Awards /_{Jury Deatails}

Prakhar Agarwal Early Stage Venture Capitalist at VilCap Investments

Masters in Management and Finance, IE Business School

Village Capital IE Business School

Early stage Venture Capital investments experience across various industries, closing deals end to end - valuations, negotiating terms of investment, financial analysis, term sheet drafting, due diligence and investment closure.

Prof. Suresh Rao Chairperson, Center for Entrepreneurship S P Jain Institute of Management and Research

Suresh Rao holds MBA from I.I.M Ahmedabad. Experience in different sectors – from consumer to industrial, horticulture to telecom, having worked with MNCs, Family Managed Business and new ventures. Switched to Academics in year 2000, joining as Marketing Professor with SPJIMR.

He started the Center for Entrepreneurship at SPJIMR in year 2004, amongst the earliest B schools to do so. Participated in Global Entrepreneurial Faculty Programs at Babson, HBS and LBS. Pioneered the public program for aspiring and starting up entrepreneurs – Start Your Business and for early growth stage entrepreneurs – Grow Your Business.

Neeraj Gupta Founder & CEO at FormulateIP

Neeraj is Founder & CEO at FormulateIP based in India and USA. Applying his business and technical background, Neeraj assists clients in protecting and expanding their domestic and international knowledge-based businesses using IP protection, licensing and strategic planning.

Neeraj is Co-founder and Director at Excubator which provides guidance and support needed to entrepreneurs for building a successful entrepreneurial practice. Neeraj is Founder and Managing Director at Lawcubator which is a technology firm in legal domain.

Neeraj is CEO at IIT Roorkee’s startup incubator called TIDES. Neeraj is Co-founder of PanIIT Mentors which is a Nation Building Initiative under PanIIT.

G Ramachandran Mentor Capitalist

A mentor capitalist with impeccable entrepreneurial spirit and financial expertise has evolved beyond spreadsheets and scripted new success stories from new economy startups like Tower Capital, Image ads, Karrox, Eye Global Technologies ltd, Safe House, Pop Up Technologies and Has Juices and more. A perpetual quest to explore new horizons of a fast changing global scenario made GR (as he is popularly known) to go through a metamorphosis and turn in to a mentor capitalist. At GOLD’S GYM, GR is spearheading the global fitness leader with his new vision and fiscal stratagem.

Recently being sector agnostic GR has been successful in launching new brands in the retail food segment which are IDezzerts and ICuisines.

Shyam Sekar Chief Mentor and Strategist at Startup Xperts

Shyam Sekar, a catalyst leader with around 22 years of experience is the Chief Mentor and Strategist at Startup Xperts, a business growth consulting firm aimed at supporting Startups and corporate, in India and abroad. Aim is to turn ideas and vision, into reality through smart execution, and build the entrepreneurial ecosystem. He accelerates the revenue growth of startups and other enterprises. Startup Xperts has been featured under the ‘Emerging Company of the Year’ category, in the Silicon India Entrepreneur Year Book 2014.

DR.LAKSHMI JAGANNATHAN Chief Operating Officer, DERBI Foundation

An Innovation & Entrepreneurship enthusiast. With over 25 years of corporate & academic experience, my career has shades of various roles in key administrative positions. I am a highly motivated individual, passionate worker and am told that I make a very good motivational leader. I am on a mission to transform academic campuses as startup hubs !

My passion is to connect to young minds, mentor them & enable them to scale greater heights in life.

• Principal Investigator for the largest funds for Entrepreneurship amongst colleges
• Well recognised & acknowledged for building & scaling up entrepreneurship Initiatives at DSI

Manishh Anand Founder & CEO Utilis Capital

Manishh is the Founder & CEO of Utilis Capital, a Late Seed & Pre-Series A focused Micro VC Fund backing Disruptive & Innovative Tech-enabled Start-ups. He has 28 years of Leadership experience across 11 Diverse industry domains, has founded over 8 Businesses, and has mentored over 44 Start-ups during the course of his professional career.

