15 Women-led Startups Pitched to 11 Investors in 3rd Edn. of TiE Women Pitch Competition

Santhoshi Sushma of Autocracy Machinery seen pitching at TiE Investor Connect at Bisness Women Expo

TiE Hyderabad organised the TiE Women Pitch Competition - 2022, an initiative by TiE Global to Embrace, Engage and Empower women entrepreneurs across the globe. It was held on Saturday at the Hitex Women in Business Expo 2022. TiE Hyderabad also successfully conducted the TiE Investor Connect - Women Special Edition!

TiE Investor Connect is a platform that enables curated start-ups to present their business venture to top Indian PE/VC/Seed/Angel funds across the industry. This was the first session of TiE Hyderabad Investor Connect -2022 with a new approach and vibrancy and focused on Women Entrepreneurs. 15 Startups led/Co-led by Women Entrepreneurs, from the Early & Revenue stage from various sectors pitched to 11 Investors.

Out of the 80 applications received from women-led start-ups, a panel of the Investor Committee curated and lined up 15 Women Entrepreneurs from various sectors who presented their ventures to 11 Investors. For deeper dialogue, investors have shown interest in at least 10 startups and will further engage with them one on one. Sectors represented were Manufacturing, Technology, Education, Fashion, Food, Health & Wellness.

Dr. Varsha Prabala of 365veda seen pitching at TiE Investor Connect at Bisness Women Expo

Srusthi of B Arm seen pitching at TiE Investor Connect at Bisness Women Expo

The startups selected for the pitches include: 365veda (365 Wellness and HealthTech Pvt Ltd) represented by Dr Varsha Prabala; Autocracy Machinery Private Limited by Santhoshi Sushma Buddhiraju; B Arm by Srusthi; Eat Confetti by Niharika Gollapalli; Innomet Advanced Materials Pvt Ltd by Saritha Chilakapati; Involute training by Bala Mukkamala; Kriyo by Sucharitha Dasireddy; Snackerstreet Pvt. ltd by Divya Medar; Nextgen Property Adviser Private Limited by Anju Yadav; Nutrizzo Naturals Industries Pvt Ltd by Sindhu Saithi; Rev Your Soul by Sandhya Nagavarpu; Six Yards Plus by Mrinalini Shastry; Starbuzz (Krisattva Pvt Ltd) by Krishna Priya; WhatIsMyGoal by Humera Nishat.

The investors who these start-ups pitched include---Murali Krishna Gunturu from Inflexor Fund; Rathnakar Samvedam from Hyderabad Angels; Abhiram Katta from Endiya Partners; Srikant Tanikella from Pavestone; Shyam Penumaka from Dallas Venture Capital Prashanth Menon from Stratcap Advisory; Dr Ramakrishna Nalluri from Smileline Dental; Gaurav Mathur from Arteans; Ms Ravuri Lakshmi Reshma from Meenakshi group; Chandran Krishnan from Chennai Angels and Zaran Bhagwagar from Anthill Ventures

TiE Women 2022 Initiative Unveiled

Rashida Adenwala, Srikanth T G, Suresh Raju, Bhanuprakash, Poornima, Vandana Maheshwari at the launch

TiE Hyderabad unveiled its TiE Women 2022, a global initiative at the ongoing Business Women Expo 2022 on Saturday. The initiative was launched by Suresh Raju, President of TiE Hyderabad; Srikanth T.G, Business Head, HITEX; Purnima Kamble, Chairwoman of CII-Indian Women Network(IWN) Telangana; Ms Rashida Adenwala---Vice President, TiE, Hyderabad and others.

Addressing the gathering immediately after unveiling it, the TiE Hyderabad President Suresh Raju said, the pandemic paved the way for counting in more women into the workforce by providing work-from-home opportunities and nearly 26% of women workforce work from home. Women's workforce is contributing 17% to our GDP and 28% of enterprises are managed by women. The government is playing its role, so also the corporates in encouraging more women to get into work. TiE Hyderabad has a big role to play he said

Speaking further, Suresh Raju added that 100 plus women entrepreneurs from different countries are expected to participate in the TiE Global Summit to be hosted by the local chapter in December in Hyderabad.  

Rashida Adenwala said it is a leading initiative of TiE across the globe. It is a pitch competition. It is launched to showcase Women Entrepreneurs from the state of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to a stellar global team and build a climate of inclusiveness. This is the only program serving as an opportunity for Women Entrepreneur to represent the two states to compete at Global Scale. 

Outlining the program she said it will be held in two phases. Phase one, the local chapter level goes up to August 31st. Phase two, the global level programs run through September. It will kick start in August. Phase -1 is Regional Pitch Competition. Each chapter selects one winner and four runners up. 

