The Nexus Startup Hub at the American Center held a graduation ceremony today for its latest cohort of entrepreneurs. The 11 startups, coming from a plethora of fields, including healthcare, telecommunications, and home automation, marked the end of their 10-week program by showcasing some of what they had learned in the form of two-minute business pitches for attendees. This group is the fourth to come out of the Nexus business incubator since its inception just over a year ago, and joins 30 other start-ups already making an impact in India.
“With the help of Nexus, we are improving and learning every day, which is essential for our business,” said Vishal Sawlani, founder of Ringler. “The beauty of the program is getting personalized feedback for our startup, which has helped us to know where we are now and what is missing.”
The ceremony was also notable for being the first to include leaders and entrepreneurs from the South and Central Asian countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. These 30 individuals are the first selectees of South Asia Connect, a Nexus expansion that aims to spread entrepreneurial know-how, share best practices, and build regional cooperation in the Indian sub-continent to boost intra-regional trade and investments.
“Meeting the right people at the right time is what I was seeking, and South Asia Connect did just that for me,” said Anurakavan, Co-Founder of the Idea Factory in Sri Lanka.
Summing up the event, Dr. Cliff Zintgraff, leader of the South Asia Connect program from the IC2 Institute at The University of Texas at Austin, remarked, “The high quality of the Nexus entrepreneur pitches was inspirational for our new South Asia Connect leaders and entrepreneurs. Their example will lead to even more innovation for our South Asian partners.”
Nexus is a collaboration between the American Center and the University of Texas-Austin to showcase the best of American and Indian entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology commercialisation. It serves as an innovation hub and business incubator for start-ups who get unparalleled access to industry and government networks, training from top commercialization experts around the world, and an extensive mentor network. Nexus is now recognized as one of the premier business incubators in India.
South Asia Connect is Nexus’s newest program, serving entrepreneurs in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Its mission is to create a network of regional entrepreneurial leaders, establish regional best practices through collaboration, and deploy practices and a collaborative network for regional and global company acceleration. Participating entrepreneurs will be able to access new business opportunities, build market-fitted strategies, and connect to an international community. South Asia Connect is funded by the U.S. Department of State and operated by the IC² Institute of the University of Texas at Austin.
For more information on Nexus, please visit https://startupnexus.net/. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter (@nexusdelhi).
