VISAKHAPATNAM: The State government in strategic collaboration with its challenge partners, DCF Ventures and Bizofit have selected 40 startups globally from Fintech, Agritech and Emergetech for the finals of USD 1 million challenge.
The challenge is a part of the ‘Vizag Fintech Festival’ to be held between October 22 and October 26 enabling start-ups to showcase their solutions in the Fintech, Agritech and Emergetech tracks.
The start-ups stand chances of winning funds and assistance for setting up their office in Visakhapatnam.
A total of 24 start-ups have won USD 10,000, two are tied for the award of USD 5,000 each. Due to the superior quality of the start-ups and the overwhelming response, an additional list of 14 consolation prizes have been released and awarded to 14 start-ups.
Who will be pitching for the grand finale. Around 40 start-ups will have an opportunity to exhibit the festival and the $1 million challenge winners will be announced by email and the awards ceremony will also be held at the festival the same day.
The Fintech festival will have more than 1,500 global delegates. The finalists and winners of the challenge will also be supported by Fintech Valley Vizag to enable them to set up operations and grow their business in AP.
A total of 14 start-ups were selected from the Fintech category, whereas 15 and 11 start-ups were selected from the Emergetech and Agritech categories.
The start-ups were selected after road shows in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Tel Aviv, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Bengaluru. Finalists in each category will get Rs 7 lakh each to set up their business in Visakhapatnam.
“Across the world, we have seen unique innovations through the road shows,” JA Chowdary, Special Chief Secretary and CM IT Advisor, said.
“The challenge has proved to be a great platform to showcase expertise to enable a better socio-economic society. AP’s initiative through this challenge will only boost the Indian digital transformation and also bring the best solutions from around the world,” he added.