Bengaluru is going to be the home to a three day startup extravaganza, World Startup Expo. Startups will be able to pitch their ideas in front of investors, early stage adopters, mentors, potential co-founders and partners. Thought leaders, entrepreneurs, investors and key policy makers will also take part in the event.
The event offers startups the opportunity to win the ‘regional cup’ which will allow the winners to compete for $1 Mn at the ‘Startup World Cup’, to be held in San Francisco in March 2017. The event also claims to host a convergence of over 50 confirmed partnerships from leading incubators, accelerators and government bodies.
Commenting on the initiative, Nebu K Abraham, co-founder and CEO, Cocoon Ventures and Director – World Startup Expo said, “The expo aims at connecting startups with national and global investors and startup gurus. It will serve as a common link merging the dynamic startup ecosystem, leveraging brands and empowering them to get financed.”
WSE 2016 will have four different streams running over three days which will include:
- WSE Exhibition : with 500 + startups, technology companies, educational institutions, free trade zones and banks
- World Tech Hackathon: A coding challenge which will see participation from over 2000 students and corporates
- WSE Conference: A two-day conference with national and international speakers
- WSE Awards: An award ceremony acknowledging the work done by startups
Startups will get a chance to be part of the mentorship programme by Cocoon Ventures. As a part of the mentorship, they can present their ideas at the Investors Summit.
The conference will be presided by speakers from around the world including Shradha Sharma, founder and editor at YourStory, Khalid Khudair, ‘Young Global Leader’ at World Economic Forum, Nektarios Liolios, CEO and co-founder at Startupbootcamp, Baybars Altunatas of World Business Angels Development Forum, Dr. Paritosh Basu, Senior Professor at NMIMS, Jorge Soto, CEO at Soto Ventures and Kunal Kapoor, co-founder at Ketto among others.
The event is conceptualised and executed by Trescon Global, a business events and consulting firm. It is facilitated by a UAE-based venture capitalist firm, Cocoon Ventures. The company provides early stage funding to startups across diverse industries.
The event will be hosted at Bengaluru International Exhibition Center from November 21 – November 23, 2016.
