GIFT City and Zone Startups India Join Hands to Accelerate Fintech Innovation

Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) - India’s first Smart City & International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) and BIL Ryerson Technology Startups Incubator Foundation (BRTSIF), a joint venture between BSE Institute Mumbai and Ryerson University and Simon Fraser University, Canada, have signed an MoU to accelerate Fintech innovation. Under the aegis of this collaboration, Zone Startups India, a part of BRTSIF will explore avenues for setting up and promoting a “Fintech Hub” in GIFT SEZ. It will further lay down the foundation to promote startups and support the government of India’s vision for entrepreneurship development and innovation culture at GIFT IFSC.

GIFT IFSC provides new business opportunities in the areas of trading in international products, offshore fund management, international bullion trading etc. GIFT IFSC is being promoted as the Fintech Hub of India at a global level. This would require new skill-sets and training to attract the right talent. Further, GIFT City is emerging as a hub for Fintech activities. BIL - Ryerson Technology Startup Incubator Foundation (BRTSIF) would play an important role for promoting talent and developing ecosystem to attract start-ups in GIFT IFSC.

Speaking about this new collaboration, Mr. Tapan Ray, MD & CEO of GIFT City, said, “Fintech and IFSC are emerging fields in India with immense potential. Their synergy is essential to develop a matured financial ecosystem in the country, given their dynamic traits. One of the objectives of GIFT City has been to provide a productive platform for fintech and related sectors to be globally competitive. It is an opportune time to engage with Zone Startups to develop a robust fintech base and nurture talent in this area."

Zone Startups will develop a program to attract domestic as well as international fintech and fintech-enabled startups in areas such as digital banking, digital app-based lending, crowdfunding, various secured electronic payment services, IFSC related clearing mechanisms, insure-tech, prepaid payment instruments, and digital payments.

Mr. Hemant Gupta, Managing Director of Zone Startups, said --

The world of banking and financial services is entering a phase of deeply transformative digitization. A new generation of digital consumers expects a modern and seamless customer experience and is demanding new ways of transacting business. Emerging trends in neo-banking, app-led payments, and digital currencies are all creating new opportunities and presenting new problems that need solutions. This is a space where India, courtesy its innovative startups, can build and sustain a global leadership position. I see the MoU with GIFT City as a crucial enabling step in making that happen.

Mr. Gupta further added, “I am particularly excited about the many opportunities this will open up for India’s leading corporates from the BFSI sector to create powerful new partnerships with these innovative startups."

Zone Startups India, one of India’s leading incubators and accelerators, will tap its experience of over seven years of mentoring and nurturing startups and creating mutually transformative partnerships between corporates and startups, to create a rich environment for globally competitive fintech and financial services startups to become successful and sustainable businesses.

About GIFT City

GIFT City is a mega project by the Government of Gujarat to realize the vision of making Gujarat the centre of the Financial Services industry. GIFT City is designed to be a global financial and IT services hub, a first of its kind in India, designed to be at or above par with globally benchmarked business districts. It is supported by state-of-the-art infrastructure encompassing all basic urban infrastructure elements along with excellent external connectivity. Companies from Financial Services, Technology and all other services sector are occupants within the city. GIFT City is changing the economic face of Gujarat and would keep India on the global map as a Centre of Excellence in the Financial & IT/ITeS Services domain.

About BRTSIF

Zone Startups India (a part of BRTSIF) is one of India's Leading Incubator and Accelerator. A few of the notable alumni are Citrus Pay (now PayU), Flexiloans, BabyChakra, VPhrase, Donatekart, and Nira. Apart from its flagship Zone Startups Incubator Program, it runs programs like empoWer (India's first Tech Accelerator for Women Founders and currently the largest in the country) and Next BIG Idea (Indo-Canadian Bilateral Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program)and others. 

Zone Startups India has also executed various bespoke startup engagement programs with corporate partners to foster a culture of innovation, provide the corporate access to innovative ideas, engage key employees for mentoring startups, and enhance their brand presence. This program has worked with corporates like Abbott, Viacom18, Citibank, HDFC, Barclays, Sodexo and Lodha. BRTSIF also manages a Rs. 10 crore startup seed fund provided by the Government of India under NIDHI SSS and facilitates access to capital through BSE Startups exchange (India’s only platform for Startup IPO).

BRTSIF/Zone Startups India Announces 8th Edition of the Next Big Idea 2021

• Next Big Idea - a platform for Indian startups to explore and expand into North America through a soft-landing program for Canada
• NBI 2021 Program is divided into three phases: i) NBI WebTalks; ii) NBI Pre-Landing Program; iii) NBI Local Immersion Program (Startups are taken to Canada to network with potential investors & vendors).
• The program helps startups understand, prepare and expand into other countries, such as Canada
• NBI 2021 Program is executed by Zone Startups India in partnership with the Government of Ontario, Canada, and invest in Canada

Zone Startups India, part of BTSIF & one of the largest tech incubator and accelerator in India, announced the 8th edition of its Next Big Idea (NBI) Program in partnership with the Government of Ontario, Canada, and invest in Canada. NBI 2021 is coming in a brand-new avatar, keeping its core mission intact, i.e., helping Indian tech startups expand to Canada.

Virtual Launch Event - Next Big Idea 2021

The program was launched virtually in presence of distinguished speakers including, Andrew Smith, Minister (Commercial), High Commission of Canada; Chris Begley, Consul & Senior Economic Officer, Government of Ontario (Mumbai); and Hemant Gupta, MD, BIL-Ryerson Technology Startup Incubator Foundation (BRTSIF).

Schedule for Next Big Idea 2021

• NBI WebTalks Program from 23rd April - 21st May 2021
• NBI Pre-Landing Program Application Open from 23rd April 2021

The announcement was followed by a Panel Discussion on: "Canada: Your Startup Gateway to North America and the World", was organised with eminent panellists from diverse spheres who shared their rich experience and words of advice with the audience. The panel was graced by Abdullah Snobar, Executive Director, DMZ, and CEO of DMZ Ventures; Elaine D'Souza, Trade Commissioner- Investment (Acting), Consulate General of Canada (Mumbai); Zohra Jaffer, Senior Manager, KPMG Law - Canada; and Sandeep Todi, Co-founder & Chief Business Officer, Truly Financial & Remitr. Saurabh Bhatia, Associate Director, IBI Group/Chairperson, ICBC (North Region India Council) moderated the panel discussion in its true sense and expertly steered all discussions to keep the audience hooked on.

The event was attended by hundreds of startups and entrepreneurs from across India. The session was highly interactive and generated a lot of buzz and excitement amongst the attendees.

Established in 2013, as a joint initiative with the Government of Ontario, Canada, NBI boasts an exclusive club of 49 startups that have travelled to Canada with us and explored business opportunities in Canada and the US. In the past 7 Editions, NBI has received support from multiple stakeholders from both Canada and India - such as Provinces of British Columbia and Alberta; Industry Partners such as RBC, IBM, Amazon Web Services, HDFC Bank, Google, and TCS to name a few.

The alumni network of Next Big Idea Contest comprises startups that have successfully raised multiple rounds of funding and/or have made exits through mergers and acquisitions CitrusPay, Sokrati, Heckyl, Vidooly, ShieldSquare, Plackal, Flip Technologies, AdSparx, Konotor, Data Resolve, Uncanny Vision, Gray Routes, Sequretek, Detect Technologies, Trendlyne, Sagar Defence Engineering (SDE), Bioscan Research and many more.

The current edition breaks up the process of setting up business in Canada into three carefully thought through phases - "Awareness -> Preparation -> Immersion":


NBI WebTalks (Awareness) - A series of in-depth talks on Canadas technology and innovation ecosystem as well as social and cultural context. The sessions will consist of webinars, panel discussions, and fireside chats, with a variety of stakeholders from Canada and India. The program will run from 23rd April to 21st May 2021.


NBI Pre-Landing Program (Preparation) - A 3-month Market Readiness Program, that has the ZSI team and relevant stakeholders from Canada work with hand-picked startups to prepare them to expand your business in Canada. The startups need to have demonstrated validation/traction in their existing market and are looking to expand into the Canadian and global markets. The application window is open from 23rd April to 23rd May 2021 and the final winner announcement will be done on 9th June, after a thorough evaluation and selection process.


NBI Local Immersion Program (Immersion) - A comprehensive market access program that takes startups to Canada and connects them with relevant stakeholders in the province that is most appropriate for your organisation and helps them set up their business there. The exact details and timings of this phase of the program shall be announced later and will be dependent on the pandemic and associated constraints.



"The 8th edition of NBI is off to a flying start with a very well attended Launch event. The new format was well received and will help the program become even more impactful. The key to the success of the program is having the right partners in Canada and we have ensured that our cohort members will get access to the best that Canada has to offer. There is a lot more content coming up in the NBI WebTalks series and startups should ensure that they attend all the sessions," said Mr. Hemant Gupta, MD BRTSIF/Zone Startups India.

"The Next Big Idea is the ultimate gateway and starting point for entry into the North American Market. There is no better time than the present for founders to have a global mindset, however it's equally as important for startups to be strategic about systematically scaling from their local region to expand into the global market. The NBI program helps founders understand critical priorities, source the right services, open networks and expedite the potential for growth," said Mr. Abdullah Snobar, Executive Director, DMZ, and CEO of DMZ Ventures.

