Big Data. AI. IoT. Design Thinking.
Once considered buzzwords from the Valley, these technologies have now become a part of the Indian startup ecosystem with startups mushrooming in each of these verticals every now and then. As popular and tried and tested sectors such as ecommerce, hyperlocal are taken to task by investors and the like, it is time for entrepreneurs to start looking beyond the concept of ‘me-too’ startups. It is time for the future to be now.
With this intent firmly in mind, The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Mumbai recently announced its annual flagship event’s theme ‘TiECon Mumbai 2022: India Ahead.’
The two-day conference aims to explore the impact of current and future technologies such as IoT, bIG data, AI, machine learning, space tech, fintech, Smart Cities on existing industry verticals. The event is heralded as TiECon Mumbai 2022: India Ahead as the organisers believe this future technology, its implications and applications is more readily available than the ecosystem is aware of, or prepared for.
Commenting on the same, Anand Desai, President of TiE Mumbai said, “Technology is bringing about such rapid disruptions that we will be living in a “new” world order within the next five years. It’s a great time for entrepreneurs, corporate professionals, startups etc. to deliberate on the next big advances in technology, and convert their ideas into significant business ventures.”
One of the main highlights of the expo is the startup pitch event – Pitch Room, scheduled to take place over both days. Startups in both idea – as well as growth-stage will be able to pitch their ventures to TiE Angels (comprising TiE charter members) led by angel investor Sanjay Mehta, Anand Lunia, Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, founder of Venture Catalysts.
A total prize money of $37.5K (INR 25 Lakhs)-$45K (INR 30 Lakhs) has been earmarked to disburse to deserving startups.
“We have also invited corporates to be a part of the event to facilitate networking between investors, startups, and corporates in terms of investments, partnerships and in some cases, even integration like incubation, onboarding of tech, product, and service,” said Kumar Jhuremalani, Head of Marketing and Key Initiatives at TiE-Mumbai.
Making India Future-Ready
The event is expected to give over 50+ curated startups and 25+ growth stage VC portfolio companies a chance to showcase their business journeys, providing an opportunity to further tech and trend developments.
In keeping with the overarching theme, panel discussions will include topics such as ‘Connecting Everything – IoT is here!’ ‘How long till Judgment Day – AI’ workshop on upgrading UI/UX through design thinking and more. The investor panel for the event will be headlined by Sasha Mirchandani, Founder and Managing Partner at Kae Capital and by Sandeep Singhal, co-founder of Nexus Venture Partners and will touch upon themes such as valuation, fundraising, setting up of a family office and more.
The main objective of the expo is to foster entrepreneurship globally through mentoring, networking, educating, incubating and funding. Focus has been targeted toward bleeding-edge tech such as virtual reality, spacetech, Blockchain, machine learning – and the conference is aimed at understanding how these horizontals will impact traditional industries such as retail, logistics, healthcare etc.
The lineup of speakers includes industry stalwarts such as Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey and many others.
TiECon Mumbai 2016 was conducted on January 6-7, 2016 at the NCPA Enclave. The theme of the conference was transformation and disruption. The lineup of speakers/delegates included Ratan Tata (Chairman Emeritus, Tata Sons), Harsh Mariwala (Chairman, Marico Industries), Ronnie Screwvala (Founder, Unilazer Ventures), Ritesh Agarwal (Founder & CEO, OYO Rooms), Kunal Shah (Founder Freecharge), Kunal Bahl (Founder, Snapdeal) among others. In 2014, crowdfunding platform Wishberry had raised $150K (INR 1 Cr) in funding at the live funding pitch, TiECon Delhi.
This year, the expo will be held on March 17-18, 2017 at the St. Regis, Lower Parel, Mumbai.
