PitchFest - An MSU Vision2020 event sponsored by the Incubator initiative

The MSU Alumni Network in conjunction with Office of Alumni Affairs & Donor Relations, launched Vision 2020 late last year to support and inspire the students of Techo (Faculty of Technology & Engineering). The Incubator initiative was one of the programs sponsored by Vision 2020.

The intent of the Incubator is to introduce, educate and expose the Techo students to the art and science of entrepreneurship. By providing a platform for experimenting with startups under the guidance and tutelage of Techo alumni based in India and the US.

In the Academic Year 2020-21, the Incubator received 25 proposals from Techo students. Via a structured, diligent evaluation process, 15 teams were invited to "pitch" their startup ideas to the Incubator Council which comprised of selected faculty members and alumni. Each of the top 5 teams were awarded seed funding of Rs 50,000 to build their product and compete for the top award of Rs 1 Lakh. Along the way, all participating students went through several webinars on entrepreneurship and each of the top 5 teams got mentoring support from the alumni.

The top 5 teams will showcase the outcome of their efforts over the last 6 months by pitching their Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to the Incubator Council later in July. Here is the introduction to what these teams have been working on in stealth-mode.

Farmhouse

The Farmhouse team (Shubham Upadhyay and Amit Malviya) are working on an innovative idea to grow vegetables in a pod-based system inside a home. Farmhouse hopes to disrupt and revolutionize the food supply chain while providing its customers a healthy source of home-grown nutritious vegetables, from plant-to-plate in minutes.

Help & Win

The Help & Win team (Kartavi Patel, Princy Patel and Riya Chaubey) has built a social networking app that facilitates secure person-to-person communication within a surrounding/community with the intent to match a person who needs help with someone in the surrounding/community who has the capability to provide the required help.

Pureyarns

The Pureyarns team (Hrushil Shah, Saurabh Gangwani and Vikram Kumawat) has come up with a novel approach for obtaining fibers from Banana plant and making woven textile goods such as apparel and technical textiles. Pureyarns firmly believes their product will be superior to existing competing products while tapping into a new source of raw material for fibers.

Skydive

The Skydive team (Toms Jiji Varghese, Dhruv Patel, Pruthviraj Chauhan and Pruthviraj Parmar) has designed and built a drone for commercial usage using an innovative hybrid approach. Skydive is trying to extend the range of its drone beyond that of current drones.

Vrudhhi

The Vrudhhi team (Bhavik Patel, Kishan Parmar and Samkit Kothari) is tapping into the red-hot Fintech market by building an app for young professionals. Their app focuses on providing financial planning services by connecting customers with a Certified Financial Advisor. Additionally, the app provides finger-touch enrollment to government schemes and educational content on personal finance. Vrudhhi hopes to become relevant in the Fintech industry by executing on its vision of giving every common person access to financial insights to make better financial decisions and build a secure and stable financial future.

Each of these teams are using critical innovating thinking and the spirit of entrepreneurship to bring new ideas and products to the market. The Vision 2020 alumni and the Incubator Council feel proud of the effort these teams have put into their startups and applaud their passion, courage and tenacity.