"The inputs we received as well as the government officials, venture networks and companies we met during the Canada visit were invaluable, and the NBI team provided us with great support. Would strongly recommend this as a wonderful bridge for Indian companies looking to springboard to the international space," said Devi Yesodharan, Co-founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Trendlyne & Alumni of Next Big Idea Program.

"Canada is unique in many ways, as it has a large local economy and is the perfect segue to the US market. If youre thinking about the global market youve already taken the first step. After this, getting onto the boat is just about timing and logistics. While in todays world, you can sell globally from anywhere, getting a headstart with international markets will help build organizational skills that will help when you start pushing the accelerator. Finding product-market fit or even opportunities that your technology/team can leverage is as important as earn learning the culture, communication, competitive landscape, and building connections," said Mr. Sandeep Todi, Co-founder & Chief Business Officer, Truly Financial & Remitr.

To know more, follow Zone Startups/India on LinkedIn and visit www.zonestartups.com.

Register for The Next Big Idea Contest on nextbigideacontest.com.

About Zone Startups India

Zone Startups is an international network of incubators/accelerators that was founded by Ryerson University, Toronto in 2010. Zone Startups India (also known as BIL-Ryerson Technology Startup Incubator Foundation - BRTSIF) is accredited by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, and is a joint initiative between Bombay Stock Exchange Institute, Ryerson University (Toronto) and Simon Fraser University (Vancouver). ZSI has also been granted a seed support fund by DST to support its incubatees. In India, ZSI has a host of local and international programs that promote innovation and entrepreneurship across sectors and domains and work closely with local and international stakeholders. Since 2014, ZSI has incubated over 140 startups and accelerated over 290 startups.



About NBI

Established as a joint-initiative with the Government of Ontario, Canada, to identify and support innovative Indian tech startups looking to expand to Canada; the Next BIG Idea program over the past 7 Editions, has gone onto attract multiple stakeholders from both Canada & India - such as Provinces of British Columbia, Alberta; Industry Partners such as RBC, IBM, Amazon Web Services, HDFC Bank, Google and TCS to name a few. In it's 8th Edition, the Next BIG Idea is launching in a brand new version and is structured around 3 phases i.e Awareness -> Preparation -> Immersion; to give the program a more comprehensive approach in order to support Indian tech startups and entrepreneurs to explore and expand to Canada and globally.

Zone Startups India in Partnership with Startup India Launches Online Incubation to Promote Women Entrepreneurs (VIP-WE) in India

Zone Startups India (ZSI), in partnership with Startup India, has launched Virtual Incubation Program for Women Entrepreneurs (VIP-WE) to promote women entrepreneurship in the country.

Continuing the journey that was started over 4 years ago with empoWer (India’s first accelerator for women in Tech), VIP-WE is a sector agnostic program architected to support early-stage tech startups founded by women through a curated 10-week program. As the name suggests, VIP-WE is being delivered completely online.

VIP-WE will handhold and guide 20 early stage technology-based startups led by women entrepreneurs, who are preparing to build market traction for their products or services and scale their ventures. The highlight of the program is that the incubatees will not only go through an intensive period of curated learning and development but also get a mentor assigned who will provide personalised coaching basis the identified needs of the specific venture. Further, this will be a free of cost program for all incubatees.

Mr Hemant Gupta, Managing Director, Zone Startups India, said, “Zone Startups India has always focused on tech ventures which are innovative either in the idea, offering, approach or delivery and those that need guidance during their initial period of product development, go to market as well as growth phase. Entrepreneurship is a long and oftentimes lonely journey, and we want to by the partners that give the support that is required, when it is required. We have built a strong supportive network of mentors, coaches, corporates and investors for our startups. Promoting women entrepreneurship has always been our focus and we have been running the hugely successful ‘empoWer’ program for women entrepreneurs for the last 4 years.

We are delighted to join hands with Startup India, who has been doing path-breaking work in the areas of innovation and startup ecosystem enablement. Our virtual incubation program will allow mentors, business services providers, investors and corporate innovation departments to connect virtually to these startups. By creating a virtual platform to nurture women led startups we have expanded our reach to support women from even the hinterland of our country. Our program outreach will also cover the hinterland cities of India apart from metros. Catalysing tech innovations by enabling women founders to take their idea forward and make available to them a larger platform to find collaborators, customers and investors in order to succeed, is what we hope to deliver via our VIP-WE program.”

The program will include 80 hours of workshops & interactive sessions spread over 10 weeks delivered virtually. The unique curriculum developed by Zone Startups India includes diagnostic sessions & clinics, practical insights, topical business management techniques, business and revenue model validation and investor pitch training.

The program will kick-off with 100 Open Startups as the Global Strategic Partner with access to their extensive global ecosystem, Cisco Webex as the Technology Partner along with a host of investors as well as Business Support Services Partners in a collaborative effort to boost women entrepreneurship in India. And the program will end with a virtual Demo Day, where the startups will get a chance to pitch to a panel of angel/early-stage investors, accelerators as well as corporates.

Additionally, while all 20 startups qualify for Global Level 3 of 100 Open Startups Global Movement , the top 3 selected startups will qualify for Global Level 4 of the same challenge. Startups can also subscribe to cloud services, legal & financial and other business support services via credits and/or discounted offerings through this program.

Says Mr Varad Rajan Krishna, Founder and CEO, 100 Open Startups, “Under the present circumstances, the virtual or digital incubation and mentorship program is the best option. Women entrepreneurs face a lot of challenges worldwide. The reason 100 Open Startups partnered with Zone Startup India as their Global Strategic Partner is that women entrepreneurs worldwide and in India can add value and can also learn from each other. We would like to bring more visibility for the founders through various global events and initiatives thereby creating more opportunities for business and investments.”

For details on the program email to: abhishek.rotkar@brtsif.com

9 Startups Graduate From Zone Startups India’s empoWer Accelerator Program

• empoWer, India’s first tech accelerator for women entrepreneurs, hosted a Demo Day for its 4th Edition with a cohort of 9 startups 


• The 2019 cohort presented their startup pitches to an audience and jury consisting of investors, corporates, entrepreneurs, government partners and industry experts


• Top 3 startups received a total cash grant of INR 37.5 Lakhs


• One startup was selected for a one-week market access to Quebec.

Zone Startups India hosted the demo day of the 4th cohort of empoWer accelerator program, at the BSE International Convention Centre. The 4-week accelerator program culminated in top 9 women entrepreneurs from the cohort presenting their startups, with over 50+ leading industry players, successful entrepreneurs, top corporate professionals, delegates from the government, and prolific investors in attendance.

The 4th Edition of empoWer was launched on June 21, 2019, inviting applications from technology-led women-owned businesses in enterprise tech, social impact and consumer tech. This 2019 edition is sponsored by BSE CSR Integrated Foundation and launched in partnership with the Québec Government. Post the program announcement, roadshows were held across 4 cities in India with the final launch in Mumbai to pool in the best technology startups from diverse sectors.The roadshows attracted a total of 150+ attendees. With 270+ applicants received for the program, top 14 startups were selected for empoWer bootcamp. 

The 3-day bootcamp took place in September 2019, with focus on designing business model, pitch coaching sessions and peer to peer knowledge sharing. 9 women founders from the bootcamp were on-boarded as a part of the 4-week accelerator program.

The sectors ranged across logistics, healthcare, AgriTech, capacity building, virtual reality, FinTech, IoT, interior design, and crowdfunding. empoWer accelerator program took on a fresh approach this year by providing sector-specific connects locally with mentors, investors and corporates. They were also hosted for one-on-one meetings in Mumbai with the legal firm, Lexstart, and Finance & Accounting firm, Savage & Palmer. One-on-one investor meets were facilitated with Artha Fund Ventures, BayTree and Unicorn Ventures.

Says Hemant Gupta, MD, Zone Startups India – “This is the 4th edition of empoWer and we have leveraged the learnings from the past 3 editions to make it more impactful. We have a tight cohort of 9 startups that have undergone two rounds of screening. Rather than calling the startups to Mumbai multiple times, we have moved to a localised model of support, providing the startups the support/mentorship/connects they need in their cities’ of operation. However, the core of the program stays the same, we will be supporting and tracking these startups even after the Demo day and providing them the support they need to scale and succeed”.

The opening fireside chat at the empoWer Demo Day was delivered by Dharti Desai, Vice President - TiE New York and Vice-Chair TiE International Women and was moderated by Harshit Desai, Head - customer experience, strategic initiatives and digital, Aditya Birla Capital, with a focus on how startups can scale their startups to a global level with the role that communication plays in its success.

The fireside chat was followed by a high-profile panel discussion moderated by Rashmi Bansal, author, entrepreneur and a youth expert. The panelists included Akshay Soni, Managing Director - N/Core, Sharda Agarwal, co-Founder - Sepalika and Marketgate and Functional Nutrition Therapy Practitioner from the Nutrition Therapy Association, Hariharan Mahadevan, Senior Vice President and Head of Strategic Projects, Analytics, MIS and CSR at ICICI Securities, and Prachi Jain, Director at Achieving Women Entrepreneurs Funds. The talk addressed one of the major pain points in the ecosystem for women entrepreneurs i.e. Funding challenges.

