Pune: At the chapter finals held on August 25, Volar Alta, a drone aggregator start-up founded by Niharika Kolte, was declared the winner by a panel of four eminent judges: Ankita Vashisht, founder of StrongHer Ventures; Arvind Chinchure, board member of Deshpande Start-ups; Madhuar Bhatia, managing partner of Pentathlon Ventures; and Pravin Bhagwat, founder of 14 Trees Foundation.
TiE has been holding a Global Contest for female-led start-ups for the past three years. This year, the contest witnessed a record participation of all 61 chapters across the globe. Like every year, TiE Pune saw an increase in the number of companies that participated, to a total of 71.
Niharika, who was elated at this win, said, “This has been really good for my company. After being declared the winner, I was approached by two VCs who are now interested in evaluating us. I must thank my mentors, Ramesh Maheshwari and Vineet Patni, as well as Kiran Deshpande and Vivek Gupta, who helped me refine my pitch deck and presentation. I will now be allocated other mentors for the global pitch.”
Speaking at the event, Ankita Vashisht said, “I believe that women must have access to capital to succeed and should develop a strong network. Look around you, and you will see the Boys’ Club that fosters networking. Women too need this, which is why I strongly advocate this for women entrepreneurs.”
The first runner-up was Jilma Perungvat, and the second runner-up was Manasi Khasnis.
Jilma’s start-up Kozhnosys has developed a newer way of testing for breast cancer: a woman’s breath. Says Jilma, “We have developed a prototype and want to start trials in Pune and later the country. Such competitions are a great way to get visibility for start-ups like mine. I have received great interest from VCs as well as a diagnostic lab,” said Jilma.
Second Runner-up BioMarkIQ, co-founded by Manasi Khasnis, has developed a more accurate and faster way to diagnose lung disease.
All chapter winners from 61 TiE chapters will participate in the global round to be held soon in Singapore. The winner of this contest will take home USD 25,000 equity-free prize money. Apart from this, she will be mentored by world leaders and gain access to TiE’s global network.
Parul Ganju, who co-chairs this women’s initiative at TiE Pune, says, “I feel women entrepreneurs have a clear vision as well as the discipline to grow. We want to put them center stage and amplify their voices so that they can push beyond the boundaries.
“Our very experienced Charter Members have worked with great dedication with all our start-up founders and I want to let every woman who has won and not won know that this is just the beginning. Great things lie ahead if you continue with sincerity and dedication that you all have shown so far.”
Darshan Rathod, also co-chair, said, “I am very excited to see such strong participation from women (71 this year) for our global contest. Simply giving these women a platform to showcase their impactful start-ups can do a lot to remedy the social biases that exist.”
Even though only the chapter winner is eligible to compete at the global finale, TiE Pune will send the two
runners-up to Singapore too. “Being at that event helps in many ways, the most important being networking,” says Parul.
