I5 Summit Held at IIM Indore

Central India’s largest entrepreneurship summit, the i5 Summit 2022, was held at IIM Indore on August 19-21, 2022. The entrepreneurial mega-event draws seasoned investors, company
executives, innovative start-up owners, and students from across the country. Themed “Blueprint of the Modern Entrepreneur”, this event marked the Summit’s return to offline events after a gap
of two years. This year, a total of 1200 participants attended the event. 10+ start-ups pitched their ideas to angel investors during this event.

Prof. Himanshu Rai, Director, IIM Indore, shared a video message during the inauguration of the three-day event. Sharing his experience from his recent Summit at Mount Kilimanjaro, he advised the budding entrepreneurs to keep moving forward irrespective of the circumstances. ‘When you set a goal, you may tumble, fall, have to pause for a while, and even feel discouraged and tired. However, he said that resilience and grit would help you achieve your goal and make you a success.

Col. Gururaj Gopinath Pamidi (Retd.), CAO, IIM Indore, appreciated the enthusiasm of the organizing students and the participants. He noted that the number of start-ups in India had increased tremendously in the last two decades. ‘This increase in start-ups reflects the courage, innovative thinking, and perseverance our young India carries within itself. We are today standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the international giants, which indicates that India is one of the leading nations in start-ups, he said.

Summit’s keynote speaker, Prof. Aswath Damodaran, ‘Dean of Valuation’ at Stern School of Business at NYU, addressed a thrilled audience. Sharing his step-by-step approach to company valuations, he participated in an animated discussion with the participants and Prof. Radha Ladkani, Faculty, IIM Indore. PolicyBazar co-founder Mr. Alok Bansal also presented PolicyBazar’s inspirational path and inventive thought approach.

The Summit witnessed several workshops by experts. These included a workshop by MakeIntern, a platform for students to acquire hands-on industry experience. In another workshop, Mr. Rajan Luthra, co-founder of Metvy, spoke about financing prospects and addressed questions from budding entrepreneurs. An exciting talk by Ms. Shivani Krishnan, CCO of KoolKanya, on Impactful Presentation was also held. Mr. Shawrya Mehrotra, founder, and CEO of Metvy, led a workshop on “Entrepreneurship & Business.”

The Speaker Series saw some insightful talks by Ms. Juhi Sharma, founder of LightUp; Mr. Samar Singla, co-founder of Jugnoo; Mr. Meenu Singhal, Vice President and Global Distribution Head of Schneider Electric; Mr. Rohit Pareek, GOQii’s CFO and Head of Corp Development.

The highlight of the third day of the i5’s flagship event was GetFunded!, where start-ups from across the country competed for funding from prominent Venture Capitalists and seasoned investors. Following a Shark Tank-like structure, start-up founders pitch their ideas or services to a panel of judges and a live audience, followed by an interactive cross-questioning round. This year, the event included 10+ businesses and investors from Sapphire Ink Ventures, Equanimity, and Waterbridge Ventures. Incus Inc, an AI-backed ed-tech solution for medical aspirants, Btech Smart solutions, an innovative IoT product for industrial equipment, Kalakart, a shared marketplace for artists and art fans, and other start-ups, made an appearance.
The winner of GetFunded! was Biotech Era Transforming India (BETI), a start-up headed by Dr. Pooja Dubey Pandey, a Biotechnology and Microbiology Expert. The start-up is on a mission to solve the problem of malnutrition and various other health problems by leveraging the Single Cell Proteins found in mushrooms and packaging them into tasty and ready-to-use food ingredients. Beti has also been recognized by the MP Government for its effort to eradicate malnutrition via its products.

The 1st runner-up position was grabbed by Codenscious Technologies Pvt Ltd, a start-up headed by Mr. Shivang Trivedi, pioneering the technological implementation of 5C Principles of NSFE 2020 by RBI India to improve the financial literacy rate of India, which currently stalls at a mere 24%. With a simple 4-step AI-backed gamified process, users can educate themselves about the various financial products and services available in the market, test their skills, and apply for the products and services if they meet a minimum score.

Fatyn.in, a hyperlocal fashion e-commerce start-up headed by Mr. Tanish Sharma occupied the 2nd runner-up position. Offering a 24-hr delivery as a standard and 2-hr delivery for its prime members, one can try clothes and footwear before purchasing them, just like an offline market.
With its Magical Search, users can access millions of products that cannot be listed online. Intending to support local stores, Fatyn looks forward to the younger generation as its early adopters and exhibits a vast potential to become the next Myntra!

This high-stakes event was followed by Chai pe Charcha, a relaxing networking round for VCs and audience members. The Summit was rounded off with a panel discussion with Ms. Nikita Deshpande, co-founder, and product and Design Chief, Ilana, Mr. Dinesh Arjun, co-founder & CEO, Raaptee Energy, Mr. Abhishek Kankani, CEO & co-founder, Dyte, and Ms. Surashri Rahane, Founder & CEO, Yearbook Canvas.

Aditya Chowdhury and Deepika Soni, overall coordinators of i5 Summit 2022, said the event gives entrepreneurs, students, and enterprises a chance to network and establish synergies. The enlivening three days came to a close with a vote of thanks by the coordinators.