Akshay Soni, Dharti Desai, Hariharan Mahadevan, Prachi Jain and Sharda Agarwal donned the jury hat to judge the 9 startups from the 2019 cohort that presented their startups. Pratyusha Pareddy, Co-founder of Nemo.Care, emerged as the winner of the empoWer cash grant of INR 18 lakhs. Nupur Gupta, Co-founder of NIRA and Monika Shukla, Co-founder of LetsEndorse, were announced as the first and second runner-ups respectively, with a cash grant of INR 12 lakhs for the 1st runner-up and INR 7.5 Lakhs for the 2nd runner-up. The cash grants were supported by BSE CSR Integrated Foundation.

Based on the international scalability potential, NemoCare was offered a one-week market access trip to Montreal by Government of Quebec, tentatively scheduled for May 2020.

Francis Paradis, Consul & Director of the Quebec Government Office in Mumbai shared a few words about the startup selection for the market access trip with empoWer. He says, “Use of smart technology in neonatal care helps to nurture a healthy generation. Who else but a woman can understand it better! Hence, Nemocare was an obvious choice of Quebec government as we give priority to diversity, women empowerment, health care and AI. We are delighted to see all these points converge in the winner of empower 2019 cohort who will be eligible for a Quebec market access trip in 2020."

The program participants had great things to share about empoWer. “empoWer is the push and conviction that every entrepreneur needs in their journey. The accelerator program opens doors to numerous industry experts relevant to your line of business. BECKFriends.com benefitted from the connects made with blockchain experts and international delegates for market access. And while the program ends, the network remains to be reached out for any advice or access needs. This has been a truly empowering and enriching 4 weeks!”, says Shikha Pandey Co-Founder, BECKFriends.com.

empoWer now has a cumulative cohort size of 79 women entrepreneurs, built over 4 cohorts. The empoWer cohort will receive year-long post-program support.

Zone Startups India Launches the 4th Edition of empoWer Women Tech Accelerator

Zone Startups India, India’s leading tech accelerator located at the iconic Bombay Stock Exchange building, launched empoWer’s 4th Edition in Mumbai. Zone Startups is an international brand of technology accelerators and early stage venture funds managed by Ryerson Futures Inc, Canada (part of Ryerson University Network). The flagship initiative that focuses on gender diversity, empoWer is tech accelerator program supporting startups run by women entrepreneurs through mentorship, industry connects, peer network and investor meets. Indian Clearing Corporation Limited (ICCL) a wholly owned subsidiary of BSE Ltd. (BSE) has joined in as the Industry Sponsor for the 4th Edition of the program.

empoWer 4th Edition was announced on June 21, 2019. Post the announcement, roadshows were held in 4 major cities across the country to evangelize the program and pool in various innovative startups for the program. Starting with Pune, the empoWer team travelled across Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi to meet women entrepreneurs in tech and held panel discussions with 12 panelists in these 4 cities, attracting a total number of 150+ attendees.

empoWer launched its 4th edition in Mumbai at Rise by Barclays coworking space. Startups, corporates, industry experts, investors were in attendance of the grand launch event with a total comprising of 70+ guests. The evening started with welcome remarks, as the audience was taken through the new format of empoWer’s edition. Tara Scheurwater, Senior Trade Commissioner, Consulate General of Canada delivered a keynote talk at the launch event. This was followed by an interactive and insightful panel discussion on ‘The technological curve: how it’s impacting the startup ecosystem in this age’. The panel comprised of -

• Paula Mariwala, Managing Director, Seedfund




• Lincy Therattil, Head - Rise Mumbai, Barclays




• Deval Sheth, Managing Director - India, Giesecke & Devrient MS India Pvt. Ltd.




• Abhishant Pant, Founder, The Fintech Meetup (Moderator)

The event ended with networking.

After a hugely successful 3rd Edition of empoWer for 30 women entrepreneurs in 2 track cohorts - Tech & Impact Tech space, empoWer 4th Edition has been launched for 15 women entrepreneurs focused on Consumer Tech, Enterprise Tech & Impact Tech. The new edition has been designed to take 15 entrepreneurs through a 3-day bootcamp commencing on 22nd August, followed by 10 startups from the bootcamp that will be selected for a 4-week accelerator program. INR 37.5 Lakhs cash grants will be given to selected women entrepreneurs as takeaways, on the empoWer 4th Edition Demo Day.

Says, Shreya Agarwal, Program Manager, empoWer - “Following the huge success of the previous empoWer Editions from the last 3 years, we are very keen to explore and work with the new set of high potential tech startups in our 4th Edition cohort and help them scale up and grow through the program. With a flourishing startup ecosystem, we are seeing women entrepreneurs break barriers and carve a path for themselves. It makes us proud to be a part of their journey, to create the stepping stones that empower these women leaders."

Over the past 3 years, empoWer have disbursed INR 2.1 Cr in grants and have welcomed 65 women entrepreneurs to be a part of 4 cohorts, and 1 bootcamp. A large majority of startups from these have raised further funding amounting to a cumulative of ~ INR 32 Crores.

Looking back, empoWer has accelerated startups to quite a few success stories ranging from fundraising to various awards and recognitions. Last year, Math Adventures, the math learning platform from empoWer 2016 Edition, got acquired by Edtech platform BYJU’S. The vernacular language-based technical learning platform from the previous empoWer cohort, Guvi raised INR 1 Crore from US-based Gray Matters Capital earlier this year.

Vartika Manasvi, Founder & CEO, StackRaft Inc. from empoWer 3rd Edition cohort and the winner of a seed fund grant of INR 5 lakhs each, talks about her experience of empoWer. She says, “My company StackRaft, was one among the cohort of 30 founders that included a mother of a newborn, recent graduate, ex-banker and many such amazing woman entrepreneurs. We discussed struggles over countless cups of coffee, shared resources and emerged as friends to back on even today. Zone Startups was meticulous in matching every startup's independent challenges with Industry experts for private 1:1 feedback's. I loved that our class was small, it gave us more time with mentors and get challenged for our assumptions. I will recommend empoWer program to any woman entrepreneur committed to building a technology business. This is the most powerful, collaborative, thoughtful and well-planned acceleration program for women entrepreneurs in India."

Applications are now being accepted for the bootcamp and accelerator program for a cohort comprising of 15 women entrepreneurs selected from a PAN-India application pool. The last date for application in 2nd August. An evaluation committee will be formed to evaluate the startups. This year’s cohort will be announced on 13th August.

Danamojo and RoadBounce Win ₹5 Lakh Seed Funding Each in Startup Reality Show PitchRight S02

PitchRight S02, an initiative by Zone Startups India, comes to its conclusion with the final shoot of the Grand Finale episode that announced the winners of the season. The Grand Finale was a curated, invite-only event that saw presence of close to 100 guests, which largely included investors, corporates, industry leaders and media personnel.

Launched in February last year, PitchRight has a unique format that focuses on improving the startup pitch of an entrepreneur through a 45-second elevator pitch, followed by a one-on-one feedback session.

PitchRight S01 garnered more than 350K views on Zone Startup India’s YouTube playlist, while receiving positive reviews from viewers for its fresh approach on the idea of an elevator pitch in a very literal sense. PitchRight S02 was launched in August 2018 by further making the experience of elevator pitches thrilling. This season has garnered over 320K views within a span of 90 days, on different digital platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Times MX Player.

With over 240 applications received this season, the top 13 entrepreneurs from diverse sectors of technology were shortlisted to feature in the series. The episodes were shot in the month of October 2018 at the Bombay Stock Exchange building, that houses the office of Zone Startups India. The series, featuring 4-5 minute episodes, went live in December 2018 with one episode releasing each week.

Prolific angel investor Sanjay Mehta has been a judge on the show for both the seasons. He has many achievements and awards under his belt and has invested in over 100 startups till date, that includes some well-known names like Oyo Rooms, Box8, Zippr, LogiNext, PrettySecrets, Unbxd and FabAlley. He is an active member of many investment networks in India.



“PitchRight S02 finale reality show was inspiring, full of excitement due to so many unknowns. It was a real thriller as the entrepreneurs pitched to the investors to make a deal. Everyone was on the spot be it investors as they had to commit money, real money instantaneously and entrepreneurs had to accept or refuse the offer right away. It's a challenge for entrepreneurs to go live pitching & very few can dare. Lastly I can say that PitchRight reality show has superbly motivated entrepreneurship in India,” said Sanjay Mehta, sharing from his experience of hosting the Grand Finale of PitchRight.

PitchRight S02 ran 13 episodes featuring the 13 shortlisted entrepreneurs over 4 months. The top 9 scorers with the best elevator pitch made it to the Grand Finale. The Grand Finale was shot live at Cafe Zoe in Mumbai, presided by an esteemed jury consisting of industry stalwarts like Anoop Mathur (President - CORE Media), Anuj Munot (Angel Investor), Jitendra Gupta (Founder - PayU) and Nirav Choksi (Founder - Credable). Host Sanajay Mehta helmed the Grand Finale for startup pitches and negotiations for fundraising.

The finalists pitched their startups during the live shoot to raise on-spot funding from top angel investors and seed investment from Zone Startups India. The startup pitch of 3 minutes each was followed by a feedback session and negotiations for potential on-spot funding.

After an interesting dynamic of startup pitches showcased at the Grand Finale, Zone Startups India announced Dhaval Udani, Founder of danamojo, and Ranjeet Deshmukh, Founder of RoadBounce, as the two winners of PitchRight S02, who were selected for a seed fund investment of INR 5 lakhs each.

