SEAP presents ‘Pune Connect 2016’
Pune, 14th November: Boosting the entrepreneurship at the grassroots level, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has initiated the ambitious ‘Start-up India’ Movement. This movement brought about a positive vibe into the entire ecosystem of India. Supporting this good initiative by the government which finally noticed the revolution in Indian entrepreneurial sector, Software Exporters association of Pune (SEAP) is all set to present the 6th edition of ‘Pune Connect’, a platform that works for the thriving and vibrant start-up ecosystem in India.
In partnership with NASSCOM-Pune, TiE-Pune, PuneTech, SME Joinup, iSPIRT, CIIE- Pune, POCC, MCCIA, IACC, PLF and HIA, ‘Pune Connect 2016’ will be held on November 19th, 2016, at The Westin Hotel. The theme for this year’s Pune Connect is “Accelerating Digital Innovation”. The Vision behind Pune Connect is to support the start- ups to create a revolution in digital world and establish Pune as one of India’s top 3 hubs for technology enabled innovation. These details were shared by S. Ramprasad, President, SEAP during a Press Conference held in the city today.
EC Members – Sameer Soman & Ashutosh Parasnis and Amit Paranjape, Eco system partner (Pune Tech) were also present on the occasion.
Registration for ‘Pune Connect 2016’ is mandate and begins at 9:00am. The event will start with a welcome address by SEAP President followed by a talk by the guest speaker Kuntal Shah, Partner, Sage One Investment advisors LLP who will address the topic, ‘Entrepreneurship and investing in an Idea’. This will be followed by a panel discussion on, ‘Scaling up’. The panel consists of eminent personalities like Shachin Bharadwaj, CEO – Sminq India Solutions, Shridhar Shukla, MD- kPoint Technologies, Ajit Patil, Co-founder- Smart Cloud Infotech, Monish Darda, Co-founder and CTO- ICERTIS, moderated by Gaurav Mehra, Partner- Kaizen Private Equity. Dr. Gopichand Katragadda, Chief Technology Officer – TATA Sons will deliver keynote on ‘Technology and Start-ups’.
There will be an expo dedicated to more than 40 shortlisted start-ups to showcase their products and services to the attendees. Top 5 shortlisted start-ups will get a chance to present their company on a stage in front of the jury and audience. The final three start-ups will be awarded at the hands of Honourable Minister of State Law and Justice & Electronic and IT (Govt. of India) P.P. Chaudhary & Dr. Omkar Rai, Director General, STPI. The winner of Pune Connect 2016 will receive Rs. 50,000/-from Pesh Group.
Pune Connect is SEAP’s annual flagship event since 2011 and has gained nationwide recognition as a platform for the thriving and vibrant start-up ecosystem in India. Since its inception, over 500 start-ups have used this platform to showcase their products and to meet potential customers, investors, partners, mentors and other affiliates. The event this year attracted more than 200 applicants and has grown in stature since its inception year when it had 24 applicants. This year too, there are applicants across areas ranging from mobility, analytics, IOT, education, social networks and e-commerce.
Pune Connect attracts large participation from Global innovation centers, IT services companies, investors, academic institutions and engineering R&D centers from diverse industries like manufacturing, semi-conductor and telecom. The attendees see it as an opportunity to identify technologies and solutions for the future and to network.
