HYDERABAD: Marking the grand finale of Hyderabad Public School’s (HPS) centennial festivities, a two-day entrepreneurship summit — ‘StartX’ — was launched on Monday. Setting the stage for innovation, 10 alumni-led startups will showcase and pitch their ventures on Tuesday hoping for investments.
On Monday, the summit also featured a startup symposium comprising sessions with alumni-run startups, masterclasses, and panel discussions.
During the ‘India Tomorrow: Pioneering Growth and Innovation’ session, Nandan Reddy, co-founder of Swiggy, said, “Building companies requires a good infrastructure. For example, cab aggregator Uber and food delivery platforms such as Swiggy rely on the Internet and GPS to scale up. Public infrastructure provides the foundation for various possibilities, allowing entrepreneurs to innovate. Credit services are expected to grow significantly, and healthcare infrastructure for Indian companies should embrace AI in the future.”
Meanwhile, Shailesh Jejurikar, COO of P&G, said, “The advent of AI marks a significant transformation. The key to the future lies in becoming learning leaders.”
More than 30 startups showcased their ideas on Monday. HPS alumnus Kashyap Reddy co-founded a cricket strategy game ‘Hitwicket’ with Keerti Singh in 2020 with the idea that “Anybody can play.” According to Singh, the popular game has over five million users. The tap-based mobile game was the winner of the Prime Minister’s App Innovation Challenge in 2020. The popular game caught the attention of Apple CEO Tim Cook, who met the co-founders during his visit to India this year.
Speaking to TNIE, Singh said that his startup will be looking for new value additions during the ‘Shark Tank’- inspired pitching event on Tuesday.
With the tag of ‘India’s 1st Consumer Product Intelligence Platform’, Hyderabad-based TruthIn aims to revolutionize the consumer experience in the country. With just a scan, the app simplifies information about the contents of food products and cosmetics so that consumers can make informed choices.
Two brothers — 15-year-old Vishwanath Kasaraboina and 13-year-old Sidharth Kasaraboina — showcased ‘MK Gamify’, an AI-based gamified educational experience. “It is useful for building confidence. It will calculate the student’s progress,” said Vishwanath. Its interactive nature is another attraction, the brothers said. This duo will pitch the idea on Tuesday. Stating that he will work on it more after Class 10, Vishwanath said he hopes to launch the app soon.