How 1000+ Inventors, Developers, and Entrepreneurs all over India came together to tackle COVID-19 at Techstars Startup Weekend COVID-19
For the first time ever, Techstars, the global platform for investment and innovation, hosted a Global Online Startup Weekend series, “Unite to Fight COVID-19.”
India was one of more than 70 countries around the world participating in this important event. Team Global Startup Weekend India — COVID-19 had a massive, brilliant 54-hour weekend event from 17th April 2020 to 19 April 2020. Participants from all parts of India worked together from their homes to tackle the challenges presented by the pandemic.
Local Community Leaders from all over India, in partnership with Techstars, volunteered to host this event, which focused on developing COVID-19-related solutions unique to India. During this live, online event, we had innovators, developers, inventors and so many people with a passion to help. Participants developed prototypes that could potentially solve some of the biggest challenges posed by the pandemic, in just 54 hours!
The entire Startup Weekend took place on Discord and after an initial shortlisting of 105 ideas from a whopping 250 ideas that were submitted, teams were formed on Friday. Teams then had collectively 500 mentoring sessions with eminent and amazing mentors from around the world who believed in giving back and #givefirst on Saturday. On Sunday, after an initial round of shortlisting, the top 10 teams were selected for an exciting live-pitching session with top judges from the country.
We also had a Startup Weekend Radio where participants could dedicate music — At one point during the weekend, a patriotic song called Vande Mataram was dedicated by all the participants in honor of the COVID-19 victims which was super thoughtful :)
The top 20 teams from around the world will go on to participate in a Techstars Innovation Bootcamp experience and get 10,000$ in funding from Differential Ventures.
The event had: 1027 attendees, 250+ ideas pitched, 105 teams formed, 50 mentors, and 15 State Government and National partners including Startup India, Kerala Startup Mission, and the Telangana State Innovation Cell.
There was an eminent Jury Panel comprising of: Dr. Preet Deep Singh — AVP, Invest India, Bala Girisaballa — President, Techstars, and Shanta Thoutam — Startup Evangelist — Innovation & Community.
The top 3 winning teams were:
1st Place — Quick Solutions [Testing for COVID in Sewage Water]
2nd Place — Sahaayak [Cheap, Easy to Make Deployable Ventilator that can Support Multiple Patients]
3rd Place — Better Suits [Better, Well designed Personal Protective Suits for those working on the frontlines]
Honorable Mention — Backyard Creators [Low-Cost Portable 8000 INR Ventilator]
The event was live-streamed across YouTube Live and the Facebook Pages of Startup Weekend India and moderated/ facilitated by a team of global innovation experts and startup evangelists. The event would have been impossible without the efforts of an experienced organizing team that came together from all parts of India to pull this event off in less than two weeks.
It was a first-time experience for us, trying to pull off the magic that happens at an offline Startup Weekend in a brand new online format, and we were pleased to see the encouraging feedback from participants. We hope to fight this battle using the power of diversity and ingeniousness India has and will come back stronger than ever before!
Since the COVID-19 outbreak began to affect communities around the world, Techstars has made a variety of changes to programming and community engagement to keep people safe and to continue to support startups and innovators in this time of great need. Learn more about Techstars’ efforts and find resources and perspectives at techstars.com/covid.
About Techstars
Techstars is the global platform for investment and innovation. Techstars founders connect with other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders, and corporations to grow their companies. Techstars operates three divisions: Techstars Startup Programs, Techstars mentorship-driven Accelerator Programs, and Techstars Corporate Innovation Partnerships. Techstars accelerator portfolio includes more than 1,900 companies with a market cap of more than $26 Billion. www.techstars.com
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The Master Mentors:
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