The winner goes to the global finale to be held in Dubai. And three runners-up are entitled to a Bootcamp in India. The Pitch Competition was created to provide opportunities, access to investors and VCs, she shared.

TiE Women over the past two years impacted 200 plus women entrepreneurs. And added 126 women to its network, Rashida shared. 30 mentors are dedicated to this initiative. A couple of these women were selected to pitch in SharkTank and got funded to the extent of Rs 56 crore she said. Shark Tank is a reality show that facilitates entrepreneurs making business presentations to a panel of investors or sharks, who decide whether to invest in their company. 

150 women-owned business are showcasing their products and services in the three-day Business Women Expo 2022 which is currently underway at Hitex. Business Idea Competition finals are held during the Business Women Expo. More than100 entries are received for the same.

Madhu Tyagi, Vice President of COWE informed that B2B Meetings are being held in 4 industry verticals like Hospitality, Health Care, Retail and Manufacturing. Through these meetings, businesswomen are connected to potential customers

A job drive is also conducted by Qentelli and Progress. The expo has a food entrepreneur pavilion, which is a platform for food entrepreneurs and food innovators. The foodpreneur pavilion has 30 stalls. 

4 Hyderabad Startups Clinch Top Honours at the TiE Women - Regional Finals

• Sapien Biosciences declared the winner of the Regional Finals, now stand a chance to win an equity-free fund of $100,000 at the TiE Global Final Pitching Competition later this year
• Dibbu Solutions, Luxpack, Hemis, adjudged runners up and provided bootcamp opportunity and access to multiple mentorship programs 

Four start-ups from Hyderabad with innovative offerings for the healthcare and lifestyle sector walked away with top honours at the TiE Woman Regional Finals, virtually hosted by TiE Hyderabad on Monday.  One winner and 3 runners up were declared in a competition that witnessed over 16 women-led startups battle for top honours.

The winner of the Regional Finals Sapien Biosciences, co-founded by Dr. Jugnu Jain got the top prize for her biobank multi-disease screening solution idea. The first runner up position went to washable and reusable face mask and headgear creator Dibbu Solutions. Silpa Reddy founded Luxpack bagged the second runners up spot while Hemis, founded by Prashansa Shahani took away the 3^rd runners-up spot.

Dr. Jugnu, the winner took away a fully paid Boot Camp organised by empoWer (a tech accelerator exclusively for women entrepreneurs) and would be representing Hyderabad at the TiE Global Competition to be held in December 2020 where she could stand a chance to win an equity-free fund of $100,000 for her business pitch.

The winners were adjudged by an eminent jury panel comprising Lakshmi Nambiar (Anthill Ventures), Ranjan Chak (Oak Investment Partners) and Jay Krishnan (Mantra Capital) evaluated the business pitches put forward by the companies based on their strength of ideas, global scalability, and presentation.

TiE Women Winners List

Winner: Sapien Biosciences, co-founded by Dr Jugnu Jain, was declared the winner of the Regional Finals. The firm is a biobank and has a diverse sample collection across cancers, rare disorders, cardiovascular conditions, type 2 diabetes to name a few.

Runner up 1: Dibbu Solutions, represented by Deepthi Nathala, was adjudged the first runner up for their product Hecoll, a washable and reusable face mask and headgear that protects humans from airborne viruses. 

Runners Up 2: Silpa Lingareddy- founded Luxpack was announced as the second runner up for their business of manufacturing a rigid box company that promises to deliver an unparalleled luxury packaging experience.

Runners Up 3: Hemis, founded by Prashansa Shahani, was named the third runners up, A one-of-its-kind movement sees a range of possibilities using Hemp to create a wide range of sustainable products across several categories including apparel, footwear, accessories, stationery, home furnishing, wellness, and nutrition.

The three-runner ups will be eligible to attend the fully paid boot camp by empoWer and have an opportunity to be incubated at the technology business incubator SRiX besides access to a six-month-long mentorship at T-Hub in addition to the Mentor Advisor programme offered by TiE Hyderabad among other membership benefits. 

Each of the startups supported by 39 charter members from TiE Hyderabad were mentored for over 188 mentor hours through a massive exercise to embrace, engage and empower Women Founders, reflecting TiE organisation’s unflinching commitment in fostering women entrepreneurship.

“It’s an honour to be part of an event ideated by personalities who’ve set an example for several women entrepreneurs. India needs to go a long way in addressing the gender gap and involving women in economic activity can show tremendous impact in our growth,” said Nara Brahmani, Executive Director, Heritage Foods, a keynote speaker at the event.

