Innovators received grants from Deshpande Startup to build Idea – Prototype
Vijaya Kumar K of Kosha Designs and his innovation partner (Co-founder) receiving the grants cheque from Mr. Vivek Pawar, CEO, Deshpande Foundation and B Gopalakrishnan, Director, Deshpande Startups seen in the right corner.
Deshpande Startups is one of the approved NIDHI-PRAYAS centers by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India aimed at addressing the gap in the very early stage of an idea/proof of concept funding for innovators to build an idea to prototypes.
The application for these grants was invited from the innovators across India to solve the problems in Agri-Tech, Med-Tech, Edu-Tech and Non-metro Sectors.
Deshpande Startups attracted applications from different communities of students, startups, innovators and academicians. Out of 408 applications received from more than 20 states of India, 18 innovators were selected to pitch to the Investment Committee. We are glad
to share that out of 18, seven innovators were selected under these grants. To award these Prayasees a small onboarding program was organized in Dec18th 2020 at Deshpande Startups, Gokul Road, Hubballi, India.
Addressing the Prayasees (the selected innovators) on the occasion Mr. Vivek Pawar, CEO, Deshpande Foundation said, “Innovators through their startups can contribute to the growth of the economy. Before heading to the market with the product or service the innovators should have clarity, the clarity can be gained with the help of a good mentor and customer feedback”.
Further giving few insights of a Startup Vivek Pawar added,” Building a strong team is as important as the product you are working on. Enjoy the challenges which come across in each stage, of course, these make your journey tough but in the end, it results in giving immense satisfaction and add value to your product/service. Keep increasing your intellectual and emotional capabilities”.
Explaining how NIDHI Prayas grants initiated, Ms.Kanan Dhebar, Project Manager, SINE IIT Bombay briefed Prayasees. “Customer discovery plays a vital role in the success of any Startups and also advised to produce regular reports on the process of building the prototypes to the respective mentors and project funders”. On the occasion Mr. Rajiv Prakash, CEO, Deshpande Startups congratulated all the seven innovators (Prayasees) for their fantastic ideas and said, “Please make the most of this program and all the resources that we have to offer at the Deshpande Startup and under NIDHI Prayas. We are committed to make your ideas come to life and succeed in the market. You all are from our first batch and very special”.
Mr. Vivek Punekar, Advisor Deshpande Startups; Mr. B Gopalakrishnan, Director, Incubation Deshpande Startups; Mr. Amrut Patil, Deputy Director & Program Manager, NIDHI PRAYAS, Deshpande Startups and others were present on the occasion.
A group photo of Seven innovators with their team who received the grants under NIDHI Prayas are seen with the Deshpande Startups team members.
The seven prayasees received the grants are:1. Sandal Kotawala of Alfaleus Technology Pvt Ltd from Jaipur; 2. Pooja Hemmige of Sparcolife Technologies (OPC) Private Limited from Bengaluru; 3. Shanthanu Chakravarthy of Mimyk Medical Simulations Pvt Ltd from Bengaluru; 4. Deepak Malani from Fitpool, Mumbai; 5. Neeraj Bhandary of Cerebra Sciences Pvt. Ltd from Mangaluru; 6. Navajith Karkera of Rapture Innovation Labs Pvt. Ltd from Hubballi; 7. Vijaya Kumar K of Kosha Designs from Bengaluru.
To know more about the NIDHI PRAYAS Grants visit: https://www.deshpandestartups.org/nidhi-prayas