Tata NEN Hottest Startups Awards 2008 announced

BANGALORE, INDIA: Six months of heady campaigning culminated in a suspense filled evening where India’s first people’s choice awards for startups– the TATA NEN Hottest Startups Awards 2008 has been announced. The five innovative and high potential startups that made it to the top are - activecubes solutions, Lakshya, StarAgri, takeovercode.com and The Loot.

The TATA NEN Hottest Startups Awards, the world’s first people’s choice awards for new startups attracted around 600 nominations covering a wide range of sectors and geographies -- with startups from over 40 cities covering nearly 20 industry segments, making it India’s largest startup contest. For the first time the public was invited along with over 250 top experts, including distinguished entrepreneurs, investors and industry representatives, to help select the winners. The contest fired the imagination of public engaging over 2 lakh voters in the very first year of its launch. 

Awards for winners

The 5 winners are entitled to a host of exciting awards, including:

TCS Small & Medium Business (SMB) Group -- A 3 year software service subscription to all five winners, free of cost for select business applications.

IIMA’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) – 1:1 consultation with leading faculty member associated with CIIE; identification of and input on support areas and introductions to various experts in the IIM-A network across industry and academia.

IIM-B’s N.S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) -- Free admission for 2 representatives per winning startup to any one of the short-duration NSRCEL programs

Mentoring consultations -- Exclusive business support sessions to enable winners to benefit from the best minds in industry and academia, featuring an open exchange of ideas and strategies in a fully confidential manner. 

The Gateway Hotel, a new brand of contemporary hotels from the Taj Group – awarding special rates and free nights stay for the five winners at any Gateway property across India.

Special Awards

In keeping with the premise of the contest, to provide value not just to final winners but also the shortlisted finalists, the knowledge partners of the TATA NEN Hottest Startups Awards stepped forward with three ‘Special Awards’ that were handed out at the Awards ceremony, including:

The ‘IIM Ahmedabad-CIIE Mentorship Award’ awarded to the Chennai based firm, Ennovasys.

The ‘IIM-B NSRCEL Incubatee Award’ awarded to Bangalore’s Wyn Brands, and Belgaum’s Vayavya Labs

The ‘Microsoft BizSpark Award’ awarded to the Noida based firm, ITCONS e-Solutions

The 5 Winners of the TATA NEN Hottest Startups Awards 2008 reflect the diversity and dynamism of today’s entrepreneurial India – the winning startups cut across education, legal & IT consulting, agriculture and retail. In addition, the winners represent a unique blend of cities– with two of the five winners located in tier two cities: Patiala in Punjab and Kota in Rajasthan, thus mirroring the entrepreneurial revolution happening across India. Interestingly, four of the winning startups are self funded.

The Winners were announced at an awards ceremony on February 27 at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. An esteemed gathering of successful entrepreneurs, VCs, industry heads and professionals graced the occasion. Delivering the keynote address at the awards ceremony, Dr. JJ Irani, Director, Tata Sons, said, “The spirit of entrepreneurship forms the core value of our organisation. And a platform that recognizes, fosters and encourages entrepreneurship resonates very well with our vision. I congratulate the winners and urge them to continue striving towards innovation and enterprise. This requires drawing upon one’s capability to be visionaries – a defining characteristic of an entrepreneur.”

The ceremony was preceded by a series of roundtable discussions, which were facilitated by top industry experts to discuss the entrepreneurial challenges in current economic environment. Designed exclusively for the 30 finalists, the roundtable discussions were kicked off following an opening address by Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai, Country Head & CEO, HSBC.

Romit Chaterji, Senior VP, Corporate Affairs, Tata Group, said, “The Tata NEN Hottest Startups Awards reflects the Tata’s strong belief in entrepreneurship as a driver of business growth in the country. We are thrilled to bring the first ever Hottest Startups Awards program to a successful conclusion along with NEN.”

Laura Parkin, Executive Director, NEN, said, “It has been an exciting journey and we are thrilled to announce the winners of the TATA NEN Hottest Startups Awards. The success of these Awards has been fuelled by the support from Tata and the entire entrepreneurial community; the response has been tremendous – hundreds of experts reviewed the nominations, and during the contest over 2 lakh voters engaged in supporting their favourite startups. The results are striking: the Finalists and the Winners showcase the drive and opportunities in today’s India.”

Snapshot

The contest was launched on August 27, 2008 with the goal to provide visibility for startups, engage the public and improve support for startups -- thus improving ecosystem & driving economic growth. The 5 Hottest Startups were chosen from among a shortlist of 30 finalists, who in turn, were selected based on a combination of expert reviews and public voting.

Major Partners in this initiative include Helion Ventures, Seedfund and Wadhwani Foundation. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and The Gateway Hotel provided support as Special Partners.  Ernst & Young as the Official Tabulator of the Awards, advised on procedures and auditing practices for the contest.