He graduated from Bangalore University in BE – Electrical & Electronics, and has Post Graduate Studies in Home Electronics, Fashion Design, Global IT Solutions, Mythology, Neuro-Physics, Genetic Engineering, Anthropology, Alternate & Natural Therapies, SPA & Wellness Techniques, Horology, and Renewable Energy.

Annu Grover Green Evangelist-MD at Nurturing Green

Annu started Nurturing Green (NG) 8 years back at the age of 22 . Studied Management from Bimtech-Noida & FH Joanneum-Austria, he left the cushy consulting job in Europe to start up by selling plants !

Today, Nurturing Green is India's Biggest company into Green Gifting & has been successful in replacing flowers with plants . With 100+ employees, it has ventured into Decor, Landscaping & Services too .

Coming from a middle class Lucknow family, He has till now bootstrapped NG & broken the jinx of #Tumsenahopayega ! Over the last 8 years, he has seen 1000+ failures & that's why has profitably & sustainably grown the venture .

He loves to work around startups & that's why invested in few Green/Consumer startups. He is again starting up with 'Urban Greens' to change the way how Agriculture happens in the world by growing food crops vertically in a warehouse as the 2 Billion people added to our planet by 2050 !

Mahavir Pratap Sharma Chairman and Co-founder at RAIN (Rajasthan Angel Innovators Network TiE Global

Mahavir Sharma, a serial entrepreneur is part of umpteen businesses and social organizations, and exudes passion in angel investing, leadership and mentoring.

After schooling at Xavier and college in Jaipur, he went to the US and worked in the international trading market for 6 years. He has founded or co-founded:

1) Oscar Expo Design LLP- Manufacturing and exports of Carpets and Silver Jewellery (www.oscarexpo.com) for the last 24 years.

2) Swishin Events LLP- An Event Management, Marketing and PR firm () which creates events par excellence and is part of the founding team of many flagship events in Jaipur.

3) Jaipur Kaleen park Ltd (JKPL)- A group of carpet manufactures, developing an Industrial park, which is a first ever Eco-friendly and non-polluting carpet and textile park near Jaipur.

4) Hari Om Decor- Or S. Raja ( www.sraja.in ) started with 2 fellow exporters, a chain of retail floor coverings store across India.

5) RAIN- With fellow charter members in Rajasthan he has become an integral part of an angel investor network of Rajasthan, RAIN (). And he is a mentor and director on investments like Organic Shop (p) Ltd () and 3 more start-ups lately.

6) Director at Art Summit India P Ltd. ()

7) Chairman- Carpet Export Promotion Council, the apex body of Handmade carpet industry in India under the aegis of The Textile Ministry, GOI.

8) Trustee- TiE Global 2016-17, founder member and past president of TiE Rajasthan, Promoted the values of TiE and Entrepreneurship not only in Rajasthan, but India and the world.
In the past he has also been:-
Jaipur Virasat Foundation () in various roles President, Rajasthan Carpet Manufacturers and Exporters Association

Abhijeet Kumar Co-Founder ah! Ventures

Graduate IIT Mumbai (2003 Batch)
Analyst with Deloitte for 1.5 years
Co-founder, Pronto Infotech (A technology company with about 50 employees and offices in Mumbai & Delhi)

Armed with a B.Tech from IIT Mumbai, Abhijeet worked with Deloitte Consulting as an Associate Consultant before moving on to found his own company, Pronto Infotech, in the ITES space. Here, he faced and overcame the challenges that come with setting up an enterprise, and in the last 6 years, has created a successful venture with a multi-crore revenue stream. He has worked with numerous clients across industries and in various functional domains including Tax, Retail, HR, E-Commerce, Web, Supply Chain, Technology, Banking and others.

