India is a country that has contributed intelligentsia to the world from time immemorial. In today’s era this has been paired up with entrepreneurship and innovation, leading to a change like never before. The entrepreneurship fervour of the country and the positive output it displays to the world is nothing but commendable. With the view to help promote and flourish this innovation, IIT Bombay, one of the key institutions that has birthed many of the intellectual minds and ideas of the century, is conducting Techfest, the annual science and technology festival of IIT – Bombay.
In its 19th year, this festival proves to be the ground on which bright and brimming ideas primarily in the sector of technology, research and innovation thrive to make a difference in today’s world. With more than 1,65,000 people in attendance,Techfest has been granted patronage by UNESCO and UNICEF which is the highest form of recognition granted by United Nations to a non-profit organization.
The format of this event is such that teams are shortlisted based on their abstract submitted. This is followed by mentoring to the 25 of the best teams by experts from various fields, who help the teams develop their idea through their experience and involvement in the issue. Then the top 20 teams are shortlisted for the final presentation to be held during Techfest.
The ideology of promoting innovation and entrepreneurship is something that ah! Ventures itself, has been a strong supporter of. From the very time of its commencement ah! Ventures has taken every step towards being a catalyst that brings together the best of the entrepreneurial stakeholders together. With a platform like Techfest, ah! Ventures is yet again embarking upon a journey towards attaining that goal.
ah! Ventures joins hands with Techfest, IIT – Bombay not only to nourish the young talent of today but also to be the face of the startup world for the enthusiastic entrepreneurs. The association is mainly to evaluate the ideas from a practical and executional standpoint. It is to be the key supporting partner for the event. The distinguished members of ah! Ventures are to be on the judging panel of this exciting event.
Expressing the gratitude towards with fruitful partnership, the Techfest – IIT Bombay Team commented, “ah! Ventures has undoubtedly been a key partner for Techfest. With the rich experience of having dealt with not only the entrepreneurs but the entire startup ecosystem, ah! Ventures shall prove beneficial in introducing the entrepreneurs at Techfest to the real start up world. The journey from brainstorming to boardrooms begins at this stage and the right mentoring and guidance from the stalwarts truly proves to be priceless”
Commenting on the association between ah! Ventures and IIT, Bombay, Harshad Lahoti – Founder & CEO of ah! Ventures opined, “IIT – Bombay has always been a ground fertile for innovation. It is a place where exquisite and innovative ideas flourish. We believe that these ideas need to be supported by entities who deeply understand the executional side. Owing to the 18000+ entrepreneurs associated with us, ah! Ventures truly understand the entrepreneurial mind-set and intend to help the innovators with the right entrepreneurial path to follow.”
Since its inception in 2012, ah! Ventures, spearheaded by Founder and CEO Harshad Lahoti and Co-Founder Abhijeet Kumar, has crossed numerous milestones. With an intensive network of 850+ investors, 17000 entrepreneurs and a whopping 100 crores of investment raised till date, ah! Ventures has strived to be the best guiding hand for the all the players in this ecosystem. With associations like these, ah! Ventures aims to groom and nurture the bright and innovative talent from the formative stages itself.