Kolkata :
Entrepreneurship is the last thing that comes to our mind while taking a rooftop boat ride. However, on Saturday evening, a boat packed with young entrepreneurs did just that, pitching their startup ideas to investors on a cruise along the Ganges. For many, it turned out to be a smooth sailing, with their ideas being appreciated, endorsed and taken up for funding by investors.
In a first of its kind, Nasscom’s startup wing 10,000 Startups joined hands with Catapooolt, India’s first industry-backed crowd funding platform, to organize a platform on which various startups from across the country pitched their ideas to investors, who assessed them and extended funds on the spot.
Just as the boat left the dock, the 10 startups that were selected, started pitching their ideas. Paritosh Sharma, head of channel partnerships of PayUmoney, said, ” This live crowd-funding pitch at Kolkata is India’s first. Catapooolt, PayUmoney and Nasscom 10K Startups have collaborated with a mission to build India’s largest growth ecosystem for startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). And the same happening while taking a boat ride makes it even more interesting.”
The idea was to present every member with a booklet which had five coupons worth Rs 100. Whoever would want to invest in a specific startup based on their presentation would write down it’s name and place it inside a ballot box. In the end, a counting was done and a winner selected.
Ravi Ranjan, the warehouse manager of 10,000 startups, said, “This would support startups to validate their ideas with crowd and initially get small but significant money.”
Fading Clouds, a startup, co-founded by 2008 Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute(SRFTI) pass outs Sumon Majumder and Mrimoy Mondal, showcased their independent film sharing the same name. The movie centres around the loneliness of urban life, due to the over use of technology and how as a result, people are losing out on the family bonding.
Satish Kataria, managing director of Catapoolt said, “We are pleased to have organised India’s first ever live crowdfunding pitch event in Kolkata. We endeavour to make innovation accessible to all through crowdfunding and wish to inspire everyone to contribute and engage with new ideas.”
“While Kolkata had been slightly late in catching up with start up movement, we hope that with such concepts, the people here can leapfrog to new ways of funding ideas and together, put the city, sky high on Innovation map,” he added.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / by Abhro Banerjee, TNN / October 12th, 2015