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PuneConnect 2018: Pune’s Largest Tech/Leadership/Startup Event 20 Oct: Register Today

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PuneConnect, SEAP‘s flagship event is back in a bigger format this year. We invite you to join us for the conversations on “Future of Everything”. 25 hand-picked speakers from across the country, special keynotes and four dedicated tracks for dialogues around: startups, technology, leadership, and academia/research/innovation.

As technology advances continue to permeate the business and social world and re-defines how we do business, we believe the future of work is also bound to change in a significant way and hence we have anchored the theme for Pune Connect 2018 around this.

The detailed schedule is here, and speaker profiles are here.

To attend as a delegate, register here.
If you’re a startup and would like to demo your product in the demo hall (free for selected startups), please apply here

This is an ideal event to connect with the who’s who of the Pune Startup ecosystem. You will find lots of the senior leadership from the technology industry, startup founders, successful senior entrepreneurs, potential recruits, angels and investors from all over, potential customers, mentors, business partners, affiliates, and investors from all parts of Pune’e startup and technology ecosystem – including SEAP, PuneTech, TiE Pune, PoCC, MCCIA, IPMA, HIA, IIMA’s CIIE, and SME Joinup.

Agenda

Time Session Topic Speaker Track
09:15AM-9:30AM Kick Off – By SEAP President Main Track
9:30AM-10:30AM Keynote Address On Your Markets, Get Set, Go Pune….Define the Future By Pari Natarajan Main Track
10:40AM-11:40AM Keynote Address Changing nature of the consumer and its impact on the technology selection for sustaining business Vijayaraman Subramaniam Main Track
11:50AM-12:50PM Keynote Address Leadership lessons from Mt. Everest Team Giripremi Main Track
12:50PM-01:00PM Inauguration of the Startup Stalls – – –
01:00PM-01:45PM Lunch Break – – –

Track Wise Agenda

Time Technology Track Leadership Track Academics & Research Track Startup Track
1:45PM-02:20PM Keynote Address:

Unearthing possibilities with data

by Dr. Hanumantha Rao Susarla

 Keynote Address:

How Companies Can Become Digital Leaders

By Mrutyunjay Singh

 TBA TBA
2:30PM-03: 30 PM Panel Discussion:

What are the challenges with data?

Panelist: Rohit Shrivastawa, Milind Barve, Satish Patil, Moderator: Sandeep Suryavanshi

 Keynote Address:

Lead The Change Through Social Entrepreneurship

By Ramesh Padmanabhan

 Panel Discussion:

Laying the path for Research, Academia and Industry collaboration

Panelist: Dr. Bhalchandra Puranik, Dr. Neeraj Gupta

 Workshop:

Samir Patil
03:30PM-04: 15 PM Fireside Discussion:

Blockchain and the Future of Enterprise

Pandurang Kamat, Bharani Subramanium, Moderator: Navin Kabra

 Panel Discussion:

The Changing Face Of Leadership

Panelist: Seema Gopal, Mangesh Kirtane, Dr. Kiran Bala, Moderator: S. Ramprasad

 Keynote Address:

The emerging relevance of Liberal arts to Indian Industry

by Anita Patankar

 Panel Discussion:

PuneConnect Winner Alumni what happened afterward…

Panelist: Nitin Gupta, Akshay Mehrotra, Madhukar Bhatia : Moderator: Seema Joshi
Time Session Topic Speaker Track
04:45PM-05:15PM Startup Shootout Top 5 Startups will pitch their startup in front of Jury Jury: TBA Main Track
05:15PM-05:45PM Awards Winner of Pune Connect will be announced Guest Of Honour will present the awards Main Track

Background

PuneConnect started in 2011 as a purely startup focused event, and quickly became one of Pune’s top startup events. However, after a break in 2017, we decided to expand the scope so that different parts of the industry/ecosystem (the established companies, the startups, academia, and leaders and mentors from elsewhere) could really connect with each other.

See the PuneConnect website for more information about past PuneConnects.

Fees and Registration

This event costs Rs. 1200 (Rs. 1600 after 13th October) if you want to be part of the lunch, Rs. 500 if you want to just attend second half of the event (without lunch; Rs. 800 after 13th October), and Rs. 300 for students (full day) and is free for students (half-day).

The event is from 9:00am to 6pm at the Westin, Pune.

