Be a part of Start-a-Thon 2.0, a national-level startup ideation challenge

Sardar Patel Technology Business Incubator (SPTBI) an initiative of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India is pleased to host Start-a-Thon 2.0, a startup ideation challenge designed to stretch your limits! 

Start-a-Thon is a 2 days national level ideation challenge for students. It is an invitation to students to come and solve the problem statement through a tech solution. Teams do not need to code on the day of the competition, rather come up with tech solutions to problem statements provided to them. 

Start-a-Thon debuted last year in the month of March as a national level ideation challenge for tech ideas. Over 214 teams and 431 students participated.  After successfully hosting Start-a-Thon 1.0, they are back again with greater visibility. The competition aims to promote entrepreneurship and make it a Pan India Campaign and allow creative minds to develop tech solutions capable of changing society. 

Competition framework of Start-a-Thon 2.0

Scheduled to be held on 13th-14th March 2021, Start-a-Thon 2.0 is divided into two rounds along with a pre-event screening round. Part one is an online elimination round where a common problem statement will be given to each participating team. Each team will need to provide a one-page solution to this problem statement. The deadline to submit the solutions is 3rd March 2021. Based on these solutions, the top 20 teams will be selected for the final round.  

Round 1: It is an online screening round that will be conducted on Dare2Compete. A problem area will be given to all participants after they register. The participants will have to create a one-page tech-based summary of the solution to the problem. The judgment would be on the creativity and feasibility of the solution, how it can be implemented in the market.

Round 2: On day one, five problem statements will be shared with each team. They may pick any one problem statement of their choice. They will get an entire day to ideate around the problem to come up with a feasible tech-based or tech-enabled solution. The mentors will be assigned to the teams to help them throughout the day.

Moving ahead, on day two, each team will be given 10 minutes to pitch ideas. Judges from Hostelfund along with other VC firms will review your idea. Teams will be rated based on technology (idea, uniqueness), marketing strategy, finance, presentation, etc. 

What Start-a-Thon 2.0 has in store for you?

Apart from amazing prizes, the top 20 teams will be offered, incubation support where ideas can be converted into startups, funding support, and mentoring support. In addition, all 20 finalists will be awarded AWS credits worth 1,000 USD. 

The prize structure of Start-a-Thon 2.0 is as follows:

1st place: INR 10,000 + Digital Certificate + 3 months free incubation or one-year virtual incubation

2nd place: INR 5,000 + Digital Certificate + 3 months free incubation or one-year virtual incubation

3rd, 4th & 5th place: Digital Certificate + Three months free incubation or 50% of virtual incubation.

Additionally, after the competition, teams can get an opportunity to get funded by Hostelfund up to INR 50 lakh. 

To know more and register at Start-a-Thon 2.0, click here.