On-spot funding was granted by several key investors. A total of INR 1 crore 45 lakhs on-spot funding was offered to 4 startups, out of which 2 startups raised a total of 75 lakhs post negotiations at the Grand Finale Demo Day. These will now be syndicated through a seed round to be led by Let’s Venture, Investment Partner of PitchRight S02. Atharva Sabnis, Co-founder of Atron, raised the highest on-spot funding on the day.

Based on the live scoring done by investors, corporates, mentors, media and other key stakeholders from the audience panel, the People’s Choice Award winner, with the maximum votes, was announced as Prasad Kajarekar, Co-founder of GameBlitz. He received a grant of INR 50,000/- from Zone Startups India.

Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Director India, Zone Startups said, “PitchRight is a format that we conceptualized mainly for curating content around how to get your elevator pitch right. We have had some really good viewership of the content - which is good validation of the format. However, what has been more encouraging this year, is the turnout of investors at the Grand Finale, and participating in a round of live, on-spot funding - a truly enriching experience for all involved. We look forward to taking the format to greater heights with some strong partnerships lined up for the upcoming seasons."

Season 02 of PitchRight is supported by Department of Science and Technology (GoI) and presented by LazyPay, in association with DigitalOcean as the cloud partner, Vidooly as the online video partner, Eske as the gift sponsor & LetsVenture as the investment partner.

Zone Startup India's YouTube channel - http://bit.ly/ZSIYouTube.

Here is the link to PitchRight YouTube playlist for all S01 & S02 episodes - http://bit.ly/PitchRightYouTubePlaylist.

18 Tech Women Entrepreneurs Bag Funding from empoWer

Zone Startups
India hosted the demo day of the 3^rd cohort of empoWer accelerator
program, on 29th March 2019 at the BSE International Convention Centre. The
demo day was attended by over 100 guests, that largely included the investor
community, industry leaders and large corporations. The grand Demo Day followed
a 6-month accelerator program, which connected these entrepreneurs to over 90+
mentors, including industry leaders and subject matter experts.

The 3^rd cohort of empoWer was
launched in September 2018, with a focus on technology-led women-owned
businesses in enterprise tech and social tech. 15 women founders were
on-boarded as a part of the 2 parallel tracks. 
This edition of empoWer is in partnership with Indian Clearing Corporation
Limited (ICCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of BSE Ltd. (BSE), as the lead
Industry Sponsor and Department of Science and Technology (GoI), Government of
Quebec, Concordia University, La Coop fédérée, Caisse de dépôt et placement du
Québec and Amazon Launchpad,  as
Supporting Partners.

The launch was a part of a full-day
conference that was presided by 25+ women leaders from the industry. This was
followed by multi-city roadshows at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi and Pune, and
an online application campaign that brought in 285 applications from diverse
domains – ranging across financial services, media, smart cities, healthcare,
education, agriculture and retail to name a few. The program focused on technology areas such as Deep Tech, Artificial Intelligence,
Machine Learning, Enterprise Mobility, Search & Feedback Engines,
Enterprise Software; making it is a very interesting mix of tech applications.

Says Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Director
(India), Zone Startups – “This was a new experience for us, to manage 2
parallel cohorts under empoWer. The nature of startups is to be iterative, and
we at Zone Startups India consider ourselves to be one. After the first 2
cohorts, we realized the need to split up enterprise tech and social tech as
separate themes; as the nature of support and program required is different.
One the feedback we got over the past 2 years, was a request from entrepreneurs
who missed out due to smaller cohort size, asking if we would think of
expanding the same. This year, with the funding availability it gave us the
bandwidth to so. We are extremely delighted by the composition of the cohorts
and the kind of companies that are being built. We look forward to greater
success with empoWer and enabling more women entrepreneurs in India”.

The opening Keynote at the empoWer Demo
Day was delivered by Apurva Purohit, President - Jagran Prakashan Ltd., and she
touched upon an empowering message to our women leading the way in today’s
startup ecosystem

The keynote address was followed by a high
profile panel discussion on whether gender inclusion is the key to boosting
innovation in entrepreneurial ecosystem. The panel was made up of
representatives from a diverse background, and comprised of Deepali Naair,
Director - Marketing (India & South Asia), IBM, Anjalli Ravi Kumar, Social
Mission Director, Unilever and Shweta 
Aprameya, Co-founder HAPPY & Founder AU
Welfare Foundation. The session was moderated by Kritika Saxena, Chief
of Bureau- Mumbai and South, CNBC-TV18.

After much deliberation, the jury of
investors and tech leaders awarded the top 18 women-led startups with an equity
free seed funding of INR 5 lakhs each, based on the strength of their business
model, their team, their market viability and their products/services. The seed
funds were supported by BSE CSR Foundation.

The grantees were:

- A. Soumya Rao, Founder,  UpSoil Technologies

- Gayatri Mathkar, Co-founder, Skygge

- Gitanjali Banerjee, Founder, Fertility
Dost

- Kajal Gohil, Co-founder, ARKidzoo

- Manasi Kulkarni, Co-founder, Innoweave
Biocare

- Poonam Choudhary, Co-founder, Vendaxo

- Poonam Gupta, Founder, WeeSure

- Prajakta Kuwalekar, Founder,
EngenderedCo

- Pritha Datta, Founder, Econolytics

- Richa Sethi, Co-founder, GetLitt!

- Ridhima Gauba, Co-founder - Interview
Air

- Romita Ghosh, Founder, MedSamaan

- Sailaja Nori, COO, Traxion LLP

- Shilpa Malik, Founder, Bioscan Research

- Sonam Motwani, Founder, Karkhana.io

- Sridevi Arunprakash, Co-founder, GUVI

- Surabhi Srivastava, Co-founder,
Innovision Tech

- Vartika Manasvi, Founder, StackRaft

The grant awards were followed by several
category takeaways by the partners.

2. Based on the international scalability
potential, seven startups were offered a 1-week market access trip to Montreal
by Government of Quebec:

- Kajal Gohil, Co-founder, ARKidzoo

- Keerti Singh, Co-founder, Hitwicket

- Poonam Choudhary, Co-founder, Vendaxo

- Poonam Gupta, Founder, WeeSure

- Prajakta Kuwalekar, Founder,
EngenderedCo

- Pritha Datta, Founder, Econolytics

- Shilpa Malik, Founder, Bioscan Research

Dominic Marcotte, Consul, and Director of
the Quebec Government Office in Mumbai is very happy with this partnership. He
says, “It is a matter of great pride for the Government of Quebec to support
the empoWer program. Our partnership with Zone Startups India has flourished in
the second year with more partners from Quebec supporting the market access
trip. As a part of its international policy, Quebec supports diversity and
minorities. We believe that enabling women to become successful entrepreneurs
is the best means of empowerment.”

Sravani Chandramukhi Cheemala, Co-founder,
Mirsae was offered to join the Amazon Launchpad Program.

The program received amazing
positive feedback from its participants. “Being a part of empoWer has been an
extremely enriching experience. As an entrepreneur, you are always looking to
meet people who can mentor, partner, share and do business with. In these 4
months of being associated with empoWer, I was able to meet a variety of such
people that have helped me and my business grow.”, says Pritha Datta,
Founder,  Econolytics.

empoWer now has a cumulative cohort size of 65 women
entrepreneurs, built over 3 cohorts. From the first 2 cohorts, a cumulative of
INR 60 Crores has been raised by Founders, and there have been 3 solid
acquisitions. empoWer is at the forefront of being the go-to platform for women
entrepreneurs that are looking to accelerate their ventures, and Zone Startups
India is gung-ho about launching newer initiatives under this banner.

Sodexo Launches Accelerator for Food Services Startups in India

Sodexo, a French food services and facilities management giant, has launched India's first-ever food accelerator to help startups in the $14 billion food services ecosystem. The accelerator will be operated in partnership with Zone Startups.

The startups, that Sodexo will choose for its accelerator program, need not necessarily be food apps and these can be companies solving some real-life problems with or without the help of technology.

Mumbai-based Zone Startups India will help Sodexo in conducting bootcamps, connecting startups with companies and investors in the food ecosystem and formulating go-to market strategy.

Notably, Sodexo runs a 3-months accelerator program under the name of Sparx Accelerator, however its not clear if the acceerator launched in India will be the same or under different name. The accelerator do not take equity in the startups it selects.

Rishi Gour, Country President, Sodexo On-Site Services India, said, “The urban food market continues to offer tremendous growth potential for Sodexo India and is at an inflection point with rapid digitalisation, evolving consumers and the entry of new players. With start-ups offering innovative technologies and business models, we look forward to creating new services together and generating a differentiated experience for our consumers.”

The accelerator will provide startups with access to Sodexo large corporate customer base. The company is also open to investing in these startups through its venture fund, said Gour.

While the accelerator will not be making any investments in the selected startups, it may use their services through partnerships, or in future, if there are synergies, it may also look at acquiring a few of them.

Sodexo also has a venture capital arm called Sodexo Ventures, which has made six investments so far, and having made the most recent investment in China's AEYE-GO, in last month only.

In France, Sodexo has picked up a majority stake in a food delivery company called FoodCheri that was a part of its food accelerator.

“Here in India, we are looking at certain B2B food companies. We are at present inviting applications, and by the end of January, we will select a few,” Gour said.

He added that if Sodexo identifies a startup that has the potential to scale up globally, its €50 million venture fund might look at investing in them.