“Our aim at TiE Women has always been to reach out to women entrepreneurs on a large scale and ensure job creation. The access that the forum has given for its applicants to investors and mentors alike, ensures a great opportunity to learn,” Hemalatha Annamalai, Chair, TiE Women Global and founder of Ampere Vehicles added.

“I am glad to see tremendous progress made by TiE Women. This is a great platform for women entrepreneurs to exchange ideas and leverage TiE Hyderabad mentorship opportunities, and gain access to the investor community. Women-led firms have consistently generated great revenue and have proved worthy of all the trust and investors who’ve believed in them,” stated, Sridhar Pinnapureddy, President, TiE Hyderabad (also Chairman and Managing Director of Ctrls). 

TiE Women chapter Lead and board member Rashida Adenwala (Founder R&A Associates), members from the Delhi and Amaravati chapters of the TiE played an integral part in the seamless organisation of the event.

The jury evaluating the business pitches through the Finals had generous words to share about the participants. “Scalability and a co-differentiator in business plans are significant to march ahead and I would want budding entrepreneurs to establish that before investing money in their products and entering the market,” shared Lakshmi Nambiar (Anthill Ventures).

Jay Krishnan (Mantra Capital) stated, “The fact that a lot of women are committed to chasing their entrepreneurial dreams, braving all such roadblocks and challenges, is wonderful to hear. The Indian startup ecosystem is only getting better with time, startups need to look at it as an opportunity to pivot your model.” 

Ranjan Chak (Oak Investment Partners) “They have surprised us with the level of insight in their well-fleshed out ideas. It’s encouraging to see their preparedness and for someone who has been in the startup sector for two decades now, I can assure you that the scope and innovation in these ideas are among the best I’ve seen in a long time,” he said. 

About TiE Women (Hyderabad): This is a flagship initiative launched by TiE Global in November 2019 after its successful program The All India Roadshow on Women's Economic Empowerment through Entrepreneurship (AIRSWEEE) & now in its expanded format is dedicated to Embrace, Engage and Empower women entrepreneurs across the globe. The program is aligned with TiE’s pillars of mentoring, education, and networking focused on fostering women entrepreneurs. This sector-agnostic program is specially created around supporting women entrepreneurs, irrespective of the size of their enterprises, origin, standing, or background. More importantly, give them a safe space to thrive in this growing economy.

70 Women Entrepreneurs from Telangana to go Global; TiE Women-Hyderabad & SRiX Announce Mentor-Incubate Partnership

Women entrepreneurs encompass - Manufacturing, Social enterprise, Fashion & Lifestyle, F & B, Art & Entertainment, Agri & Biotech, Healthcare & Medical, Education & Training, Consumer & Commerce 

TiE Hyderabad and SR Innovation Exchange (SRiX) announced a multi-year partnership to provide incubation support for the Women Entrepreneurs participating in TiE Women Mentor Camps. TiE Hyderabad will conduct a series of boot camps in the initial phase of building businesses, to nurture and get them access to seed funding, the market connects to validate the business models plus establish revenue traction.

TiE Women Hyderabad chapter a Global Network of Entrepreneurs and SR Innovation Exchange (SRIX) a Technology Business Incubator under SR University, has agreed to partner to provide incubation support for the 70+ Women Entrepreneurs undergoing the TiE Women Mentor Camps in addition to mentoring, hand-holding and guidance as a long term commitment to enable and enhance their journey.

Announcing a unique union of the two organizations with one goal, TiE Hyderabad President, Sridhar Reddy, CMD of CtrlS, said it is a win-win partnership, bolstering TiE Women members to gain structured incubation support in addition to TiE Mentoring. This collaborative learning will enable broadening the outcome of entrepreneurship vision for each of the idea and concept stage women entrepreneurs.

"We foresee multiple synergies and are excited to partner with TiE Women initiatives in the Hyderabad Chapter. This strategically fits into SRIX objectives to encourage Women Entrepreneurship and provide them the much-needed incubation support during their early growth phase. More importantly at a later stage TiE partnership will also help to make a huge impact globally." CEO of SRIX, Sreedevi Devireddy stated.

Under the partnership engagement between TiE Woman Hyderabad Chapter and SRiX Warangal, the chosen woman entrepreneurs will stand to benefit:  2 years of Business Incubation Support - Complete access to MakerSpace, IoT/ESDM CoE, Rapid Prototyping zones and - Access to Seed Fund & Corporate Connects among other benefits.

