150 startups from across the country participated in the SR Innovation Exchange inaugural Innovation X pitch competition featuring cutting edge technologies. 3 startups took away the grand prize of Rs.1 Lakh each plus 6 months incubation and mentoring support.
Hyderabad, April 09, 2018: SR Innovation Exchange, the largest Tier 2 City Technology Incubator in the country declared today the winners of Innovation X 1.0, the first in their series to find the best innovations from across India. It was conducted on April 6th and 7th, with more than 150 startups participating in the preliminary round.
Making the announcement Sreedevi Devireddy, CEO of SR Innovation Exchange said a total of 3 innovative startup ideas were adjudged as the best and were awarded Rs. 1 Lakh as the grand prize along with incubation along with mentoring support for the next 6 months.
The three winners are Hyderabad based Crop IQ An intelligent crop platform to solve the problems in agrarian industry; Flowrhex from Pune, a company trying to Change the way of Conventional chemical production. ;Macfarm A company based in Puducherry developing multi harvesting agricultural machines.
“We understand that building a startup ecosystem is an Institution Building Exercise, along with the necessary infrastructure SRiX provides not only a platform for innovative startups to showcase their ideas but also extend support in the form of a Mentor network and angel investors that is crucial for turning innovation-to-reality,” Sreedevi added.
Lauding the efforts of SRiX to nurture startup in a big way in Tier-II citiesPhanindra Sama, Chief Innovation Officer of Govt. of Telangana said, “Entrepreneurship is a rewarding way to unleash the potential of innovation and applauded the efforts of SRiX leadership team”.
”Entrepreneurship is the noblest act. Entrepreneur creates jobs, he creates wealth, and he pays taxes both directly as well as indirectly. Development of any country depends upon its entrepreneurs. TiE is dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship across the world. We are quite happy to support SRiX in its efforts to nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship in the student community.” said Kali Prasad Gadiraju, President TiE Hyderabad.
The finalists were judged based on their innovation quotient and problem solving parameters by eminent jury Sai Panyam (founder, Idealantis Technologies & Director of technology, Thought green technologies) Ravi Korukonda (co-founder Purpletalk Inc & Xcube labs) , Mahender Kondapalkala (MD, Raya Renewable energy & CEO Biz Brand solutions) , Bhat Dittakavi (CEO, Variance.ai) and Shivdhar Soma(Sr.Partner, The consulting board) . The selected 10 Startups from the first round got the opportunity to pitch in Finale.
Startup ecosystem’s stalwarts Phanindra Sama, Chief Innovation Officer, Govt. of Telangana, Murali Talasila, Partner & Innovation leader PwC, Erik Azulay Director, Nexus Innovation Hub & Incubator, Kali Prasad Gadiraju, Office Managing Partner Hyd. EY LLP, and Sujai Karampuri, CEO Tworks were part of the Jury.
Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come. Entrepreneurship is the engine by which those ideas are brought to the market and realized, I am amazed at the ideas presented today said Erik Azulay Director, Nexus Innovation Hub & Incubator.
About SRiX (SR Innovation Exchange)
SR Innovation Exchange dedicates itself to helping entrepreneurs achieve their goals while enabling Innovation and Entrepreneurship culture in the ecosystem. SRiX helps startups build innovative products using hardware and software technologies such as IoT, AI, VR/AR, and Data Analytics in the strategic areas of Agriculture, Healthcare, Environment & Education by providing Maker Spaces, Technology Innovation Labs, Business Incubation, and market access with a Go-To-Market strategy.