Sodexo, which is well-known in India for its flagship Sodexo meal vouchers, is globally known for its facility management services which include operating cafeterias and food canteens for corporates, manufacturing units and institutions. In India, the company is also trying to reach out to the consumers indirectly through its on-site services.

Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Director of Zone Startups India, said that, “In the last few years, food-technology has been disrupting the start-up ecosystem. This has led to the emergence of several innovative consumer brands that need funds and hand-holding to scale up further."

It may be recalled that this is not the first food related accelerator in India, as in 2015 Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), IIM Ahmedabad has launched India’s first Food & Agri-Business accelerator for startups in food and agri-business sector.

In September last year, GSF, Ia tech accelerator founded by Rajesh Sawhney, and Infobridge have had launched Agrifood tech accelerator called "Gastrotope".

Source - Business Line

[Top Image - LuxHerald.com]

Zone Startups India Announces 30 Women Entrepreneurs for the 3rd Cohort of empoWer

Zone Startups India’s flagship initiative for women entrepreneurs, empoWer, announced two tracks in Tech and Tech for Social Impact as part of its 3rd edition this year. empoWer, India’s first tech accelerator for women entrepreneurs was launched in April 2016, and has since grown tremendously with 2 successful editions, many of its cohort members going on to achieve various accolades in their business. Over the past 2 editions, 35 women entrepreneurs have been a part of 2 cohorts, and 1 bootcamp and the program has disbursed INR 1.2 Cr in grants. Post program, a large majority of startups have raised further funding amounting a cumulative of INR 35 Crores.

Zone Startups empoWer 2018 3rd cohort

Zone Startups is international brand of technology accelerators and early stage venture funds managed by Ryerson Futures Inc, Canada (part of Ryerson University Network). In 2014, Zone Startups in India was launched its accelerator program based out of iconic Bombay Stock Exchange building in partnership between Ryerson Futures, BSE Institute and Simon Fraser University- Vancouver. Since then, the program has launched many initiatives to support startups from different sectors and geographies. Empower is one of the flagship initiatives which focuses on Gender diversity, supported women led startups in technology space. The past editions of empoWer was supported by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India & leading corporates - HDFC, Vodafone, Capital First, PayU, ICICI Bank, Microsoft, Amazon Launchpad etc.

empoWer 2018 was announced on 28th September with with BSE CSR Integrated Foundation and ICCL as the industry sponsor and Department of Science and Technology (Government of India), Government of Quebec, Canada, and Amazon Launchpad as supporting partners of the program. Post the announcement, roadshows were held in 6 major cities across the country to evangelize the program and pool in various innovative startups for both the tracks - Tech and Tech for Social Impact.

Says, Ms. Devika Shah, MD & CEO of ICCL, “There is a need to create an ecosystem to encourage entrepreneurship so that we have more job creators and not job seekers in the technology space in our country. Also currently the percentage of women tech entrepreneurs is very low. However, I believe there are plenty of women working hard to buck the trend and we need to support, encourage and enable them to do so".

Says, Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Director (India), Zone Startups - "When we were starting out in 2016, empoWer was an experiment to gauge the need of a program focussed on women entrepreneurs. Being able to attract such number of applications over the years, is a validation for us; and more importantly showcases the increasing number of women entrepreneurs in the country. We have only 32% repeat applications over the previous year. This year we have spun off a parallel track, so that we are able to accommodate a higher number of women entrepreneurs leveraging tech for social good. We aim to expand the program year on year. Congrats to selected 30 entrepreneurs. We look forward to creating many more success stories".

empoWer received an immense response from over 285 women entrepreneurs from a Pan-India application pool. Zone Startups India formed an evaluation committee comprising of 10 industry experts, to evaluate and select the 30 startups to be a part of this year’s program. After a thorough and competitive selection process, involving application evaluation and personal interviews, the following 30 startup founders have been selected for the 6-week accelerator program. The program will comprise of mentoring sessions, workshops, industry connects, case studies, peer-to-peer sessions, investor connects and a bootcamp.

As part of the program, the top 3 women entrepreneurs from each track will receive an equity-free seed fund of INR 10 Lakhs. The top few startups of the program will also receive a 1-week market access trip to Quebec, Canada and Access to the Amazon Launchpad Program.

Cohort for the Technology for Business program:

1. Sailaja Nori - Traxion LLP


2. Sakshi Khanna - The Uncube


3. Khushboo Maheshwari - Kaarva


4. Chetana Pawar - Deazzle Services Pvt. Ltd.


5. Gayatri Mathkar - Envention Solutions


6. Vartika Manasvi – StackRaft


7. Vidhya Mattumel - Vahmine Technologies Pvt. Ltd.


8. Sonam Motwani – Kharkhana


9. Pritha Datta – Econolytics


10. Kajal Gohil – Arkidzoo


11. Keerti Singh – Hitwicket


12. Alisha Nanda – Hungerpacks


13. Tanvi Agarwal – Vendaxo


14. Sridevi Arunprakash – Guvi


15. Riddhima Gauba - Interview Air

Cohort for the Technology for Social Good program:

1. Meha Lahiri - Recity India Private Limited


2. Mrudula Kulkarni - iKnowlation Research Labs Pvt. Ltd.


3. Shilpa Malik - Bioscan Research


4. Nandita Yenagi - Adaptive Agritech Solutions Pvt. Ltd.


5. A SOUMYA RAO - Upsoil Technologies


6. Megha Rawat - Kurio Designs –


7. Poonam Gupta - Wee Sure


8. Prajakta Kuwalekar – Engendered


9. Richa Sethi - GetLitt! (Writer's Bug Learning Pvt. Ltd.)


10. Gitanjali Banerjee - Femtech Fertility Dost Pvt. Ltd.


11. Vanita Prasad - REVY Environmental Solutions


12. Romita Ghosh – MedSamaan


13. Manasi Kulkarni - Innoweave Biocare


14. Vidya T G – Whatsloan


15. Sravani Chandramukhi Cheemala - Mirsae

Here're 6 New-Age Tech Startups from Palava Accelerator's 2nd Cohort

Palava Accelerator, launched in September last year by Lodha Group in partnership with Zone Startups India, has on-boarded six startups for its second cohort from application pool of 80 startups. These include Faclon Labs Pvt Ltd, Calamus, Edge Canvas, Tilt, Russsh and One Wallet.

Since the launch, the accelerator program has mentored 8 startups at various stages, of which 3 were able to convert Lodha as clients, one of them being UtopiaTech. The startups are from varied technology domains such as CleanTech, Governance, Ed-tech, Fintech to name a few etc. The second cohort of the Palava Accelerator comprises startups providing new-age tech & digital solutions such as electric bikes, bike sharing platform for e-cycles & e-scooters, asset automation solution for water, AI based learning management system, mobile-based same-day delivery service, and web applications for city vendors.

Below are six on-boarded startups in the 2^nd cohort of Palava Accelerator

Faclon Labs Pvt Ltd

Driving sustainability in the water and Energy Sector using AI and IoT

Founders - Rishi Sharma, Archit Naraniwal, Utkarsh Narain Srivastava

Founded by IIT Grads, Falcon Labs uses IoT to track and automate pumping stations, and provide stakeholders with eccentric insights around performance, maintenance, and utilization. Falcon uses predictive analytics and other data mining technologies to detect leaks, predict local consumption patterns, etc. This solution enables management of utilities from a centralized system independent of site locations and availability of resources. Falcon is undertaking pump automation in Palava Phase 2 which aims to reduce water and electricity wastages.

Calamus

Designs innovative electric cycles to revolutionize personal transport

Founder - Nilesh Bothra

Calamus aims to make affordable electric bicycles built on quality, safety, and reliability by using the best components and materials, all in an affordable price. They are currently seeking a possible collaboration with Tilt in their dock solution for enabling electric bike sharing at Palava city.

Tilt

Founder - Deepak VS
Enhancing sharable mobility

Feynman Technology is working on a solution for sharable mobility called Tilt, which is a pool of shareable bikes, where a customer can borrow a bike from a Tilt station by scanning a QR code from the app or by using a smart card that would be provided to them. Once they are done using the bike, the customer may return the bike at any Tilt station and complete their trip. Currently, their bikes are being used in cities, corporate campuses, and townships across India. The startup is in progress with Palava city management for installing electric bike sharing docks in Palava city.

Edge Canvas

Founders - Kundan Singh, Rajan Chaudhary, Varun Richharia
AI-based education technology solutions


EdgeCanvas is India's first AI-based education technology company providing comprehensive LMS & ERP to Schools, Colleges and Coaching Institutions. EdgeCanvas brings all stakeholders (Students, Parents, Teachers, Administration) to a common platform and makes institute functions efficient, cost-effective through advanced automation. They are currently in piloting with Lodha World School at Palava for implementing the LMS and the ERP Solution.

Russsh

Founder - Bharat Ahirwar

Same-day delivery service

Russsh is a same-day delivery service to run any kind of personal & official errands. Russsh is exploring integrations with MyPalava App to enable citizens to get daily services and errands.

One Wallet

Mobile application for newspaper/milkman and other vendors.

Founder - Neeraj Tiwari, Ritesh Raghuvanshi, DK Pandey

One Wallet has developed an integrated online system to digitize payments received by small merchants. They make Mobile ERP focused on billing and payments of vendors handling households and connect them with their customers online. They have now designed India’s first mobile app for newspaper vendors and are bringing the solution to Palava city.

