Participate in the 20th Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) Startup Competition 2016!

By asha chaudhry on August 18, 2015 17 Comments / 4847 views

The 20th Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) is hosting the prestigious Startup Competition for the third year in a row to promote entrepreneurship in India. And once again, we are very pleased to announce that WIEF has associated with TheRodinhoods! As Outreach Partner, TheRodinhoods will reach out to startups, speakers and audiences in India for active participation in the entire event.

This means, every single Rodinhooder has the opportunity to participate in this incredible Startup Competition, which can take you all the way to Philadelphia!

Being a part of one of the most prestigious global India-focused conferences, The Startup Competition has grown to become a phenomenal event for startups aspiring to gain exposure to and funding in both India and in the United States.

whartonbabychakra Past winners of the competition include rockstar startups like Zostel, Postergully, Flintobox, BabyChakra. The competition and finalists were covered by leading publications in India. Past judges at the competition include eminent entrepreneurs and VCs including Sanjeev Bhikchandani, Sunny B Rao, Arihant Patni and Alok Kejriwal.

Quoting Alok: “Being at the Wharton Startup competition is as big as it gets. The audience, jury members and contestants represent the world’s best, all working together to make entrepreneurial magic happen.”

What’s different this year?

This year, WIEF will be completing a historic 20 years and will be conducting the event in TWO PHASES across India and the USA. One entire day of the conference and the Startup Competition shall be held in Mumbai on January 5th, 2016. In addition, the organizers plan to fly the winners to the second phase of the conference in Philadelphia. This way, the winning startups will gain exceptional access and recognition in both India and the US!

Prizes!

The competition this year is bigger than before, with upto $10,000 in prizes in multiple categories, including:

Best emerging startup – For the most promising startup with huge growth and scalability potential
Best established startup – For the startup that has demonstrated strongest growth and ability to scale and is looking for growth capital to expand its operations further
Best social impact startup – For the startup that has achieved or has the potential to achieve large scale impact on the social ecosystem

Are you an early stage entrepreneur? Then you are eligible!!

Applications are open to any early-stage entrepreneur, in any industry, from anywhere the world with business ideas focused on a product/service targeting the Indian market or an Indian focused product/service targeting the US market.

Definition of early-stage startups:

you have rolled out a beta product; or .
you have sought and collected data on customer validation (beyond conducting surveys); and
you don’t exceed $500K in equity-based investment or $500K in annual revenue

If you exceed the funding or revenue limitations but still want to apply, you can write to wharton.india.startup@gmail.com .

INTERESTED STARTUPS CAN APPLY HERE

You can find more details about The Startup Competition HERE.

Do read the eligibility & rules carefully before applying.

Not applying? Nominate a friend!!

You can nominate startups you think are worthy and deserve to be sent to Philly!

Nominate here

Hear it from a Rodinhooder!

Guess what?! Rodinhooder Vivek Kumar (Qlicket) was a finalist at the Startup Competition in 2014!

IMPORTANT!

The first round deadline is August 24th and the second is October 19^th.

Apply early to be considered for additional prizes!

All the best!

think.do.be.at.wief.

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Comments

asha chaudhry

17 Comments

asha chaudhry August 19, 2015, 1:26 pm

hey rodinhooders – snooze u lose – do apply asap and comment on this thread so we can wish you good luck!
Deepa Iyer August 19, 2015, 5:29 pm

Hi – I’m one of the directors of the competition, and happy to answer any specific questions.
manas gajare August 19, 2015, 6:10 pm

We have made an India focused game. Would that be eligible?

Manas
Deepa Iyer August 19, 2015, 6:38 pm

Yes!
Arun Mishra August 21, 2015, 10:13 am

Hi Asha,

The following link is not working. You may want to inform the person responsible for managing this.

You can find more details about The Startup Competition HERE.

https://www.whartonindia.com/startup/

Arun
asha chaudhry August 21, 2015, 5:19 pm

hi arun,

thanks for bringing this to our notice. it was working fine y’day. i’ve pinged the wharton team. deepa from team wharton is also on this thread.
asha chaudhry August 22, 2015, 2:41 am

hey arun,

we’ve updated the link – it should work now 🙂

thanks once again!
Arun Mishra August 22, 2015, 6:07 am

Thanks a lot Asha. I checked it and It is working now. Appreciate it.
Eli Jean-Paul August 22, 2015, 7:50 am

Namaste Deepa,

I’ve a blog on cinema and i’m in France.

Blog all cinemas, French, Americans, Indians etc
Because every movie opens you a window on the World

I like very much Indian cinema

https://cinema-movietheater.com/

Could yu tell me if i can take part at your competition?

Thank you

Good weekend

Jean-Paul
Tarun Mor August 22, 2015, 9:56 am

Hi Asha & Deepa,

We are in like flynn on this! Submitted our applications.

Thanks heaps for organizing this. 🙂
asha chaudhry August 23, 2015, 4:02 am

hey all the best!
Tarun Mor August 23, 2015, 6:37 am

Thank you Asha!
Roshni Baronia August 24, 2015, 4:14 am

Hello Deepa , can I prepare for the Round 2 deadline of 19th October? I just got to know recently about the opportunity and will not be able to send the entry for 24th August closing.
Deepa Iyer August 24, 2015, 6:15 pm

Hi – definitely! Please apply before October 19.
Arun Mishra August 25, 2015, 8:20 am

Hi Deepa, Asha,

We somehow managed to finish the application yesterday, 1 min before the deadline. However we are not happy with our presentation. Is there anyway we can update it now? Let me know.

Thanks.
Deepa Iyer August 25, 2015, 5:24 pm

Hi Arun,

Unfortunately, we can’t have it updated after submission. Apologies!
asha chaudhry September 7, 2015, 5:36 am

dear all,

round 2 of applications for ‪#‎wiefstartup‬ competition is still open! so do apply!! GOOD LUCK!