Register here.

PuneConnect 2018: Call for Startups: Apply Now

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PuneConnect, which earlier was a purely startup focused event is now returning this year in an even bigger, expanded format. The event is now a technology and startup event with 4 different tracks—startups, technology, leadership, and academia. So, startups showcasing their products at this PuneTech will have a much more diverse audience to pitch to, and the potential to find prospective customers, mentors, employees, co-founders, and investors.

The startup track of PuneConnect is now in its 7th edition, and is one of Pune’s most important events for startups. Early stage startups get a chance to showcase their products and services to larger companies in Pune, senior and juniors from the technology industry, VCs and angel investors from all over the country, and others from the ecosystem. PuneConnect 2018 is on 20th October 2018, at Westin, Pune. It is a full-day event where selected startups will be provided with a table in the demo hall.

This event is free for startups selected by PuneConnect. If you are unsure of whether this event is appropriate for you or not, please go ahead and apply, and our selection committee will figure out whether you’re a good fit or not. Please apply right away. The last date to apply is 1st October 2018.

Any startup company that has a product that they would like to demo, should submit a proposal at http://db.puneconnect.com/pc/combo-form/. (The product must be ready/working on the date of the event.) A panel of selectors drawn from experts in the industry will select the most promising startups who will be allowed to set up a demo at PuneConnect, in Westin, Pune, on 20th October 2018.

There will be a special quota for students – i.e. startups whose founders are still students will be given special consideration, so if you know someone in this category, please forward this info to them.

Benefits to selected startups include:

  • Exposure to Pune’s top companies (potential customers and potential mentors)
  • Exposure to Pune’s software developer community (potential employees and potential co-founders)
  • Exposure to Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors who are being invited to the event
  • Press and media coverage before and after the event

PuneConnect started in 2011 and is usually held in late October/early November every year (except for a gap in 2017). For the last few years, we’ve been selecting about 25-30 startups for demos out of 150+ registrations that we receive. Click here for more information about past PuneConnect events.

Media Coverage: In past PuneConnects, Economic Times, Indian Express, The Financial Express, the Financial Chronicle, Business Standard, and the top Marathi newspapers Sakal and Maharashtra Times all have carried detailed articles about PuneConnect and the companies.

PuneConnect is a joint initiative of Software Exporters Association of Pune (SEAP), TiE Pune, PuneStartups.org (POCC), PuneTech, and NASSCOM, SME Joinup, CIIE Ahmedabad, and MCCIA Pune – basically all the important players in Pune’s startup ecosystem. PuneConnect represents a one-of-its-kind activity that bridges the gap between the new companies and the established ones.

Apply now. It costs nothing. Please apply right away. The last date to apply is 1st October. (Note: this is just a call for applications for the demo hall. A separate announcement will be sent out for registrations for attending the event as a delegate.)

Event: TiECON Pune – Indian Startup Ecosystem Conference – 20/21 April

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TiECON Pune is one of the top startup conferences in the country, in its 6th year, will be held on 20/21st April, 2018. The venue is The Westin Pune. The early
bird registrations are now open. Click here to register. You can use the special code ‘TiE-PuneTech’ to get a discount.

The speakers for this year have not yet been finalized, but TiECON always does a good job of putting together a great line-up. Earlier TiECons have seen iconic speakers like N.R. Narayana Murthy, Rajiv
Bajaj, Ronnie Screwvala; this is in addition to lots of sessions on starting up, funding and growing your ventures, excellent networking opportunities. Also, you can periodically check this website to see updates on the speakers and sessions as and when they get confirmed.

As a part of TiECon Pune, this year there is a dedicated track for women entrepreneurs and soon-to-be entrepreneurs. This is an opportunity to network with inspiring women entrepreneurs driving home businesses as well companies across diverse industries such as education, technology, media, and entertainment. There will also be awards for women entrepreneurs.

Check the TiECON 2018 website will have updates and details. Click here to buy tickets (discount code: ‘TiE-PuneTech’)—registrations for past participants have started, and early bird registrations for first-time attendees will open soon.