Startups accepted into the Palava Accelerator program receive support and services including co-working office space, free residential options, business development support, an opportunity to pilot their products at Palava City, access to high quality investor networks, mentorship programs and networking events. The program provides early stage companies a test bed and launch pad for their businesses.

Shaishav Dharia, Regional CEO, Lodha Group said, "Palava is a great opportunity for emerging startups, given the scale of infrastructure and being home to over 100,000 residents. It is also home to fully functional international schools and retail mall; thereby presenting wide-ranging opportunities to emerging tech startups.”

"Palava Accelerator has been working with a diverse set of startups, under multiple models of engagement, and enabling them to establish their product validation by providing them with a test-bed. Over the past 15 months, we have seen a steady traction in terms of awareness of the accelerator program across India, and startups aspiring to be a part of the same, which is a win-win situation.", says Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Director (India), Zone Startups.

“It’s really difficult to validate product idea in the B2B domain and especially if it’s a hardware (IoT) product. Palava city was a great opportunity to pilot our product and understand user behavior. The best part of this program was that potential customer (Palava City) was hand holding us to devise a perfect solution.” says Ayush Jain, Co-Founder, Utopia Tech.

In addition to attracting startups from Mumbai and other parts of the country for its accelerator program, Palava Accelerator has also conducted two editions of its pre-accelerator program called Ideathon. The focus of Ideathon is on idea stage companies and startup enthusiasts having commercially viable ideas which require support in product building. Till date, five startups have emerged from the Ideathon Pre-Accelerator program from which three have successfully built the product and are now in launch phase. One of the pre-accelerator startup Neuronet has also gone on to implement their AI based Chabot solution in Palava and get Lodha as first customer.

Palava citizen and Founder, Neuronet, Vijay says "This has been a great platform at the right time to start building our vision. Accelerator has always pushed us to perform more and helped us to achieve the product milestones. Within 3 months we networked with several companies and got an opportunity to validate our product. All the workshops that we participated in this program helped us to define our roadmap."

Here're 13 Winning Indian Startups of Next Big Idea 2018 which will Travel to Canada

Zone Startups India, a leading startup accelerator in India, has been operating the annual Next BIG Idea (NBI) Contest for the past 5 years. The Next BIG Idea contest presents an opportunity to tech startups from India, to tap into the North American market through a soft landing in Canada. The contest identifies high growth potential Indian startups at an early stage through an application-based process, and acts as a gateway to North America. Through a structured program, the contest winners get to validate their business model, get access to local mentors, corporates, investors and Government Representatives in Canada.

This year, 13 technology startups, across sectors including Fintech, Retail Tech, Smart Home, from a pool of over 1100 applications have been chosen for the Indo-Canada Bilateral Entrepreneurship exchange program and the winners will travel to Canada in November for the 2-week market access program.

During the winner announcement, Dr. Naveen Vasishta, Scientist E, NEB Division, Department of Science and Technology said “The Department of Science and Technology, GOI is partnering with the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Canada to accelerate the growth of emerging hi-potential technology startups from India & Canada. Under the program, the selected companies will be visiting Canada for a market access program to collaborate and develop product/solutions for the benefit of both Indian & Canadian economy. It was a great experience to see the top 50 companies selected for the boot camp were ready for the global expansion, we are happy to see such companies are emerging and Identified by Zone Startups India for the bilateral programs.”

“I am pleased to welcome 13 Indian companies to Canada as part of the Next Big Idea contest. The companies will make connections that will help them build their businesses. At the same time, they will get to experience Canada’s outstanding entrepreneurial ecosystem and our openness to ideas and people,” Said Ms. Tara Scheurwater, Acting Consul General and Senior Trade Commissioner.

Established as a joint-initiative with the Government of Ontario, Canada, the contest has gone onto attract industry partners such as IBM, Amazon Web Services, HDFC Bank, Google and TCS. The Indo - Canada bilateral entrepreneurship exchange program was added as a new dimension in the 6th edition of Next BIG Idea contest 2018. The contest is sponsored by Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, and supported by Global Affairs Canada, Provincial Governments of Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is the Canadian industry sponsor of NBI 2018 and the bank will be hosting the tending companies at their Toronto Headquarters. Additionally, Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) is also supporting 3 Kerala based startups to participate in NBI 2018.

Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Director, Zone Startups India said, “Over the years, the Next BIG Idea contest has become an ecosystem development initiative for us, and leveraging our presence in Canada and India, we are able to provide a great market entry for India startups aspiring to tap into the North American economy. Being able to get the Next BIG Idea Contest to become a part of a larger cross-border initiative, supported by 2 Governments, is a major validation for us, with respect to building an international startup bridge. 1,100 applications is a lot, and it came by virtue to extensive roadshows conducted across 20 Indian cities – many of them being tier-2 and tier-3 cities. The fact that each year we are able to attract more applications, only shows the burgeoning reputation of the contest, and the increasing interest of Indian startups in Canada."

Over the past five years, the contest has supported 27 companies to softland in Canada & winners have made significant progress, having and have raised over $300 mn cumulatively - some of the notable alumni are CitrusPay, Vidooly, Konotor, ShieldSquare, Flip Technologies, Sequretek, Plackal, Heckyl, AlgoEngines, and DataResolve. The contest thrives on its ability to identify winners at an early stage, and backing them all the way.

While sharing the journey of Next BIG Idea Contest, Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Director, Zone Startups India said, “This year was more special, as we held a week-long bootcamp in Mumbai with the to-50 startups. Founders were not only able to be a part of evaluations done by industry advisors and investors but, also got a good understanding of the opportunities in Canada, through talks and meetings with representatives from the Canadian federal and provincial governments. We look forward to making the program bigger and contributing to more success stories, of Indian startups going global through such initiatives.”

The winners of the NBI 2018:

1. Appmaker: Appmaker.xyz, Cochin based startup & nominated by Kerala Startup Mission, is shopify for mobile. Create native app maker for Android, iOS and Windows Phone for free. No coding required and get your app within seconds.


2. Bitryt Solutions Private Limited: Ernakulam based startup & nominated by Kerala Startup Mission, developed ‘Zero One Media suite’, an integrated media platform which helps to automate the processes of video acquisition, processing, scheduling, distribution, monetization and analytics.


3. PerfectFit Systems: Ernakulam based startup & nominated by Kerala Startup Mission, builds 3D scanners and fully automated smart apparel production system for the fashion industry.


4. Trendlyne (Giskard Datatech Private Limited): Bengaluru based Trendlyne is a Retail Bloomberg platform for analysts, retail investors and advisors across geographies. Trendlyne makes every stock market data point queryable, and backtestable. It also turns unstructured data (for example, factory closures, auditor resignations) into structured data that can be used in strategies and analyzed.


5. Detect Technologies: Chennai based company DeTect Technologies develops the innovative and efficient solutions for the industrial asset monitoring and inspection. With the vision of making the industry safe and efficient, the team of IITM alumni, students and faculty created Detect to build the smart and affordable technology. Right from its inception, DeTect has already achieved market penetration of 80% in Oil & Gas sector in terms of companies in India and predominantly present in many other sectors such as Steel , Power, Chemical and Fertilizer and its story is growing exponentially.


6. Oizom Instruments: Ahmedabad based Oizom delivers Environmental Impact Solutions using IoT Technology. The solution acquires Environmental data and further analyses it for actionable insights. The insights acquires Environmental data and further analyses it for actionable insights. The insights empower authorities, communities and industries to take data-driven decisions.


7. IBSFINtech India: Bengaluru based IBSFINtech is the market leader in Treasury & Trade Finance solutions provider in India, specializing in innovative, integrated and comprehensive solution for Risk, Treasury and Trade Finance Management.


8. Bitonic Technology Labs (Yellow messenger) a Bengaluru based company has developed conversational artificial intelligence channel powering enterprises to Market,Acquire , Service and Support customers on Voice and Messaging.


9. Lendfoundry: Bengaluru based company has developed a full stack technology platform for lenders to run lending products digitally.


10. Pingal Technologies: Mumbai based company has developed Finalytx - our analytics platform enables simplified & scalable adoption of Data Analytics by decision makers for deriving business insights from enterprise data.


11. Relatas: Bangaluru based company Relatas has developed a Sales AI platform that successful B2B sales teams use for Sales Forecasting, Account Management and Sales Execution, using Relationship Intelligence.


12. SIBIA Analytics: Kolkata based company has developed Retail inventory optimization through most accurate demand forecasting - using advanced machine learning, offered as SaaS.


13. Wobot Intelligence: Delhi based company helps Organisations automate surveillance using Artificial Intelligence.

The Next BIG Idea Contest is an important annual feature of Zone Startups India's calendar of a bevy of programs, and the team looks at it as an ecosystem development initiative that helps Indian startups gain exposure to international markets.

Zone Startups India Launches 'FinDhan' To Identify Startups To Collaborate with TVS Credit

Chennai-based TVS Credit, one of India’s leading NBFCs, and Mumbai-based Meta accelerator Zone Startups India, are joining hands to launch ‘FinDhan’, a year-long multi-format startup engagement program to work with fintech and enterprise tech startups.

Under this program, TVS Credit will be working with startups and look to engage over niche as well as broad areas critical to financial services, such as underwriting, collections, customer/dealer management, people management, new product development, operations, and Robotic process automation (RPA).