Having consulted in both business and technical capacities, and with the extensive experience working directly and indirectly for various functional domains, Abhijeet has the ability to evaluate ventures across the board and help entrepreneurs with intelligent cost planning through optimisation of systems, processes and networks, as well as creating and achieving targets. With his wide network of professionals from various verticals like operations, finance, accounting, and marketing, Abhijeet is not only able to help stem temporary gaps, but also generate business.

Shani Pandya Cofounder & Executive at Innovation and Incubation Centre,
PDPU, Ahmedabad, Gujarat,

I am a thinker, working with mission to enable people to Create Great Products, Build great companies and "Change the World"

I believe that organizations which invest wisely in technology, as a general rule, increase their operational maturity faster than their competitors. At Fully Managed Innovation & Incubation Centre, we are Creating Future technology and startups by providing them Mentorship, training, financial Assistance, Laboratories and all other necessary things .We are navigating & Inspiring the ever-evolving "blue ocean" of technology, implementing strategies to enhance their operational maturity, while effectively eliminating risks. We take care of the nuts and bolts, every detail, so that you don't have to. We have a system that works at Innovation & Incubation centre.

Vinod Keni Executive Director - MyCFO & Chair - Fintech SIG at TiE Mumbai.
Active Angel Investor & Business Builder

Accomplished Corporate Finance Executive, Investment Professional, Entrepreneur & Advisor with a proven track record in achieving positive business results with a focus on bottom line results, sustainability, efficiency and top line growth within early, growth stage enterprises and global organizations. Demonstrated ability to build and lead business operations that drive growth, increase efficiency, and manage margins and risk.

Global living & professional experience in the US & India. Experience includes leading new and fast growing businesses, investments, equity capital and debt, operational and financial efficiencies, M&A, exits, strategic initiatives and restructuring. Proven track record in developing strategic alliances, identifying new opportunities and measuring impact. NASDAQ IPO experience.

Possess solid leadership, communication and interpersonal skills to establish rapport with all levels of staff and management. Frequent speaker, blogger & writer.

Specialties: Financial Management, Fintech, Operations, Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Angel Investing, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Strategy, Business Development, M&A, Buyouts & MBOs

Santosh Nair The founder of Smmart True School of Entrepreneurs

He inspired over 4000 entrepreneurs across a vast spectrum of industries (Real estate, Retail, Jewelry, Engineering, Chemical, Service etc… ) and created success stories for all those organizations that came in contact with him. The Methodology used includes a mix of classroom training, experiential learning, interactive/activity based workshops and individual reviews.

smmart is an organization which ‘walks the talk’. It strives to be a role model for entrepreneurs by internally implementing all the tasks , tools , mechanisms and processes that its management training program professes to its customers; smmart thus carries the conviction and clarity in preaching from its practice.

As an entrepreneur he had the challenges of sales, service, administration, HR, IT of each and every department. Having experienced it first hand and worked in the industry before starting my own stint for 15 years, I come from both the genres. An employee turned entrepreneur. If you look at the collective 32 years of work, both have given me the insights of all the challenges an entrepreneur faces. As a true school of entrepreneurs, constantly trying to find out meaningful solutions to difficult problems, we have been in a position to satisfy many needs of an entrepreneur and our endeavor in the days to come is to build many more new products and services which caters to the requirements of an entrepreneur.

The purpose of smmart was to bring about meaningful transformation in the lives of individuals and enterprises. Having done meaningful transformation in the lives of individuals in the corporate sector we realized and observed that a large part of the SME sector remain unrepresented wherein training, development, consulting, coaching is concerned. They are difficult people with limited funds unlike the corporate. I personally believe that the SME sector is the future of India, the revolution is going to be funded by the SME sector. The future of India belongs to Entrepreneurship. Millions of individuals should become entrepreneurs. Our endeavor is to be the growth engine for the thought process transformation of individuals becoming entrepreneurs. We remain dedicated to the cause of Entrepreneur excellence and today our entire purpose is to provide path breaking solutions to entrepreneurs and develop radical shifts in their mindsets by enabling everlasting transformation so that they can scale greater heights in this dynamic and ever changing world of business. We stand committed to this particular cause and we would be there as the most powerful organization in the next 100 years all over the world. We want the SME’s to become Infosys, Asian paints, dream like Flipkart and be the chief suppliers of wherewithal.