 

Event: Understanding Israel’s startup ecosystem: Lessons for India —by Amit Paranjape

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Venture Center and PuneTech.com present a talk by Amit Paranjape on what the India can learn from Israel’s startup ecosystem, on Saturday, 3rd March, at 3.45pm at Venture Center, NCL. The talk is free, but registration is compulsory

Abstract of the Talk

Amit recently visited Israel at the invitation of the Embassy of Israel in Delhi, to participate in a startup delegation. The goal of the delegation was improve startup to startup and ecosystem level contact between India and Israel.

Israel is a small country with many geographical and geopolitical challenges. It has made amazing strides in tech, core research and startups. Driven by excellent government support, a great entrepreneurial culture, and a good industry ecosystem, Israel has become a true ‘startup nation’.

This talk will be focused on understanding Israel’s startup ecosystem, some key reasons for its success, and important lessons that India can learn from it.

About the Speaker – Amit Paranjape

Amit is an entrepreneur and a technology professional based in Pune. He has been working in the Software/IT area for over 20 years. He completed his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Bombay, and his M.S. in Manufacturing Systems from University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Amit worked for over a decade in Manufacturing & Supply Chain Software at i2 Technologies in Dallas, in various leadership roles. He moved back to India a decade back and has been actively involved with startups in Pune. In addition to mentoring and advising early state startups, Amit is also involved in his own startup venture, ReliScore, in the skills assessment space.

Amit is a co-founder of PuneTech.com

Amit has a variety of interests including Technology, Science, healthcare, economics, history, geopolitics & strategic affairs. He is very active in blogging, social media and tweets regularly across a variety of topics at @aparanjape

Event Details

The event is on Saturday, 3 March 2018 from 3.45 pm to 5 pm. Venue: Lecture Theatre, Venture Center, 100 NCL Innovation Park, Pashan Road.

The event is free, and open for anybody to attend. But registration is compulsory

Venture Center Pune invites startup applications for seed funding from Department of Science and Technology

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Pune-based Government-funded Startup Incubator, Venture Center, (winner of a national award for best technology incubator in 2015) is hosting a seed fund with a corpus of Rs 10 crore under the scheme “National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations – Seed Support System (NIDHI-SSS)” of the Department of Science and Technology.

The basic idea of NIDHI seed support is providing financial assistance to potential startups with promising ideas, innovations and technologies. This would enable some of these incubatee startups with innovative ideas/technologies to graduate to a level where they will be able to raise investments from angel/Venture capitalist or they will reach a position to seek loans from commercial banks /financial institutions. Thus the proposed seed support disbursed by an incubator to an incubatee is positioned to act as a bridge between development and commercialization of innovative technologies/products/services in a relatively hassle free manner.

Broad Areas to be covered under the financial assistance include:

  • Product development
  • Testing and trials
  • Test Marketing
  • Mentoring
  • Professional Consultancy ( To attract Professors of institutions to work with small firms)
  • IPR issues
  • Man power for day to day operations
  • Any other area as deemed necessary and recommended by the Management Committee.

The Seed fund emphasizes:

  • Alignment with Venture Center’s Focus areas
  • Product offerings (vs service offerings)
  • IP-rich enterprises
  • Strong knowledge components in enterprises

Eligibility Conditions for start-ups to apply for seed support

  • Incubatee should be a registered company in India
  • Incubatee has to be an Indian start-up. This support is not meant for Indian Subsidiaries of MNCs/foreign companies. Persons holding Overseas Citizens of India (OCI), Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) would be considered as Indian citizens for the purpose of this scheme.
  • The share holding by Indian promoters in the incubate start up should be at least 51%.

Selection Criteria:

Here is a list of make/break criteria for applicants:

  • There must be at-least one dedicated entrepreneur involved in the venture
  • There must be a formal business plan
  • The idea and team should be technically sound
  • The venture and the team must have high ethical & professional standards
  • The venture must have a strong technology/knowledge component
  • EHS requirements must be met
  • The team should show potential and credibility for raising money in future
  • The venture must be registered as a private limited company, or must be in the process of registration
  • The amount of funding requested must be less than Rs 100 lakh
  • The entrepreneur(s) must be willing to share equity in the venture
  • The applicant must be or willing to be resident incubatee of Venture Center before investment

Applications for the seed fund will be reviewed based on criteria such as (but not limited to):

  • Is amount of funding requested enough to reach critical milestone?
  • Does the venture have a clear, potentially significant/singular value proposition
  • How big/fast growing is the potential market?
  • Are target customers clearly identified?
  • How credible is the technology? (Is PoC credible in the opinion of subject-matter experts?)
  • Are there regulatory/certification/policy risks?
  • What are the sources of sustainable competitive advantage (eg. novelty, patentability, etc.)?
  • What is the quality of the business plan (revenue model, product roadmap, market segments, etc.)?

