The National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) — Department of Science and Technology, has announced that IIM Udaipur is a robust accelerator programme centre in Rajasthan.
The development came in the backdrop of the upcoming IIM Udaipur’s Launch-n-Zoom 2.0 accelerator cohort programme. With its theme of market-validation-launch, the programme is open to tech-based start-ups from all domains. The selected cohort will begin training in January 2020. Before this, IIM Udaipur’s incubation centre hosted its first successful cohort in 2018, where 18 start-ups were selected out of 275 applicants.
‘Moment of monumental victory’
Umamahesvaram Mandi, Chief Executive Officer, Incubation Centre, IIM Udaipur, said, “This is a moment of monumental victory for IIM Udaipur and the emphasis our institution places on entrepreneurship. IIM Udaipur thrives with the launch of emerging early-stage technology start-ups and zooms them to success; once again, this year, with Launch-n-Zoom 2.0, which focusses on creating a positive impact on the way start-ups roll out their products or services and build ventures. Through 12 weeks of learning, mentoring and networking, the start-ups are prepped for the demo day where they get an opportunity to pitch their ideas and models to investors, for potential funding.”
Prof Janat Shah, Director, IIM Udaipur, said, “The country needs motivated youth to launch start-ups, invest in self-driven projects and conduct extensive research and development for a better tomorrow. Our incubation centre is driven towards building a strong and effective network with other leaders and entrepreneurs in the industry to enable meaningful partnerships with start-ups.”
November 30 deadline
Applications are welcome till November 30 for early-stage start-ups that have done proof-of-concept and are in the process of developing a minimum viable product (MVP) and building prototype.
Sovan Sunil Panda, CEO and co-founder, Mangosteen Holdings; Anjana Vivek, technologist; Saurabh Kwatra, designer and function cost analyst; and Rishabh Verdia and Yogesh Andlay, both business builders, will be joining as mentors.
IIM Udaipur’s incubation centre has focused on providing some additional benefits to the new cohort which include access to equipment and software for MVP development and prototyping; discovery of customers; price-points of products in the market; prototype refinement; assistance in development of newer edition of products and market testing of products; co-working spaces with 24x7 internet connectivity; and tailor-made topics and knowledge resources. IIM Udaipur will bear costs of prototyping and development.