Subinder Khurana Between Ventures

Entrepreneur with a successful track record. Specialize in analytics and platform-based solutions. Built businesses, sold and delivered products and services, both in India and globally.

Have been on the Advisory Board of several startups, including Druva Software, Authbridge, WTI Cabs, Denave, Broadcast2World and Power2SME. Chaired TiECon Delhi 2013. Board member, TiE Delhi.

Published a guide on Fundraising for Entrepreneurs, available at
https://www.growthexp.com/course/100-proven-secrets-of-power-fundraisers

Shashank Pradhan Trust Adviser | Deal Maker | Global Business Development | Networking Expert Aegis Limited

A professional with around 27 years of experience in all aspects of Managing Business, P&L Ownership, Sales,Pre-Sales, Business Solution, Domain Consulting, Client Partner, Global Account Management, Project and Program Management in IT Services Business.

Global and Local Work Experience: North America, Germany, Korea, Singapore, and United Kingdom. Have worked with clients across North America, Asia, Middle East and India

Nikhil Kumar Start-up Consultant /FMCG,Retail Marketing Professional
Housejoy and Multiple other start-ups Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow

Professional experience across FMCG , Retail , F&B and E-Commerce . Nikhil is a dynamic & result oriented professional with over 10 years of rich experience in the field of Marketing , Merchandizing & Sales. I am a go-getter who creates opportunities to excel and have a firm belief that with the correct vision & the winning attitude, no height is impossible to scale . My experience includes working as a Marketing professional with India's no1 Sports Brand , world's biggest and most aspirational beauty & cosmetics brand and the biggest Coffee Retail Chain in the country .

Sadiya Naseem 10 years in to Startups. Founder @ Glamstudios.in
Glamstudios.in Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta

Sadiya is a dynamic entrepreneur with a classic combination of business and technical skills. With over a decade of cross domain online experience across travel, retail, media and education industries, Sadiya’s key expertise lies in increasing profitability and performance for startups.

She started her internet journey in 2007 with martjack.com by joining its initial team and was able to build and establish the product as one of the most preferred global E-retailing platform. Post that, she had spent six years at MGH as the leadership member and had managed to list the company as one of the best startups in its domain with its innovative products and excellent customer acquisition rate. Later in December 2014, Sadiya got associated with India's largest chain of branded stays Oyorooms.com and assisted the company to grow its supply by introducing new processes, cost effective methods and making its presence felt in the B2B market.

With an established success record in significantly increasing productivity and performance of startups, she decided to follow the entrepreneurial route and go ahead in opening her own venture. Hence GlamStudios, a chain of branded budget salons, was conceptualised. Sadiya has carved a niche for herself with her company aiming at revolutionizing the way the beauty industry works in India. Glam Studios creates a tech-driven chain of budget salons through aggregation, standardization and brand association. The company aims at catering to the untapped budget segment that has an immense potential to serve aspiring customers with premium services.

Arya Rajesh Kumar Chair Person
Young Indians Bengaluru, Confederation of Indian Industry

Entrepreneur armed with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Applications with over Ten years of experience in managing business, customers and stakeholders bringing customer delight through pro-active services and solutions.

My interest in Agriculture and Farmers, and apart from being an active Corporate Executive, I provides active support to the cause of Farmers by harnessing Technology and Knowledge management. I initiated several Farmer Support activities as a part of the CSR initiative.