Typical terms for seed funding:

  • Selected start-up should be/become a resident incubatee of Venture Center and should have completed three months of residency at Venture Center at the time of seed fund investment.
  • Investment mode: Equity ownership in a private limited company
  • Investment amount: Up to 100 lakh
  • BoD representation: 1 Board Nominee Director and/or observer of Venture Center
  • Reporting: Bi-annual presentation to SEED Fund committee + Annual financials/MIS

Application form can be downloaded here.

Interested start-ups are encouraged to contact Venture Center for further information @ shruti@venturecenter.co.in / 020 25865877/78/76

Entrepreneurial Visions—A Startup Event by Ideaspring Capital, 8 Jan

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Persistent Systems, and Ideaspring Capital invite Innovators and Entrepreneurs in the Technology space for a startup event on how best to ideate, innovate and implement.

AGENDA

  • 4:00PM | Registration
  • 4:30PM | Welcome Address by Dr. Anand Deshpande
  • 4:35PM | Why India is prime for product innovation (Talk + Q&A) by Sharad Sharma
  • 5:05PM | Ideaspring thesis by Naganand Doraswamy
  • 5:20PM | Panel discussion with Pravin Bhagwat, Arihant Patni, Vinay Nathan hosted by Dr. Anand Deshpande
  • 5:50PM | Q&A and closing comments by Arihant Patni, MD, Ideaspring Capital
  • 6:00PM | Refreshments

Speakers/Panelists include:

  • Dr. Anand Deshpande, Chairman and Managing Director, Persistent Systems
  • Sharad Sharma, Co-founder and Governing Council, Member of iSPIRT
  • Arihant Patni, MD, Ideaspring Capital
  • Naganand Doraswamy, Serial Entrepreneur turned Investor
  • Pravin Bhagwat, Founder and CTO of MojoNetworks
  • Vinay Nathan, Co-founder and CEO of Altizon Systems

This event is free and open for all to attend. Register here.

Event: TiECON Pune – Indian Startup Ecosystem Conference – 14/15 April

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TiECON, one of the top startup conferences in the country, will be held in Pune again this year for the 5th time, on 14/15th April, 2017.

This edition of TiECON will feature such speakers as Dr. Velumania, CEO of Thyrocare, Nana Patekar, actor and philanthropist, LC Singh, founder of Nihilent Technologies, and many others. In addition, since TiECON is one of the most important startup events in India, it always has a number of high profile startup founders, venture capitalists, and other people from the startup ecosystem.

This time, in addition to the regular keynote speeches, panel discussions, and in-depth workshops, TiECON 2017 also features dedicated tracks for Women Entrepreneurs, and Tech in Manufacturing.

The event costs Rs. 2899 for TiE Pune members (early bird registration, on or before 15 March), and 4199 for non-members, and 3299 for “members of supporting organizations” (including PuneTech readers). Thus, if you’re not a member, you can use the “Members of Supporting Organizations” ticket, with the code “TiE-PuneTech”. See the registration page for more details about the various ticket options available.

See the event website for more details about the event itself.

Event: NASSCOM Product Conclave Pune, 18th March

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The NASSCOM Product Conclave at Pune is a platform to bring together product companies, startups, angels, VCs and enterprise leaders under one roof. The key focus this time is emerging technologies, industry connect and investor meets.

NASSCOM invites companies developing trending products, enterprises seeking collaborative opportunities, investors looking for key segments to capitalize on new technologies developed in India for a day full of engaging sessions, workshops and knowledge sharing among peers.

Key Themes Planned:

  • Deep Learning: Build your product
  • Hum Bhi Kabhi Start-up the: No Exit Please
  • Reality of Virtual Reality
  • Industry connect: Retail , FinTech, EduTech, HealthCare
  • B2G: Business To Government
  • IoT: Smart Manufacturing and Automotive
  • Investor Connect: Raising funding in the winter chill
  • Global Marketing
  • Design Thinking
  • Cyber Security

Sponsorship Opportunities

Those interested in Sponsorship / Exhibition at the Conference, please fill in this request form or write to Sneha Sahasrabudhe at sneha@nasscom.in

Product Showcase

If you want to be under the spotlight, showcase & pitch your innovative products @NPCPune17. Please fill in this request form.

