Returning for its 27th edition, the
competition will provide founders and leaders with months of networking,
one-on-one mentoring, investment opportunities, incubation, and essential
insights into building scalable businesses.
Last date for registration: 29th September, 2024
Click here to register for Asia’s largest
business model competition!
Last year saw over 18,000 entries, with
passionate entrepreneurs and startups undergoing three rigorous rounds spread
over five months.
The winning startups stand to win prizes worth
INR 2 crore!
IIT Bombay's Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell),
Asia's largest student-run entrepreneurship organization, has garnered support
from UNESCO, Make in India, Startup India, and Digital India for its role in
promoting entrepreneurship. For the past 26 years, E-Cell has served as a vital
link connecting different elements of the startup ecosystem.
E-Cell is ready to host its flagship business
model competition, Eureka!, back for its 27th year. With 7 tracks, the
competition aims to provide founders with months of learning, networking, and
sector-specific mentoring, and investment opportunities to master the key
components of building a scalable business.
The event is tailored for early-stage
entrepreneurs, particularly those in the ideation and MVP stage, offering
one-on-one mentoring focused on developing go-to-market strategies.
Eureka! 2024 promises to be grander than ever,
with incentives worth INR 2 crore, 50+ venture capitalists, 300+ mentors, and
opportunities to win sponsored visits to USA and Dubai to pitch in global
entrepreneurship-based competitions. Eureka! is co-presented by WestBridge
Capital in association with FedEx, powered by Gulf Islamic Investments (GII),
with Ovington Capital Partners as the Venture Studio Partner. It is supported
by The Nudge Institute as Social Partner, Enrission India Capital as Gold
Sponsor, Venture Catalysts as Venture Capital Partner, and NRL as Energy
Innovation Partner.
What’s In It For Startups?
With over 18,000 entries last year,
entrepreneurs will go through three intensive rounds spread over five months.
The first round will feature on-stage mentoring to help founders build a robust
business model, starting with the basics of creating a business model canvas.
In previous editions, mentors included
industry leaders such as Kanchi Daiya from Indian Angel Network, Amit Jain from
StartupBay, Piyush Surana from Tomorrow Capital, and Pradeep Rathi from 3i
Zone.
The shortlisted startups will then enter a
mentorship round with workshops designed to refine their business models and
products. Founders will be judged on the viability of their ideas and their
unique value propositions.
Once the finalists are selected, they will
participate in a three-day accelerator program to prepare for the final stage
of the competition. The final pitch will take place at IIT Bombay’s E-Summit
25, an annual business conclave in February 2025. Finalists will pitch their
ventures in a closed-door event before a panel of industry experts.
Last year's jury included Rajesh Mane from
9Unicorns, Reshma Jhaveri from Venture Catalysts, Rahul Baviskar from Swadeshi
Handicrafts, and Douglas Peris from Hyper Accelerator, among others. The live
pitches took place on the IIT Bombay campus in the first week of February 2025.
The winning startups will receive prizes
valued at over $120,000, including incentives from MSG91, Clevertap, GitHub,
Zendesk, and many others. Investors on the jury will also have the option to
provide additional funding to the participating startups.
Beyond India, Eureka! has expanded to six
countries in the GCC region, including Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, UAE, and
Saudi Arabia. The competition offers a prize pool of $100,000 and a
fully-sponsored trip to Dubai for the Eureka! GCC finals, where participants
will pitch their ideas to global investors.
Past Eureka! winners include startups such as
P-TAL, Sputnik Brain, Dehaat, BlisCare, Jeevan Lite, SPARC, MyWays, DocEye,
Curomates, and AI-Genix. These startups also had the opportunity to present
their business ideas at the Indian Pavilion during Dubai EXPO 2020, where
BlisCare, DocEye, Curomates, and AI-Genix secured spot funding.