Five Indian Start-ups win international fellowships, plethora of networking and business opportunities
Five Indian tech start-ups have been crowned winners of 
the 3rd edition of the Next Big Idea Contest jointly hosted by the Government of Ontario, Canada and Zone Start-ups India, the Bombay Stock Exchange Institute and Amazon Web Services.
The five winners are Bengaluru based Lightmetrics Technologies Private Limited and Packal; Delhi based Neuron and Swift File Transfer, and Thane based Survelytics.
The Next Big Idea Contest, which started in July 2015, sought to discover India’s 5 most innovative technology companies who are looking to leverage a presence in Ontario, Canada, as a vehicle to expand to North America. Using the DMZ as a landing pad, the entrepreneurs will receive mentorship, business development advice and valuable international experience.
“The Indian start-up space has a massive growth potential. We know that this is also one of the focus areas for the Indian Prime minister. This contest is an opportunity for Indian start-ups to experience the North American market first hand and develop valuable new connections,” says Jens Michael Schaal, Counsellor (Commercial – Ontario), Ontario International – New Delhi Trade & Investment Office. Mr. Schaal further adds, “Ontario is a leader in innovation on the global stage. We have seen tremendous ideas come to life through Zone Startups / India, and we look forward to enabling Indian entrepreneurs to bring their innovations to North America. We strongly believe in global sharing of experiences and are happy to nurture these opportunities by offering strong industry connections, mentorship and support from our world-class incubator.”
Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Director, Zone Start-ups says, “The contest was conceptualized in 2013, with the objective of identifying promising tech start-ups from India, and showcasing them in Toronto. This year the contest has been launched across 9 cities, with 7 city-based accelerator partners. This 3rd Edition of the Next BIG Idea Contest saw 308 applicants contesting for the top slots. It was a challenge zeroing down on the top five.”
The winners were selected based on three criterion – whether the business pitch has the potential to go global, whether the contestant already has a footprint in North America, and lastly if the pitch sported an intellectual property with potential to go global.
“The DMZ is a great platform for entrepreneurs like us to learn and shape our marketing and business acumen. We are very lucky to receive global exposure, from technical expertise to mentorship, all at one place. I am very sure that this experience will catapult us to great heights and help us expand across the North American market,” says Krishna AG, Founder of Bengaluru based Lightmetrics Technologies Private Limited.
Fellow winner, Mandar Vaidya Founder and CEO of Thane based Survelytics, “I would recommend each and every budding tech entrepreneur to participate in this contest and win a chance to explore the possibilities that the International start-up community and DMZ has to offer.”
The Next Big Idea Contest is a joint initiative by Zone Startups India, the Government of Ontario’s Investment & Trade Office, the Bombay Stock Exchange Institute and Amazon Web Services. The five companies win a two-week incubation at one of the world’s finest centres at the Ryerson University – the Digital Media Zone (DMZ). The DMZ is ranked first in Canada and fifth in the world by University Business Incubator Index.
Photo Caption- Jens Michael Schaal, Counsellor (Commercial – Ontario), Ontario International – New Delhi Trade & Investment Office and Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Director Zone Startups India along with the winners of the 3rd Edition of the Next Big Idea Contest.