Interested Startups can Apply here.

The identified startups which fit into the requirements will get a chance to do a milestone-based pilot with TVS Credit, leveraging business unit insights and data. Successful pilots stand a chance to form a commercial partnership with TVS Credit. The pilot opportunity is a major win for selected startups, as it will help them leverage TVS Credit business insights and mentorship from leaders.

Zone Startups, a market leader in designing curated corporate innovation models, will be operating the programme – and engage on a series office hours, demo days, industry nights, innovation challenges and hackathons, with an aim to drive deeper engagement between the fintech and startup ecosystem, and the leadership team of TVS Credit.

“FinDhan is a great opportunity for FinTech, and other emerging technology companies catering to the financial services industry, to engage with a market leader in TVS Credit. We call this a hybrid model accelerator, which offers TVS Credit a series of multi-format engagements with the external innovation ecosystem, built over a year. There has been a lot of thought process put into designing this model, from varied business units within TVS Credit, and to have that kind of buy-in and engagement from the leadership is a great start in itself,” says Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Director (India), Zone Startups.

“We are looking to bring 40-50 startups into the fold of FinDhan over the next 12 months, and see how many of these are able to form mutually beneficial business partnerships with TVS Credit. We believe that the business insights and legacy of a market leader can be leveraged by an agile, emerging tech company looking to offer a great customer experience,” he adds.

With this startup engagement program, TVS Credit is looking to strengthen its business by leveraging the latest technology. It aims to achieve the highest level of customer experience throughout the lifecycle of its customers, leverage customer profiling to address unmet demands, automate manual processes, and develop new products across their business.

"India is one of the world's largest markets for financial services. It is also the country where the adoption and usage of new technology has cut across all barriers of geography, language and social strata. It is therefore quite clear to us that, to become a leader in financial services, our tech initiatives need to be one step ahead of the pack, always. We couldn't have imagined a better partner than Zone Startups to help us find the right solutions for our business challenges and implement them smoothly. I look forward to a long relationship, filled with ideas and innovation," says Venkatraman G, Chief Executive Officer, TVS Credit.

The coming together of two well-known names in their respective verticals will work as a great an opportunity for the startups onboarded through the FinDhan programme to gain insights from the senior leadership team at TVS Credit – a market leader in its domain, as well as a chance to engage on pilot opportunities, to explore strategic business opportunities with the Company.

Meet 10 Women Entrepreneurs Selected As 1st Cohort of POWERED Accelerator

Its been over three months since entrepreneurship programme, POWERED accelerator was launched by UK govt.'s Department for International Development (DFID) India and Shell Foundation in partnership with Zone Startups. Now in a latest upcoming, ten women entrepreneurs have been selected as the first cohort into the POWERED Accelerator programme and will now receive financial and business support to develop their businesses and deliver solutions in access to energy across India.

In April this year, DFID India, Shell Foundation (the independent global charity), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, and Zone Startups India announced the POWERED Accelerator, touted as a first of its kind entrepreneurship programme focused on twin Sustainable Development Goals of Energy and Diversity. Following the launch in Mumbai, the POWERED Accelerator was launched in six cities across India.

The objective of the POWERED Accelerator is to support female-led ventures by helping them expand their innovative and consumer-responsive products and services; the ultimate goal being to empower women-owned and managed businesses in the energy space. The accelerator is focused on core themes of access to energy, sustainable mobility, waste to value, energy efficiency, and smart energy solutions.

More than 130 women entrepreneurs applied to the accelerator programme from varied backgrounds, all having created innovative solutions in the energy sector. The startups were evaluated based on the applicant’s background, innovativeness, scale of impact, problem solution fit, clarity of thought, and programme fit. The top-ten entrepreneurs selected for the first cohort will now receive support for one year to scale their business including a six-week residential mentoring programme and access to an equity-free seed fund of $10,000 each.

“We know that given the right opportunities, women can play a critical role across the energy-value chain. As energy enterprises scale-up in India they provide rural and low-income women with new opportunities to generate income and achieve greater economic empowerment. Through the POWERED programme we will work towards strengthening the ecosystem for more women-owned and managed businesses across the energy value chain. We are confident that these 10 women entrepreneurs will enable greater inclusion and sustainability towards a more energy secure and equitable future for all.” – Gavin McGillivray, Head DFID India

“Shell Foundation is excited to see the first cohort of high quality female entrepreneurs come through the POWERED Accelerator programme. We believe these inspiring women have the potential to deliver long-term energy and mobility solutions that address market gaps and break down some of the barriers that are preventing low-income consumers from accessing these critical services. The Accelerator programme is one element of the POWERED initiative, a partnership between DFID India and Shell Foundation, which will deliver 5000 jobs, and support more than 100 women-owned micro-enterprises in rural and urban India.” – Sam Parker, Director – Shell Foundation

“At the time of launching POWERED Accelerator, we were not sure of the number of women-entrepreneur led start-ups in the extended energy sector. After 6-roadshows, and close to 2 months of extensive campaigning, we ended up getting more than 130 high-quality applications. Selecting only 10 from a shortlist of 30 businesses was a tough task. We see the entire application pool as a part of a larger funnel of start-ups that presents us with an opportunity to build other interventions in this niche ecosystem. We have some great partners onboard, and we look forward to making the first cohort a grand success" - Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Director - Zone Startups India

The cohort comprises of start-ups in areas ranging from access to energy, water conservation, application of energy in agriculture, easy finance, last-mile distribution, waste to fuel and more.

The Cohort:

Simmi Sareen, Loans4SME

Srujana Raghupatruni, Cellerite Systems

Puspalata Pani, Kumidini Enterprise

Mousumi Medhi, HoneyComb Inventions

Amishi Parasrampuria, Upcycler's Lab

Kavita Aggarwal, BluPrints

Ruchi Jain, Taru Naturals

Manvi Dhawan, Agnij-Adjustable Thermoelectric Power Generator

Neha Upadhyaya, Guna

Nidhi Pant, S4S Technologies

1.      Simmi Sareen, Loans4SME 

Simmi is a veteran in financial services with more than 19 years of experience in credit and lending. She is head of the Mumbai-based startup Loans4SME, which is an alternative lending platform that connects businesses with debt providers. They aim to help small businesses navigate the complexities of the lending market, all the while enabling lenders to invest in the right company. The next step is to create products and structures that expand supply of capital for renewable energy beyond the currently existing lenders.

 

2.     Srujana Raghupatruni, Cellerite Systems 

Srujana is a postgraduate in Power Systems from IIT Delhi with 7 years’ experience in teaching Electrical Engineering to graduates and undergraduates. She is the Founder and CTO of Hyderabad-based startup Cellerite Systems that is developing an innovative Electric Vehicle charger that focuses on reducing the charging time of the vehicle, thereby increasing the travel range of these vehicles. 

3.     Puspalata Pani, M/S KUMUDINI ENTERPRISE 

Puspalata has a Master’s Degree in Social Work (MSW) and Rural Management with 19 years of experience in youth leadership development. She is the Co-Founder of and manages operations at Odisha-based startup M/S Kumudini Enterprise, an organisation, which is completely run by women, that aims to provide energy services and devices in rural communities, with a special focus on Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). They also promote training and capacity building of the rural communities with an emphasis on the women in the community. 

4.    Mousumi Medhi, HoneyComb Inventions 

Mousumi has 8 years of experience in project management and holds an MBA Degree. She is the CEO of Mumbai-based startup HoneyComb Inventions, which is aimed at enhancing the duration of power back up supplies of healthcare facilities. 

5.     Amishi Parasrampuria, Upcycler's Lab 

Amishi has 4 years of experience as a social entrepreneur in the field of sustainability. She is the Founder of Mumbai-based startup Upcycler’s Lab, which makes sustainability-based learning tools for children above the age of five. They aim to create awareness and educate children on the need for sustainability in accordance with UN SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production. 

6.    Kavita Aggarwal, BluPrints 

Kavita has core experience in Embedded Systems Design, in Building ATC and War-Room communication infrastructure for IAF. She also holds an MBA degree from University of Leeds and an MCA Degree from IMT, Ghaziabad. She is the Founder and CEO of Delhi-NCR-based BluPrints, an R&D Driven Embedded Systems Technology Company specializing in Retail-Tech and Fin-Tech Devices. One of the focuses being a system designed for electricity billing. 

7.     Ruchi Jain, Taru Naturals 

Ruchi holds a Master’s Degree in Environment Change and Management from Oxford University. She has also worked with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, European Academies Sciences Council and as a Campaigner with 350.org and Indian Youth Climate Network. She is the Founder and CEO of Mumbai-based Taru Naturals, which is a network that connects farmer communities with clean technology and renewable energy. It is an ecosystem builder for small-scale farmers, wherein they mobilise the village community to adopt sustainable methods of agriculture such as solar power pumps, solar dryers, etc. 

8.   Manvi Dhawan, Agnij-Adjustable Thermoelectric Power Generator

Manvi has 2 years of experience in project management and systems engineering, she also holds a Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Bombay. She is the CEO and CFO of Mumbai-based Agnij- Adjustable Thermoelectric Power Generator, which is developing a product called Agnij. Agnij is a thermo-electric belt, which can be placed around any heated vessel or chullahs to use waste heat. 