Registration and Details

The conference is on 18 March, at Westin Pune. Register here. You can get early bird registration prices until 31st January.

For more details, see the conference website.

Event: TiE Global Summit (Delhi; Dec 16/17)

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Check out TiE Global Summit in Delhi December 16, 17 (Details below). Normally, we don’t publicize non-Pune events on PuneTech, but we’re making an exception in this case, partially because there is an interesting list of speakers and panelists (including Travis Kalanick co-founder of Uber), and partially because TiE Pune folks are part of the key organizing committee, and partially because PuneTech readers get a special discount (use promo code PT for discounted registration).

This promises to be a good learning and networking opportunity for startups. One of the shortcomings that Pune startup founders have been accused of is that as a group we’re too insular and dislike traveling out of Pune to look for networking or marketing or business opportunities. This is something founders from other cities do better than us, and hence they end up with more hype, in spite of the fact that we might be better than them.

TiE Global Summit

The TiE Global Summit is being organized on 16th & 17th December 2016 in New Delhi, India. In the coming year, TiE will complete 25 years of service to entrepreneurs and membership. Through the years, TiE has assisted thousands of startups, entrepreneurs and professionals, and kindled the fire of entrepreneurship in our youth. TiE Global Summit is the maiden global conference of the original entrepreneurial organisation that was seeded in the technology crucible of the world in 1992. Since then TiE has hosted scores of entrepreneurship conference via its 62 chapter across the globe. TiE’s flagship annual conference, TiEcon Silicon-Valley attracted 4,800+ attendees from 22+ countries.

Some of the keynote speakers of TiE Global Summit 2016 include Travis Kalanick-CoFounder-Uber, Sanjay Mehrotra (Founder of SanDisk), Uday Kotak, Celebrity Speaker Katrina Kaif, and more. TGS is host to practically all leading tech investors like Sequioia Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, NEA, Kalaari Capital et al. The agenda is designed to address and cover cutting edge tech and its applications sessions include: Artificial Intelligence & Virtual Reality, IoT, FinTech, E-Commerce and more.

With an expected delegate strength of about 3000, the delegate cut is projected to consists of almost 65 to 70% tech founders and CEOs.

For more information, kindly visit http://www.tieglobalsummit.org. Register with promo code PT to avail discount to conference.

IIMA-CIIE Pune & SAP’s PitchPune: Investor Pitch Event for Startups

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PitchPune is a regional platform for startups to pitch to the investor community, on 15th December, in Pune. This event is organised by IIM Ahmedabad’s technology business incubator – Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) in partnership with SAP. It is a platform that helps startups avail existing opportunities, including raising capital from local investors and providing startups an effective chance to connect with mentors and investors. The event is scheduled for December 15, 2016. Last date to apply is 20th November.

Organized in partnership with SAP, the #PitchTown initiative aims to strengthen local ecosystems in emerging startup hubs across the country, by fostering stronger connections between the local entrepreneurial and investor communities. To test out this approach, CIIE first organised #PitchAhmedabad in 2015, where 8 Gujarat based startups pitched to 50+ investors from the Gujarat ecosystem. Of these, 5 startups raised a cumulative total of over INR 7.5 cr post-event.

Based on the success of PitchAhmedabad 2015, CIIE is organising PitchTown series in partnership with SAP in 3 cities (Ahmedabad, Jaipur & Pune). In September 2016 the second edition of #PitchAhmedabad received 130+ Applications. After multiple rounds of shortlisting and interviews, a cohort of 8 startups was chosen to pitch on final day. Nearly 30+ investors attended this event and funding discussions with the startups are on-going.

The highlight of the PitchTown event is a select cohort of 8 innovative and early stage startups from different domains presenting their businesses. The mission is to facilitate the connect between high potential entrepreneurs and the investors.

How to Apply

The event will be from 16:00 to 19:30 on Thursday, 15th December, at ICC Trade Towers, MCCIA, SB Road. It is a closed door event.

Startups can apply using this link. The last date to apply is 20th November.

For more information, check the website http://pitchtown.ciie.co.