Atal Incubation Centre at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR (AIC-SNU), supported by NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (Government of India), has launched the fourth edition of its ‘Venture Challenge’ – a closed-door contest for new technology start-ups or aspiring entrepreneurs to win AIC-SNU’s end-to-end support for growth of their business ideas.
AIC-SNU has joined hands with Dassault Systèmes and HCL Technologies as Technology/Knowledge Partners to provide winners of the ‘Venture Challenge’ contest extended support from the conceptual stage to actualization of their business concepts. Both partners will help the chosen start-ups to scale their ideas, provide technical support, market guidance and access to their networks of key contacts for growth. Additionally, the best start-ups that with breakthrough/disruptive innovation, collective intelligence, or those that aim to positively impact the society will get the chance to participate in the global pitch of Dassault Systeme’s 3DEXPERIENCE Lab. Upon further selection, the winning start-ups will be accelerated by the company at global level.
Applications are invited by start-ups in fields including but not limited to:
- Robotic Process Automation, Robotic Surgery, Drones
- Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, AR/VR applications, Data Management
- Biotech & Life Sciences, Health-tech, Ed-tech
- Electric Vehicles
- Embedded Products, Edge Computing, Quantum Computing
- Marine and Petrochemical, Aerospace, Automotive
AIC-SNU will run a 12-month incubation program for the selected start-ups, during which it will provide support including physical and intellectual resources, trainings, access to industry mentors, opportunities of interactions with other business leaders, access to angel investors for capital, etc.
The selection criteria for inducting start-ups will include execution capability of founders, innovativeness of the idea, scalability, unit economics and the possible impact.
Speaking about the Incubator’s broader objectives, Anubha Bali, Managing Director of AIC-SNU, said: “Fostering an innovative and entrepreneurial culture form the cornerstones of AIC-SNU and Shiv Nadar University. Our constant endeavour remains to build knowledge for the future, to push new discoveries into the world and to positively impact lives. We are delighted to collaborate with two like-minded partners – Dassault Systèmes and HCL Technologies – to help us cradle the most promising new start-ups.”
Recently, AIC-SNU also entered partnerships with leading investors networks, Agility Venture Partners, Indian Angel Network (IAN) and 100X.VC, to help budding and new start-ups seek capital funding. AIC-SNU has already incubated more than 30 start-ups since Shiv Nadar University was awarded the prestigious Atal Incubation Center grant by the Atal Innovation Mission of NITI Aayog (Government of India) in the very first round in 2017.
