IIM Kashipur FIED’s Entrepreneurial Fest Hosts 100+ National Agriculture Startups in ‘Agri Mela’
Kashipur | 2023: IIM Kashipur FIED (Foundation for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development) successfully organized the 7th edition of a unique, excellent 2023 – Annual Entrepreneurship Summit in the country. This initiative supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, and NABARD aims to add socio-economic value to the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Uttarakhand by enabling startups to realize their big dreams. This unique and successful initiative by IIM Kashipur has helped 15 national agri-startups to receive 29 term papers of Rs 5 crore each. Utishth 2023 of IIM Kashipur also hosted over 100 startups and around 20 investors to exchange their interests. National Business Plan Pitching Competition, Investors Meet, Krishi Mela, and Entrepreneurs Conclave were organized in a three-day program under Utishtha 2023.
Professor Kulbhushan Baluni, Director, of IIM Kashipur said, “The FIED platform of IIM Kashipur has rightly risen to the level of ‘Excellence’. We are bringing socio-economic change in the home state by promoting entrepreneurship with the support of the State and Central Government. The FIED team has incubated more than 140 startups and out of these, more than 40 startups have raised funding of over Rs 3.2 billion. These startups have also generated direct employment of over 1200 and generated over five lacks We have identified the right talent of entrepreneurs and provided them full support to climb the ladder of success.”
Under the ‘National Business Plan Pitching’ competition, founders of agriculture startups from across India participated and presented their business ideas to investors and industry experts. The enthusiasm of all the startup participants was remarkable and the whole process was very exciting for the key stakeholders. Himmadhu, AI-MRI, My Pahadi Dukan, The Fitbread, Flur, Vikalp Herbals, GcomIndia, Pahadi Haat, superframes, and many more made brilliant business pitches that impressed the investors and other jury members. PinCap, Fitsol Supply Chain, HBF, GISF Accelerators, Omnivore, and other investors were amazed by the business idea of these startups and the efforts put in by the founders.
Prof. Safal Batra, Director, FIED said, “The 7th edition of Utishth has taken a giant leap by garnering interest from some of the key investors. IIM Kashipur FIED has carved a niche for itself at the national level by hosting such a platform in the state of Uttarakhand. We have seen our incubators team being sent to out-of-state and remote locations to identify entrepreneurs with unique business ideas that will represent the future of Indian business. Now the third generation of farmers is not limited to crop cultivation but is expanding the business by setting up food processing and agri startups. By facilitating the right platform to bring in the right human resources, branding, investors, mass market, pricing, and packaging, we are connecting them to mainstream businesses.
The incubated startups of IIM Kashipur FIED are creating success stories in the country. Bijak has raised $34.1M, Loopworm $3.4M, and GreenPod Labs $0.54M from investors. Poltrimon, Enkosh, Infiu Labs, and many more have also raised funding based on merit and mentoring other registered startups.
Eminent startup dignitaries were present at the inaugural session of the Entrepreneur Conclave and Krishi Mela. Sunfox founder Rajat Jain; Nitin Jain, Co-Founder, OfBusiness; Anubhav Dubey, Founder, of Chai Sutta Bar delivered the keynote address and motivated the startup participants. – A thought-provoking panel discussion on the topic ‘How to build a startup ecosystem in the state of Uttarakhand’ various perspectives from top startup founders like Subhdeep Sanyal of Omnivore, Monika Pandey of YourNest, Sachin Sharon of HBFDirect, Manish Srivastava of AlphaValue enriched the conclave with more Made it interesting,
Inaugurating the Agri Mela (Startup Expo), Sunil Kaushik, General Manager, NABARD said, “I congratulate IIM Kashipur FIED for its efforts to fuel the entrepreneurial spirit. Entrepreneurship in agriculture can certainly bring about a paradigm shift in the economic development of the country. NABARD is committed to supporting and motivating startups for marketing and branding.” Also, Prabhat Kumar, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; and Devendra Agarwal, MD, KVS Companies expressed their gratitude towards the enthusiasm shown by the Startups during the Expo – Agri Mela.
Several innovative businesses struck a chord with the expo visitors. Various startups came up with brilliant business ideas such as a clothing line made from bamboo fiber, interior design accessories made from cow dung, a crockery range made from bamboo, a range of toys made from wood waste, pesticides in agricultural fields A drone for spraying, honey coated dry fruits, organic fertilizers, health products, handicrafts, and handwoven items, as well as immunity boosters made from the farm produce, incense sticks made from recycled flowers.