Specialties: Social Media Applications, Social Media Marketing, SEO Services, Digital Marketing Services, Mobile Application Development, Healthcare Application Development, Healthcare product development and Organic Agricultural business

Vivek Kumar CEO, Venture Garage.

He is a multiple entrepreneur and has been working with early stage businesses and start-ups in four key thrust areas of- Strategic Roadmaps, Market Access, Digital & tech knowhow, and Fund Raising. They themselves have small angel investments, and stock holding in start-ups and mentor and work with promising ones.

In his 10 year stint at “The Nielsen Company” he worked closely with the marketing and strategy teams of leading MNCs such as Airtel, Nokia, GSK, UN agencies, Aajtak, NDTV, Times now, Political parties, Transparency international, Fritolays etc.

Co-Founded IRIS retail, a market intelligence and handholding company with services in, retail analytics and advisory. Clients included Nike, Lifestyle, Mcdonalds, Bata, DLF, Bain Capital, KPMG etc.

Subsequently Co-Founded Bollywoodandfashion, a celebrity inspired “lifestyle” site delivering fast fashion in lifestyle products.

Co-founded SMEjoinup.com a business services helpline.

MICA (Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad) alumnus on 1996.

Nishant Co-Founder LIFTOFF Ventures
Mentor & Strategic Ideator
LIFTOFF_Ventures

Through career span Nishant's been part of companies in their infancy and saw them through multi thousand employees and geography spreads. As the chosen one through employment years, he was tasked with projects requiring new skills and went onto develop teams and success consistently.

As an Entrepreneur, Nishant built companies with positive exists and others where learnings were the only thing worth a mention. Entrepreneurial experience spans Management Consulting, Online Fashion, Retail Ops, Health & Wellness and Condition Monitoring & Testing

Company Snapshot - Equity / Owned:

LIFTOFF Ventures - India
Management Consulting
liftoffventures.com VYANA Scientific - India
Health & Wellness
vyanascientific.com AFYA Health - India
Medical Made Easy
afyaonline.com Medgenera - India
Healthcare Information Portal
medgenera.com Zinier INC - StartX USA
Retail Operations SAS
zinier.com iAdept Marketing - India
Condition Monitoring & Measurement Devices
iadeptmarketing.com theVinciPC - India
Next Gen AI
Web Coming Up NeuvoCap - Singapore
Holding Firm Brand Access - India
Physical Retail - Global Brands

Out of sheer startup enthusiasm as well as being a designated mentor, Nishant has guided over 100 startups choose the right direction & become a secure and growth focussed business models.

In summary Nishant is an entrepreneur with real world experience of providing direction, managing large scale growth, movement and acquisitions

Hands-on Experience:

• Business & Growth Strategies
• National & International Business Execution
• Idea Evolution and Model Enhancement
• Board Advisory and Corporate Governance
• Key Resource Requirement Plan
• Corporate Branding Initiatives
• Strategic M&A Targets and Execution
• Risk Mitigation & Business Continuity
• Consumer Behavior Needs and Wants 

Aakarsh Naidu Ecosystem and Strategic initiatives
NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore

Aakarsh heads the Ecosystem and Strategic initiatives at one of India's top startup incubators - NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore. He is currently focused on the Atal Innovation Mission Project under NITI Aayog in scaling up the initiatives of the center. Aakarsh is on the advisory panel of the Global Startup Awards (SAARC) and has had the opportunity of participating in the unveiling of the Startup India Action plan in Delhi. 

Aakarsh has Master’s Degree from The London School of Economics (LSE) and also served as the board member of LSE Energy Society. He received a Bachelors degree in Business Management (BBM) from Christ College, Bangalore and was awarded a Gold medal for his academic excellence from Hyderabad Public School. 

He began his career as an entrepreneur with a start-up in the renewable energy sector. He was also a Research Associate at the Indian School of Business (ISB) and presented his work at international conferences. Prior to joining NSRCEL, he was an Organisation Development and Design consultant for global clients.