IIT Kanpur organises two day annual startup festival; 4 startups get Rs 10 lakh grant

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur’s technology business incubator Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC) organised a two-day annual startup festival, Abhiyukti 2023 from March 4 to 5. The event witnessed entrepreneurs, industry experts, mentors, and investors from various parts of the country sharing ideas and connecting.

On day 1, SIIC signed an agreement with the Hinduja Group to collaborate on promoting the startup ecosystem in India by providing crucial support to budding entrepreneurs, fostering innovation and driving growth in the Indian startup ecosystem. SIDBI Seed Equity Support Scheme (S4-SIIC) was launched wherein SIDBI is setting up a pilot fund of Rs 50 Crore, 10 crore each year, which will be used for supporting the hard-tech startups incubated at SIIC, IIT Kanpur.

On the inaugural day, over 70 startups from various sectors, such as agritech, cleantech, cybersecurity, fintech, healthcare, infrastructure, defence, sustainability, Internet of things (IoT), and artificial intelligence, participated.

Day 2 was NIRMAN Demo day and wherein 15 startups and their innovative and indigenous products developed under the NIRMAN Accelerator Program were showcased. The accelerator programme is supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). Four innovative startups, namely Xfinito Biodesigns Pvt Ltd, Primary Healthtech Pvt Ltd, Climec Labs Pvt Ltd, and Meukron Technologies Pvt Ltd, were awarded a grant of Rs 10 lakh under the programme.

Throughout the two days of the festival, IIT Kanpur organised various panel discussions including sessions on "Government Initiatives for Promoting Deep-Tech Startup Culture in India", "Investing in Deep-Tech Startups: Opportunities and Challenges”, “Charcha with Entrepreneurs” etc. The institute also conducted events titled “Samvaad with Industry” and 'Celebvyakti' which included a session on "Startup to Stardom: The Power of Storytelling" from celebrity speakers.