Kolkata :
Swagene, all of nine months, was adjudged one the winners at Empresario 2016 – IIT-Kharagpur’s annual global business model competition where business ideas get opportunity and exposure – held at Webel Bhavan on Saturday.
Swagene is the brainchild of Sooraj Ratnakumar, 33, who did his PhD in molecular biology from Cambridge University and has taught in the US, UK and Switzerland. his partner in the company (and not his inspiration) is his mother Vani KM, a Chennai-based gynecologist who was “casually talked into” creating what is the country’s only personalized medicine startup. It not only diagnoses diseases genetically, but also guides clients towards the best cure.
The acknowledgement from IIT-Kharagpur will help Sooraj to carry forward his dream. “I came here because the contest organized by IIT-Kharagpur offers the best exposure in terms of mentorship and advice. I need to know how to make my nine-month-old baby walk,” said Sooraj.
Delhi-based health startup Healu, founded by Priyank Saini, sounded as excited to be here. Priyank and his team provides online services of doctors, but “we are about to launch an offline patient-care in Delhi. Online services are convenient, but one needs offline centres to synchronize so that clients get the personal healing touch that is an integral part of medical treatment,” Priyank said.
The winners were picked up by a jury comprising VCs and angel investors from firms like Nasscom, Omnivore Venture Partners, Villigro and others.
Twenty six startups made detailed presentations spread across two sessions on Saturday. They were shortlisted from 2000-odd entries from India and abroad after a month-long period of evolution. They got some talented mentors from leading seed-funders who advised them on finetuning their business models. The finalists were then selected by jury members.
Pitching and judging were done in two tracks – the judges zeroed in on the winners in four categories. The winners received a cash prize money of Rs 6 lakhs and other incentives.
“We had 110 semifinalists who were connected to industry specialist, professionals and experts for mentorship to create a market-ready and sustainable business model. The mentors helped the participants validate their model,” said Nihar Gupta, IIT-Kharagpur student and one of the organisers.
The pitching sessions by startups were followed by an interaction of investors with startup founders, who wanted to know when should a startup approach investors for money and if it was okay to focus on profits and raise money at a later stage. The investors said startups should approach friends and family, seed and angel investors before going to a venture capital firm.
The event culminated with the announcement of the winners of Empresario, the annual business model competition organized by the entrepreneurship cell of IIT Kharagpur, which provides a direct chance to pitch for funding from the Kharagpur Angel Network that has 30-plus investors on board already.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / TNN / January 09th, 2016