For many reasons Mumbai is known as the ‘Financial hub of India’. The opulent history of entrepreneurship; its harbors and ports acting as a gateway to many business and partnerships with India; blend of various traditions, food, Bollywood, and music.
The metropolitan city projected entrepreneurship differently by supporting many promising Indian startups. Mumbai being the torchbearer of the raging startups positioned itself at third place in overall funding activity in India. Ola Cabs, Housing.com, Pepperfry, Toppr, Bookmyshow, Justdial, and Quikr are some of the most successful startups which became household names emerged in Mumbai. Cities like Nagpur, Nashik, Pune, Hyderabad and more are rapidly mounting the growth of Startups in India. In a recent analysis, Maharashtra has the surprising 2,787 recognized startups.
The concurrent growth in the number of accelerators, incubators and venture capital firms once again proved that anything could be procured. To accelerate the growth of startups and to empower the ecosystem of startups beyond, the Maharashtra government launched a host of initiatives with Maharashtra State Innovative Startup Policy essaying to
- Fostering about 10,000 startups by 2023.
- Providing a substantial capital of INR 5,000 Cr by 2022 for startups.
- Initiating at least 15 incubation centers for startups.
- Structuring two world-class accelerators at Nagpur and Aurangabad.
- Triggering 500K plus direct and indirect employment opportunities.
- Planning to set up the Maharashtra Virtual Incubation Centre to facilitate with value-added services like financial, IP, cloud, legal and mentorship to startups.
Maharashtra Startup Week
With the fusion of the State government’s policy and innovation sourced entrepreneurial ecosystem, Startup Week aims to foster and achieve socio-economic development. The Maharashtra State Innovation Society(MSInS) introduced the Maharashtra Startup Week in January 2018.
In contrast to other startup events, the Maharashtra Startup Week targets on paving the road to Business-to-Government(B2G) collaborations with startups in the long-term procedure. It promises solutions procured by startups all over India and locate them through the government machinery to point key socio-economic challenges faced by people.
Maharashtra Startup Week 2018– The first initiation brought many brainchild Startups into the spotlight. Many were benefited to get the government work orders on a grander scale. Some of the Mumbai-based startups to be named
- S4s Technologies– a food preservation startup works with Zila Parishad of Aurangabad to power solar conduction dryers to farmers.
- Sagar Defence received an order from the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to remove waste from rivers with the floating drones.
- Floating Canvas is designing the walls of Raj Bhavan in Mumbai.
- Urvi Agrotech, a Pune-based startup is now working for Women and Child Development department aiding with hand tractors to women Self Help Groups for renting to farmers and earn.
In detail- Maharashtra Startup Week 2019
The bi-annual event accepts the forms/applications across seven major sectors from startups.
- Agriculture
- Education and skilling
- Fintech
- Governance
- Healthcare
- Mobility and infrastructure
- Sustainability
It is not only the sectors mentioned above where startups can apply for; they can apply in the ‘Miscellaneous category’ too. The five-day programme is to be held from January 28, 2019, to February 1, 2019. The prime focus of this event is to organize a platform for brainchildren of technology and other innovations to work with the government and gather all startup ecosystem stakeholders under one roof.
Probe more into the event details
The event is sectioned into three prime factors with a jury of over 80 potential members of the startup ecosystem and government officials to screen the applications.
- Call for Applications- MSInS issued a notification in the beginning month of December allowing startups a one-month gateway to submit their applications.
- Boot Camp- After the screening procedure, approximately 100 startups will be selected for the Boot Camp and then to the Startup Week. The two-day Boot Camp finalists are fostered in tuning their pitches to engross the Maharashtra government and meet their predictions.
- Startup Week- Final segment where a five-day event begins, and each startup get 15 minutes for their presentation, followed by viva voce sessions with the panel. Workshops, panel discussions, and network lunches are the complements to the sessions.
Procedure to apply
Startups from India can apply and participate in the 5-day event. Applied startups must have a base level viable products or services and must demonstrate their proof of concept.
Note: Idea-stage ventures are not eligible to apply.
The startups are judged on various parameters like Social Impact, Technology advantage, Leadership teams, Unique value proposition, and Scalability and Sustainability.
Startups should give a try at least.
Startups without narrowing themselves watching the hoard of startups and should present their ideas. The final 24 winning startups will be made eligible to receive work orders from the MSInS with a maximum amount of INR 15 Lakhs on behalf of various Maharashtra government departments. Other than the mentioned lump sum amount the winning startups get a chance to earn INR 15 Lakhs for their market development programmes.
More attractions at the event
Maharashtra Startup Week 2019 facilitates entrepreneurs to collab with more than 3000 startups and 50 partners. A magnificent opening and closing ceremony are attended by industry stalwarts, partners, startups, and top government officials. It includes an exhibition to showcase startups product to venture capitalists, customers, jury members, and investors. The top 100 startups get a chance to pitch to core panelists.
Overall, the Maharashtra Startup Week 2019 is a hope of gateway to many innovative startups to gain the opportunity in getting funded and recognized by Indian government and as well as public. So, Why to procrastinate the golden opportunity when it’s just a few steps away.
Go and be the best startup by lending a hand in solving socio-economic problems.
All the best to the startup applicants!
