About

EMERGING INDIA ACCELERATION PROGRAM 1.0

Sangam Innovation Foundation successfully completed Emerging India Acceleration Program 1.0 for its maiden cohort. The year-long program apart from launch, had a midterm retreat and a demo day for startups to showcase their products/services. During the program startups interacted with industry mentors from various fields eg. product development, customer development, legal, financial management & marketing through virtual workshops and field visits. Program supported startups for achieving product-market fit, refine business strategies for new market entry and become investment ready.

EIAP 1.0 COHORT ACHIEVEMENTS

Apart from the above mentioned achievements, Sangam introduced the startup founders to key investors, while also deciding to invest in three of them.

EIAP 1.0 PARTNERS

EIAP 1.0 SUMMARY

EIAP 1.0 had cohort of 5 companies that were either in the Agriculture Technology or Energy Access sectors.

LAUNCH

The We conducted separate sessions to understand respective startup needs, which comprised of product development, customer development, finance and accounts management, legal and compliance, fundraising assistance. Further developed milestone based work plan for each startup to monitor progress.3 day launch event started off with an induction program, showcasing the overall plans and objectives.

VIRTUAL SESSIONS

Along with internal assistance Sangam facilitated dedicated mentorship to individual startups in product development, customer development and legal compliance. The companies were also introduced to sectoral experts from blockchain,

micro-finance institutions, renewable energy technologies and foundations. Our partner Autodesk Foundation provided cohort companies with licenses to their software suites with additional cloud credits. We introduced startups with local suppliers and manufacturers to act as sourcing partners. We further forged industry partnerships to help the cohort run pilot projects in India.

MIDTERM RETREAT

In September 2017, the cohort reassembled in Goa for a work retreat. Apart from interaction sessions and workshops with mentors, the startups had in-depth one-on-one sessions on eg. financial modelling, product development, pitch practice. The companies presented to a panel of external investors from our ecosystem, as part of a demo pitch practice & get their feedbacks.

Emerging India Accelerator Program 1 Networking

Emerging India Accelerator Program 1 Site visit

FIELD VISITS

The Sangam team made field visits to better understand the on-ground operations, existing customer base and local partner organizations for each startup. From these field visits analysis of stakeholders feedbacks and provide refined models for enhanced customer engagement.

DEMO DAY

The EIAP Demo Day kicked off on 4 July 2018, with the investors, cohort companies and other participants seated at University of Chicago Centre, New Delhi.The session started with Mudit Narain from Niti Aayog giving us a view into the Govt.’s Atal New India Challenges.

Emerging India Accelerator Program 1 Panel

Presentations were made by EIAP 1.0 cohort as well as existing portfolio companies. Several panel discussions were conducted:

1. Opportunities for Startups in the Indian Energy Sector

Panel: Karthik Chandrasekar (Founder, Sangam Ventures), Jasjit Mangat (The Roda Group), Ken Lee (EPIC), Animesh Srivastava (Massive Fund), Daniel Ciganovic and Vishal Mittal (Founder, Delectrik)

2. Entry of tech startups in Indian agriculture scenario

Panel: Subhadeep Sanyal (Omnivore), Hemendra Mathur (Bharat Innovation Fund), Adwitiya Mal (EM3 Agri services), Katherine Taylor (Khethworks) and Pratap Thapa (Aqysta)

Tauseef Shahidi of the Council On Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) presented a tool that helps in evaluating the potential of solar-powered irrigation in a particular region in India. The demo day concluded with a presentation by Ms. Rashmi Vasudevan (UNIDO) focusing on identifying innovative low carbon technologies and solutions for efficient end-use of energy.