+ countries and Seedstars Academy, a six months intensive training for aspiring local entrepreneurs on how to build sustainable businesses. Some of Seedstars main partners are Enel (Energy), School of Management Fribourg (HEG Fribourg) & TRECC - Transforming Education in Cocoa Communities (Education), BBVA (Finance), Tag Heuer (Entrepreneurship and Innovation), Merck (Health) and Continental (Mobility).

5 Asian Startups Up for Funding Including India’s Scandid App Selected At Seedstars World Semifinals

Seedstars World (SSW) the global startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes brought its 2014 round to a successful close at the Seedstars World Final Event hosted by Lift, one of the biggest innovation and tech conferences in Europe. After travelling to 36 different cities to find the best global startups, the SSW team invited its regional winners to the final round to compete for an equity investment of up to $500k. Following the semi-finals which were held at EPFL, 10 startups were selected to compete and pitch, on the mainstage, in front of a crowd of 800+ participants and a jury panel at the Final event. The grand winner of the second edition of Seedstars World was Salarium from the Philippines, which offers payroll solutions for emerging markets.

Participants were also asked to pick their favorite startup for a Public Vote award presented by Republique et Canton de Geneve, which went to OkHi, from Nairobi, that created addresses via smart phone geolocalization. The School of Management Fribourg looked for startups that continuously pushed the envelope, and its prize for the "Most Innovative" startup was awarded by Director Rico Bal to Choji Bare from Nigeria’s Green Energy, which turned plastic waste into petrol.

Ten finalists were selected at the Seedstars World semifinals at the EPFL on February 3rd. In total, five of the ten startups came from Asia, consisting of Singapore’s 6Degrees, a self updating phone book, crowd sourcing concert organizer Krowdpop from Seoul, India’s Scandid app for geolocalized savings and discounts, Salarium, the Philippine payroll service, and Bangkok’s Washbox24, an automatized laundry service thanks to specialized lockers. The other finalists were Peruvian travel platform Busportal, Nairobi’s OkHi, the Brazilian hardware device Ploog, Yerevan learning management system Sololearn, and casual gaming studio The Other Guys from Argentina. The Seedstars World Semi-finalists will be up for funding via the Seedstars World Crowd Fund, which allows European investors to invest with a minimum of 100£. The fund is running via Seedrs, the first crowdfunding platform for funds in Europe (equity crowdfunding).

[caption id="attachment_98288" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Semifinalists SeedStars world Competition[/caption]

Before the semi-finals, the startups took part in an intensive bootcamp at the leading engineering school EPFL, which included pitch training and mentoring session that reexamined each startups business model and financial sustainability. Mentors included top entrepreneurs such as Chinaccelerator’s Todd Embley and Eventbrite’s Co-founder Renaud Visage, as well as representatives from leading tech companies like Cristina Riesen of Evernote, and Nicolas Bry, the SVP of Innovation at Orange Vallée. The bootcamp offered exclusive insights into the Lausanne area, which the State Department of the Vaud Canton has been transforming into one of the best European spots for startups over the last years. “The top ten were truly excellent finalists, but it wasn’t easy choosing from such a wealth of startups!" said Raphael Dana, jury member and CEO of business strategy consultancy Galixo.

The ten finalists pitched their startups in front of an international and prestigious jury including Serendipity Investments’ founder Jose Marin, Marco Corradino, founder of Bravofly Rumbo Group, Kinnevik’s Jessica Thorell, Techstars MD Jens Lapinski, Mountain Partners founder Dr. Cornelius Boersch, Johnny El Hachem, CEO of Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity, and Seedstars and Seedstars World co-founder Pierre-Alain Masson.

Grand Winner Judah Hirsch, was awarded the first Seedstars World trophy and was crowned the "Seedstars World Best Startup 2014" for their payroll SaaS solution, Judah Hirsch, CEO of Salarium, talked to us about winning the SSW trophy and what it means to him and his company. "Winning this is a huge boost of credibility for us, and the connections we established during the SSW Final Event alone will be very helpful for our further success and expansion plans. The win is especially meaningful to us because all of the entrepreneurs here showcased great ideas and impressive business models."

The startup impressed the jury as it already gained considerable traction, with DHL as a signed customer. "Not only did their product prove to be highly scalable and innovative, it already has a huge traction on the global market” said Pierre-Alain Masson, Seedstars World jury member.

The Seedstars World Final Event also featured several sessions and workshops, which discussed trends in emerging markets and how to disrupt traditional industries. Temenos featured the session Is banking in the perfect storm of disruption? with financial service experts, such as Ingenico’s Mouna Fouillade. The evening offered an exclusive dinner in partnership with Edmond de Rothschild to further connections between the Seedstars World startups and business angels, VCs, HNWIs, and investors.