TiE Women Chapter Lead and Board Member of TiE Hyderabad Ms. Rashida Adenwala, Founder R&A Associates strongly believes the Incubation support from SRIX will be an added advantage for the maiden 70 + Women participants in 2020 and future years. Budding Women Entrepreneurs now have a wider window to further entrepreneurship with access to seed funding and corporate connections provided by SRiX in addition to the range of benefits they get by being a TiE Women Entrepreneur participant.

TiE Women was launched in March 2020 at Hyderabad Chapter of TIE, with an objective to Select, Mentor, Showcase Women-led companies from Telangana State, agnostic of sectors, at any stage of business and potential to achieve global success through TiE Global platform. TiE fosters Entrepreneurs across the globe, the initiative is dedicated to Embrace, Engage, and Empower women entrepreneurs by providing them a safe space to flourish.

As part of this program a series of Virtual MentorCamps curated by TiE Hyderabad Mentors conducting in 3 batches with 25 participants each, will undergo a 3-week Bootcamp comprising 8 mentoring sessions on various business topics, viz. strategy, marketing, finance, revenue, statutory, legal compliances, etc. steered by over 25+ Successful Practicing Entrepreneurs, Professionals, and Angel Investors.

Further, a total of 15-20 Women Entrepreneurs are shortlisted from these 3 batches to pitch in front of a Select Jury in the TiE Hyderabad Regional Competition scheduled in Week 3 of August 2020. One Finalist from this regional competition will represent Hyderabad at Global Competition in December 2020.

At this year’s competing program, TiE Woman Hyderabad will select Regional finalists from Hyderabad to participate in an all-expense-paid Global Pitching Competition at TGS or in Dubai in December & a chance to win $100,000 worth prize money. Top 3 finalists from Regional competition at Hyderabad also get to attend a fully paid Bootcamp by EmPower Accelerator.

The TIE Women MentorCamp initiatives and announcements are conducted virtually via a Webcast, a novel way as the COVID-19 threat to the community persists thereby safeguarding our community and members by avoiding any form of physical meetings and large gatherings.

About SRIX: SR Innovation Exchange is a technology business incubator of SR University (Warangal) under the aegis of DST (Department of Science & Technology, GoI), includes a MakerSpace, Internet of Things Centre of Excellence, Rapid Prototyping facilities and other facilities to support product start-ups. SRiX is one of the 4 incubators in the country to offer the prestigious MBA– IEV course approved by AICTE, offering students an academic-entrepreneurship driven opportunity to pursue a world-class MBA and build their Start-up at the same time. For more details, please visit https://www.srix.in/about-us.php

About TiE Women (Hyderabad): This is a flagship initiative launched by TiE Global in November 2019 after its successful program The All India Roadshow on Women's Economic Empowerment through Entrepreneurship (AIRSWEEE) & now in its expanded format is dedicated to Embrace, Engage and Empower women entrepreneurs across the globe. The program is aligned with TiE’s pillars of mentoring, education, and networking focused on fostering women entrepreneurs. This sector-agnostic program is specially created around supporting women entrepreneurs, irrespective of the size of their enterprises, origin, standing, or background. More importantly, give them a safe space to thrive in this growing economy. For more details, please visit https://hyderabad.tie.org/tiewomen/

The IndUS Entrepreneurs Launches “TiE Women”; Opens a Window to Win $100,000

TiE Women, the latest initiative by The IndUS Entrepreneurs, TiE Global, with an idea to 'Embrace, Engage and Empower' women entrepreneurs across the globe, got launched over Webcast from Hyderabad. This initiative announced in Hyderabad over a Webcast came about given the COVID-19 threat to the community and not to conduct meetings and large gatherings in a novel way.

TiE Hyderabad President, Sridhar Reddy, CMD of CtrlS, Vice-President Manohar Reddy Founder & CEO of Feuji Inc., along with TiE Women chapter Lead and Board Member Rashida Adenwala Founder R&A Associates were present at the TiE Women launch and addressed 70 + participants in this online launch program.

[caption id="attachment_142935" align="alignleft" width="282"] Rashida Adenwala, TiE Women chapter Lead and Board Member[/caption]

TiE Women propels the reach of several women entrepreneurs from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to access global markets and build a climate of inclusiveness that could foster a host of "bold and impactful" women leaders across the world plus offer an opportunity to compete on a global TiE platform.

Under the initiative, a series of chapter-level start-up support programs for Women Entrepreneurs will be conducted, culminating into a regional competition to be held on June 12. Entrepreneurs with businesses that have the potential for a global scale will be eligible for the title. TiE will declare 4 finalists, including a Chapter winner and 3 runners up in this competition.