9.    Neha Upadhyaya, Guna

Neha is an organic macrobiotic coach based in New Delhi. She is the Founder of New-Delhi based Guna, which trains rural women farmers in Ladakh and Sikkim to develop eco model villages through a focus on organic farming and the use of solar energy in post-harvest management by the use of solar dryers, solar pumps, etc.

10.Nidhi Pant, S4S Technologies

Nidhi is a social entrepreneur who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering. She is one of the Co-Founders of Mumbai-based S4S Technologies and heads marketing and sales in the company. S4S Technologies manufactures solar dehydrators that are used by farmers for food preservation; they also provide the farmers market linkage to sell these dehydrated food products. 

As part of the broader aim of the programme, the accelerator will also be organising ecosystem development activities, grand challenges, a one-week residential boot camp, and an incubator for women in energy.

Zone Startups India will continue accepting applications for the next cohort on the website of the POWERED Accelerator - powered.org.in/accelerator/

Set up as a joint initiative of Shell Foundation and Zone Startups, and funded by DFID India (UK Government) and DST Government of India, the objective of the POWERED Accelerator is to support selected ventures, by helping them expand their innovative and consumer-responsive services, products, and financing; with an ultimate goal to increase economic empowerment of women-owned businesses in the energy space.

Meet 10 Women Entrepreneurs Selected As 1st Cohort of POWERED Accelerator

Its been over three months since entrepreneurship programme, POWERED accelerator was launched by UK govt.'s Department for International Development (DFID) India and Shell Foundation in partnership with Zone Startups. Now in a latest upcoming, ten women entrepreneurs have been selected as the first cohort into the POWERED Accelerator programme and will now receive financial and business support to develop their businesses and deliver solutions in access to energy across India.

In April this year, DFID India, Shell Foundation (the independent global charity), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, and Zone Startups India announced the POWERED Accelerator, touted as a first of its kind entrepreneurship programme focused on twin Sustainable Development Goals of Energy and Diversity. Following the launch in Mumbai, the POWERED Accelerator was launched in six cities across India.

The objective of the POWERED Accelerator is to support female-led ventures by helping them expand their innovative and consumer-responsive products and services; the ultimate goal being to empower women-owned and managed businesses in the energy space. The accelerator is focused on core themes of access to energy, sustainable mobility, waste to value, energy efficiency, and smart energy solutions.

More than 130 women entrepreneurs applied to the accelerator programme from varied backgrounds, all having created innovative solutions in the energy sector. The startups were evaluated based on the applicant’s background, innovativeness, scale of impact, problem solution fit, clarity of thought, and programme fit. The top-ten entrepreneurs selected for the first cohort will now receive support for one year to scale their business including a six-week residential mentoring programme and access to an equity-free seed fund of $10,000 each.

“We know that given the right opportunities, women can play a critical role across the energy-value chain. As energy enterprises scale-up in India they provide rural and low-income women with new opportunities to generate income and achieve greater economic empowerment. Through the POWERED programme we will work towards strengthening the ecosystem for more women-owned and managed businesses across the energy value chain. We are confident that these 10 women entrepreneurs will enable greater inclusion and sustainability towards a more energy secure and equitable future for all.” – Gavin McGillivray, Head DFID India

“Shell Foundation is excited to see the first cohort of high quality female entrepreneurs come through the POWERED Accelerator programme. We believe these inspiring women have the potential to deliver long-term energy and mobility solutions that address market gaps and break down some of the barriers that are preventing low-income consumers from accessing these critical services. The Accelerator programme is one element of the POWERED initiative, a partnership between DFID India and Shell Foundation, which will deliver 5000 jobs, and support more than 100 women-owned micro-enterprises in rural and urban India.” – Sam Parker, Director – Shell Foundation

“At the time of launching POWERED Accelerator, we were not sure of the number of women-entrepreneur led start-ups in the extended energy sector. After 6-roadshows, and close to 2 months of extensive campaigning, we ended up getting more than 130 high-quality applications. Selecting only 10 from a shortlist of 30 businesses was a tough task. We see the entire application pool as a part of a larger funnel of start-ups that presents us with an opportunity to build other interventions in this niche ecosystem. We have some great partners onboard, and we look forward to making the first cohort a grand success" - Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Director - Zone Startups India

The cohort comprises of start-ups in areas ranging from access to energy, water conservation, application of energy in agriculture, easy finance, last-mile distribution, waste to fuel and more.

The Cohort:

Simmi Sareen, Loans4SME

Srujana Raghupatruni, Cellerite Systems

Puspalata Pani, Kumidini Enterprise

Mousumi Medhi, HoneyComb Inventions

Amishi Parasrampuria, Upcycler's Lab

Kavita Aggarwal, BluPrints

Ruchi Jain, Taru Naturals

Manvi Dhawan, Agnij-Adjustable Thermoelectric Power Generator

Neha Upadhyaya, Guna

Nidhi Pant, S4S Technologies

1.      Simmi Sareen, Loans4SME 

Simmi is a veteran in financial services with more than 19 years of experience in credit and lending. She is head of the Mumbai-based startup Loans4SME, which is an alternative lending platform that connects businesses with debt providers. They aim to help small businesses navigate the complexities of the lending market, all the while enabling lenders to invest in the right company. The next step is to create products and structures that expand supply of capital for renewable energy beyond the currently existing lenders.

 

2.     Srujana Raghupatruni, Cellerite Systems 

Srujana is a postgraduate in Power Systems from IIT Delhi with 7 years’ experience in teaching Electrical Engineering to graduates and undergraduates. She is the Founder and CTO of Hyderabad-based startup Cellerite Systems that is developing an innovative Electric Vehicle charger that focuses on reducing the charging time of the vehicle, thereby increasing the travel range of these vehicles. 

3.     Puspalata Pani, M/S KUMUDINI ENTERPRISE 

Puspalata has a Master’s Degree in Social Work (MSW) and Rural Management with 19 years of experience in youth leadership development. She is the Co-Founder of and manages operations at Odisha-based startup M/S Kumudini Enterprise, an organisation, which is completely run by women, that aims to provide energy services and devices in rural communities, with a special focus on Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). They also promote training and capacity building of the rural communities with an emphasis on the women in the community. 

4.    Mousumi Medhi, HoneyComb Inventions 

Mousumi has 8 years of experience in project management and holds an MBA Degree. She is the CEO of Mumbai-based startup HoneyComb Inventions, which is aimed at enhancing the duration of power back up supplies of healthcare facilities. 

5.     Amishi Parasrampuria, Upcycler's Lab 

Amishi has 4 years of experience as a social entrepreneur in the field of sustainability. She is the Founder of Mumbai-based startup Upcycler’s Lab, which makes sustainability-based learning tools for children above the age of five. They aim to create awareness and educate children on the need for sustainability in accordance with UN SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production. 

6.    Kavita Aggarwal, BluPrints 

Kavita has core experience in Embedded Systems Design, in Building ATC and War-Room communication infrastructure for IAF. She also holds an MBA degree from University of Leeds and an MCA Degree from IMT, Ghaziabad. She is the Founder and CEO of Delhi-NCR-based BluPrints, an R&D Driven Embedded Systems Technology Company specializing in Retail-Tech and Fin-Tech Devices. One of the focuses being a system designed for electricity billing. 

7.     Ruchi Jain, Taru Naturals 

Ruchi holds a Master’s Degree in Environment Change and Management from Oxford University. She has also worked with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, European Academies Sciences Council and as a Campaigner with 350.org and Indian Youth Climate Network. She is the Founder and CEO of Mumbai-based Taru Naturals, which is a network that connects farmer communities with clean technology and renewable energy. It is an ecosystem builder for small-scale farmers, wherein they mobilise the village community to adopt sustainable methods of agriculture such as solar power pumps, solar dryers, etc. 

8.   Manvi Dhawan, Agnij-Adjustable Thermoelectric Power Generator

Manvi has 2 years of experience in project management and systems engineering, she also holds a Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Bombay. She is the CEO and CFO of Mumbai-based Agnij- Adjustable Thermoelectric Power Generator, which is developing a product called Agnij. Agnij is a thermo-electric belt, which can be placed around any heated vessel or chullahs to use waste heat. 

9.    Neha Upadhyaya, Guna

Neha is an organic macrobiotic coach based in New Delhi. She is the Founder of New-Delhi based Guna, which trains rural women farmers in Ladakh and Sikkim to develop eco model villages through a focus on organic farming and the use of solar energy in post-harvest management by the use of solar dryers, solar pumps, etc.

10.Nidhi Pant, S4S Technologies

Nidhi is a social entrepreneur who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering. She is one of the Co-Founders of Mumbai-based S4S Technologies and heads marketing and sales in the company. S4S Technologies manufactures solar dehydrators that are used by farmers for food preservation; they also provide the farmers market linkage to sell these dehydrated food products. 

As part of the broader aim of the programme, the accelerator will also be organising ecosystem development activities, grand challenges, a one-week residential boot camp, and an incubator for women in energy.

Zone Startups India will continue accepting applications for the next cohort on the website of the POWERED Accelerator - powered.org.in/accelerator/

Set up as a joint initiative of Shell Foundation and Zone Startups, and funded by DFID India (UK Government) and DST Government of India, the objective of the POWERED Accelerator is to support selected ventures, by helping them expand their innovative and consumer-responsive services, products, and financing; with an ultimate goal to increase economic empowerment of women-owned businesses in the energy space.