With its first two editions, Seedstars World has already built an impressive track record: Its first round of 20 startups raised USD 14 Mio and hired 150 new employees, after which 2014 expanded to 36 countries. For the 2015 tour, 50 cities will be visited throughout the year. More news on which cities are joining the Seedstars World roster will be available on the Seedstars World website in March. Also, running in parallel with the original startup competition, Seedstars World announces three tracks that focus on strategic industries that are transforming our day-to-day habits.

First, Seedstars World will partner with Bravofly Rumbo Group to launch a "Travel Track", during which Seedstars World will organise local pitching events in a selection of 30 countries to find the best travel startups. Bravofly Rumbo Group will invest up to USD 500k in the winner of the competition and bring its knowledge and powerhouse to support this investment. This will bring the total amount of investment available for startups to USD 1 million. Seedstars World co-founder Pierre-Alain Masson stated that the added focus on the travel industry was a strategic move, as he believes that “the travel industry has always been innovative, first breaking online barriers and now moving into mobile commerce. With more than 1.1 billion people travelling out of their home country in 2014 alone (source: UN’s World Tourism Organization), there is a huge market potential and I believe that it is important for Bravofly Rumbo Group to stay close to the innovation and startup space, as it will be, of course, a driver for growth."

Furthermore, Seedstars World is also adding specialized tracks for Social Entrepreneurship and Fintech. “Both financial services and technology as well as social entrepreneurship startups are innovating industries and ways we live and do business. In the social space, the creativity in bringing profitability and community impact is very impressive, especially in Africa.” said Alisee de Tonnac, CEO of Seedstars World. “And 2014’s USD 467 Billion in remittance flows to emerging countries (source: World Bank Forecast) alone make fintech a very attractive market to be involved in.”

Seedstars World partners with Kyron Global Accelerator to find the best startups in India

Seedstars World (SSW) will partner with Kyron Global Accelerator for its return to India on the 19th of July, continuing on its journey to emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes. Seedstars World is the most exclusive startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes.

In 2013, Seedstars Bangalore was won by Sachin Gupta’s Hacker Earth, a startup that connects companies with developers. "Seedstars World was a great opportunity for me in 2013, and seeing the global entrepreneurs unite for the Final Event was a thrilling experience. I’m very happy that SSW is returning to Bangalore."

This year, SSW will partner with the Kyron Global Accelerator. Headquartered in Bangalore, Kyron is a next-generation startup accelerator, which works very closely with some of India's best startups by providing deep access to industry and domain experts, seed funding up to $20k and access to a wide range of corporates. This year, Kyron is offering the winning startup at Seedstars an opportunity to participate in its accelerator program. Vikram Ahuja, Partner at Kyron Global Accelerator and jury member said, "Kyron is focused on bringing Indian startups to the global stage and helping them expand their international footprint." He further added: "We're excited about organizing Seedstars Bangalore, which will provide young entrepreneurs a tremendous platform to compete internationally and get access to the finest resources from the European startup ecosystem”. Startups who wish to pitch can apply via the Seedstars Bangalore page. At the regional level, Seedstars World is also partnering with Galixo, a boutique consultancy based in Singapore working with startups in developing their business strategy and entering new markets at global level.

The 30 finalist startups of the regional events will be invited to Switzerland to participate in a 4-day bootcamp and grand-finale where they will compete in front of international jury and European investors. One winner will win upto USD 500,000 in equity investment.

The network aims to spread the Seedstars spark, which accelerated the regional winning startups’ progress by tripling their funding on average during the first edition in 2013. This currently amounts to a total of 6 million USD of follow-up funding.

"Seedstars World events are always a great chance to see an ecosystem’s best entrepreneurs pitch" Julien Berthomier, Seedstars World scout and jury member, explains. "We seek out the most innovative seed-stage startups that will represent India during our Final Event in Geneva, so apply today for your chance to go big!"

Based in Geneva, Switzerland and founded by Alisee de Tonnac and Pierre-Alain Masson, the competition is supported by the venture builder Seedstars SA. After a first successful edition in 2013 across 20 cities, SSW expanded its competition massively to more than 30 countries. Regional winners are invited back to Geneva to pitch for an equity investment of up to USD 500’000. The regional events feature up to 20 startups who must prove their worth in six minutes of pitching time and withstand the questions from a local jury of experts, and a Seedstars World representative.

Alisee de Tonnac, SSW CEO, stated that "Seedstars World will hold its worldwide competition every year and we are expecting to grow exponentially to all the corners of the world and put all the fast growing startup scenes on the map! Indeed, our goal is to create THE network for quality entrepreneurs around the world and help entrepreneurs, accelerators/incubators, co-working spaces and investors to interact with one another."