Selection will be made by an eminent panel of independent jury members comprising of successful entrepreneurs, investors, corporate honchos, and exceptional Women Leaders. The chapter Winner would get an opportunity to attend a fully paid entrepreneurship boot camp in India followed by a sponsored trip to the TiE Global Summit during December 2020 in Dubai. The winner also gains a chance to win an equity-free fund of $100,000 for her business pitch in Dubai.

Speaking at the launch, TiE Hyderabad President, Sridhar Reddy said "I’m excited to launch of TiE Women initiatives in Hyderabad Chapter. This initiative will provide equal parity to Women on a global platform and the much-needed opportunity for Women Entrepreneurs to make a huge impact globally."

"TiE Women not only provides a safe space for women entrepreneurs to excel but pushes their abilities to deliver visible business outcomes. The initiative allows women entrepreneurs to address their concerns without inhibition and serve as a platform for several constructive discussions." TiE Women chapter lead Rashida Adenwala, said.

Sharing the details of this ‘TiE Women’ competition, Phani Pattamatta Executive Director of TiE Hyderabad encouraged Women Entrepreneurs to participate actively and apply before March 31, via https://hyderabad.tie.org/tiewomen/.

The shortlisted applicants will undergo comp

etition orientation, mock pitching and business strategy validation sessions most essential for growing their ventures. Besides this, all applicants can participate in a slew of many mentoring programs and networking initiatives throughout the year. In addition to this, Women Entrepreneurs can become TiE Associate Member for a full year, at reduced rates if they apply before the due date.

About TiE Hyderabad:

TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Hyderabad Chapter is a go-to network of 150+ successful Charter Members and a vibrant and most recognized chapter worldwide, each year TiE Hyderabad impacts over 1100 startups and 6400+ students, conducts 131+ of events & activities under 20+ themes viz. TiE Grad, TiE Young Entrepreneurs, TYE Summer, Open Mic, Mentor Advisor, Deeptech SIG, Investor Connect, Knowledge Series, Leadership Series & My Story to encourage, nurture next-generation entrepreneurs. TiE organization comprises successful entrepreneurs & accomplished professionals, volunteering to support start-ups, to foster entrepreneurship across industries, at every stage of the entrepreneurial life cycle. Hand Holding start-ups & incubators to the next level of growth through mentoring, education, funding & connecting customers & Student initiatives in a big way. For more details, please visit https://hyderabad.tie.org/tiewomen/

TiE Global Launches TiE Women; Raises $70,000 During 2 Days of TGS4

TiE Global, one of the world’s largest not-for-profit organization, announced the launch of TiE Women to promote women entrepreneurs across its 61 chapters globally. The initiative kick-started with a fundraise of USD 70,000 contributed by TiE Charter Members during the two-day event. 

Launching the initiative, Nitin Rai, Chairperson, TiE Global noted, ”I’m excited to see the launch of TiE Women. Women represent the greatest opportunity for our ecosystem to make a huge impact, globally. 50-50 gender parity will be the norm in the TiE Global ecosystem and not the exception.”

The vision and goal of TiE Women is to “Embrace.Engage.Empower” women entrepreneurs across the globe – irrespective of the size, origin, interests, standing and background, of the enterprise. This will be done through sustainable and easy-to-adopt programming that will track the entire entrepreneurial journey with measurable metrics.

Hemalatha Annamalai, Founder, Ampere Vehicles Ltd., and President TiE Coimbatore, will be the Chair for TiE Women. Highlighting the need for the program, she said, “We need to empower women by providing them a safe space. This will allow them to develop skills and knowledge, while mentoring them to systematically change the trajectories of their businesses leading to job creation.”

She also informed that the program will culminate in an annual mega event where these women will showcase their successes and get access to funds, scholarships, accelerators, and more! 

Commenting at the launch, Dharti Desai, Vice President, TiE New York, and Vice-Chair TiE Women stated, “We are leveraging our global footprints and building upon the rich ethos of TiE. The foundation of its values and beliefs are well understood globally and the visible outcomes are constantly evolving. We would now like to encourage more women to participate in this process with measurable metrics and due governance.”

TiE Women’s program approach will build upon best practices from local chapters’ women-centric initiatives. This will specifically result in capacity building; increased networking, knowledge sharing and visibility; and a ‘safe space’ for women entrepreneurs to learn without inhibitions and judgment. This will also maximize the potential of women business leaders to receive funding to grow their enterprises.

Through TiE Women, the focus will be to bring more women to take up entrepreneurship. The program will mentor women entrepreneurs about funding, scaling the business, etc. Apart from the leadership, the program is also supported by Charter Members from multiple chapters.