India's top tech start-ups battle it out to win Tech Rocketship Awards

This year’s awards were launched in April by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at a high profile business event in Mumbai.

Now in its third year, the competition has had a record number of applications with over 600 start-ups vying to be one of ten winners of an all expenses paid business development trip to the UK.

Thirty-six young entrepreneurs have been shortlisted from over 600 quality applications.

Through the course of this month, these shortlisted applicants will battle it out in front of a live audience and panel of esteemed judges across four cities in India: Bengaluru, New Delhi, Pune and Chennai.

Kumar Iyer, Director General of Department of International Trade, India said: “We are really excited by both the staggering level and extremely high quality of the entries this year. It clearly demonstrates the immense talent that India has! The UK is open for business like never before and we are looking for the next batch of leading Indian young entrepreneurs who have the potential to be globally successful. The Tech Rocketship Awards provide an excellent platform for Indian entrepreneurs to grow their business overseas by using the UK as a springboard. We wish the competitors the very best.”

Indian Angel Network  (IAN) has closely worked with UKTI to shortlist the applications. Saurabh Srivastava, Co-founder and Director of IAN said: “I appreciate the vision of the UK government, which is aligned with ours. I am delighted to be a part of this program which will help create wealth for entrepreneurs and investors, drive economic growth in the region and build another track of early stage ventures between India and UK. This platform not only provides an opportunity for Indian entrepreneurs to network and identify trade opportunities, but also gives the UK based investors an access to the pool of India's most innovative businesses."

The competition will enable India’s top young entrepreneurs to raise their profile with UK and Indian investors.

The ten most promising businesses will win a week-long business trip to the UK.

There they will experience the UK’s world-leading tech ecosystem first hand, meeting with UK venture capitalists, mentors, entrepreneurs and incubators, as well as experts from DIT and leading professional services firms who will guide them on how to establish a firm footing abroad.

This year’s high profile judges include Anand Mahindra, T.V. Mohandas Pai, of Aarin Capital, Saurabh Srivastava of the Indian Angel Network, self-made entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and young entrepreneur Shradha Sharma of YourStory, a leading tech media platform.

Department of International Trade’s Global Dealmaker Alpesh Patel and Technology specialist John Kat will join the Indian panel to judge the business ideas of the best tech start-up during the pitching sessions in the four Indian cities.

One winner will be selected from each of five categories, cleantech, edtech, fintech, medtech and smart manufacturing and a further five winners will be selected under the Judges Awards section,  from any sector. The final 10 winners will be announced at the India-UK TECH Summit in New Delhi, in November 2016.

The competition is a GREAT for Collaboration initiative, seeking to form a lasting partnership between India’s fast-growing start-ups and UK financing and support for entrepreneurs.