Disruptive innovation does not come easy; the journey of a startup in doing so is even more difficult in its earliest stages. This is why TiE Bangalore Angels, a special interest group of TiE Bangalore and LetsVenture, India’s leading startup investment platform, have signed a partnership with the vision to enable growth opportunities for early-stage founders in the Indian startup ecosystem.
Our first initiative as part of the partnership is the U-30 Founders Challenge on National Startup Day.
We are inviting disruptive early-stage founders under 30 years of age to share their ideas with us and apply for a chance to pitch to investors for a chance to bag upto $250K in funding. We hope to select around ten founders, provided they have quality and disruptive visions for their startups. The challenge is sector-agnostic and welcomes entrepreneurs from across India.
Shanti Mohan, Co-founder & CEO of LetsVenture and trica, said “As India drives the wave of entrepreneurship, we are excited to partner with TiE Bangalore to discover and enable young entrepreneurs of the country. At LetsVenture, we have been seeing young and disruptive entrepreneurs for almost a decade now and the experience is still always refreshing. We hope many entrepreneurs apply for this challenge so we can help expand their entrepreneurial horizons. We believe LetsVenture and TiE can offer valuable mentorship and the right networking opportunities."
Applications close on February 15, 2023 and winners will be announced in March 2023.
Madan Padaki, President, TiE Bangalore, said, "Enabling access to funding & investors is one of the key pillars of TiE globally and we are delighted to launch TiE Bangalore Angels formally with a group of over 80+ Charter Members committing to invest in early-stage start-ups. We are also excited to partner with LetsVenture to enable our start-ups to access a much larger pool of angel investors. The U-30 Founders Challenge is the first of many Challenges that we will roll out through this partnership. Of course, TiE Bangalore will continue to offer additional support to entrepreneurs by way of mentorship, access to markets and customers.”
We at LetsVenture and TiE Bangalore encourage early-stage startups with innovative ideas and solutions for India-specific problems to participate in the contest. In addition to funding, founders will get a chance to pitch to reputed ecosystem investors, receive mentorship as well as opportunities to network with investors and ecosystem enablers, among other things.
We also urge you to stay tuned as LetsVenture’s partnership with TiE plans more ways to help and guide promising startups through access to funding, mentorship, and the right networking opportunities.
Go ahead and apply for the first-ever U-30 Startup Challenge today.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the U-30 Founders Challenge?
The U-30 Founders Challenge is an initiative by India’s leading startup investment platform LetsVenture and TiE Bangalore Angels, a special interest group of TiE Bangalore. The Challenge seeks to identify young entrepreneurial talent from across India.
Who can apply for the U-30 Founders Challenge?
Founders running early-stage startups across sectors can apply for the challenge. Although the target is discovering young founders under 30 years of age, others who are confident about their innovative solutions are welcome to apply.
What will I gain from the U-30 Founders Challenge?
Upto ten winning founders will gain exclusive mentorship and a cumulative funding upto $250K from TiE Angels Group and LetsVenture.If selected,founders will have the opportunity to network and learn from India’s top VCs and angel investors.
How can I participate in the challenge?
Founders can apply for the challenge by filling out the application form linked here.
Where will the U-30 Founders Challenge take place?
The U-30 Founders Challenge is an online contest which means early-stage startup founders can take part from anywhere in India. Our team will connect with you on the next steps if your application makes it through to the next round.
Do I have to pay for the application?
No, the U-30 Founders Challenge is free and open to all founders residing in India.
When does the application close?
We will stop accepting applications after February 15, 2023.
When will the final list of the winners be announced?
The winners will be announced in March.
About LetsVenture
Founded in 2013, LetsVenture is today organizing India’s private market by making the process of fundraising easy, efficient, and transparent for both startups and investors through its proprietary tech platform and bringing value-added products to the market.
In the last 9 years, startups have raised $120M across 600+ rounds and the marketplace has 29 Syndicates, 17000+ Angel Investors from 60 countries, and 100 Micro VC Funds.
LetsVenture is backed by Accel, Chiratae Ventures, Nandan Nilekani, Ratan Tata, Rishad Premji, Mohandas Pai, Sharad Sharma, and Anupam Mittal, among others.
About TiE Bangalore
TiE Bangalore is a chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a global nonprofit organization focused on supporting entrepreneurship. With over 2,500 members, TiE Bangalore is one of the largest chapters of TiE and plays a key role in supporting the startup ecosystem in the Bangalore region.
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