The biggest opportunity for all startup founders

VMPL

New Delhi (India), September 27: Returning for its 27th edition, the competition will provide founders and leaders with months of networking, one-on-one mentoring, investment opportunities, incubation and essential insights on building scalable businesses.

Last day of registration: September 29, 2024

Click here to register for the largest business model competition in Asia!

https://www.ecell.in/eureka/

Last year, over 18,000 applications were received, with passionate entrepreneurs and startups completing three rigorous rounds spread over five months.

Winning startups can win prizes worth INR 2 crore!

IIT Bombay’s Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell), Asia’s largest student-led entrepreneurship organization, has received support from UNESCO, Make in India, Startup India and Digital India for its role in promoting entrepreneurship. For the past 26 years, E-Cell has served as a vital link between various elements of the startup ecosystem.

E-Cell is ready to host its flagship Eureka! business model competition, which will be held for the 27th time. The competition consists of 7 tracks and is intended to provide founders with months of learning, networking and industry mentoring, as well as investment opportunities in to master the key elements of building a scalable business.

The event is intended for early-stage entrepreneurs, especially those in the ideation and MVP stages, offering individual mentoring focused on developing go-to-market strategies.

Eureka! 2024 promises to be bigger than ever with incentives worth INR 2 crore, 50+ venture capitalists, 300+ mentors and opportunities to win sponsored visits to the US and Dubai to participate in global entrepreneurship competitions. Eureka! is co-presented by WestBridge Capital in partnership with FedEx, powered by Gulf Islamic Investments (GII), with Ovington Capital Partners as Venture Studio Partner. It is supported by The Nudge Institute as a social partner, Enrission India Capital as a gold sponsor, Venture Catalysts as a Venture Capital partner and NRL as an energy innovation partner.

What is this for startups?

Last year, over 18,000 applications were received, and entrepreneurs will go through three intensive rounds spread over five months. The first round will include on-stage mentoring to help founders build a solid business model, starting with the basics of creating a business model canvas.

Previous editions have seen mentors from industry leaders such as Kanchi Daiya of Indian Angel Network, Amit Jain of StartupBay, Piyush Surana of Tomorrow Capital and Pradeep Rathi of 3i Zone.

The shortlisted startups will then take part in a mentoring round including workshops to improve their business models and products. Founders will be judged on the feasibility of their ideas and unique value propositions.

After selecting the finalists, they will take part in a three-day acceleration program preparing for the final stage of the competition. The final presentation will take place at the annual business conclave E-Summit 25 at IIT Bombay in February 2025. Finalists will pitch their ventures at the closed-door event in front of a panel of industry experts.

Last year’s jury included Rajesh Mane from 9Unicorns, Reshma Jhaveri from Venture Catalysts, Rahul Baviskar from Swadeshi Handicrafts and Douglas Peris from Hyper Accelerator. The live performances were held at the IIT Bombay campus in the first week of February 2025.

Winning startups will receive prizes worth over $120,000, including incentives from MSG91, Clevertap, GitHub, Zendesk and many others. Investors on the jury will also have the opportunity to provide additional financing to participating startups.

Outside India, Eureka! has expanded its operations to six countries in the GCC region, including Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The competition included a prize pool of $100,000 and a fully sponsored trip to Dubai for the Eureka! GCC finals, during which participants will present their ideas to global investors.

Eureka’s Past! The winners included startups such as P-TAL, Sputnik Brain, Dehaat, BlisCare, Jeevan Lite, SPARC, MyWays, DocEye, Curomates and AI-Genix. These startups also had the opportunity to present their business ideas in the India Pavilion during Dubai EXPO 2020, where BlisCare, DocEye, Curomates and AI-Genix secured spot financing.

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