NSRCEL, the startup hub at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), on Monday announced the list of 25 shortlisted fintech startups for a 15-month extensive program, which could see many of them receiving funding from the CSR fund of ICICI Securities.
The selected ventures will undergo a 3-month pre-incubation journey during which they will be engaged in various sessions, workshops, peer-to-peer learning activities while they receive regular one-on-one mentoring and advisory sessions. Networking events, connects with industry experts, mock-pitches and interaction with investors will be major highlights of the program.
Post this, the ventures will be given an opportunity to pitch for incubation and funding and the selected ventures will be taken forward for a further 12-month incubation journey.
The initiative was launched in association with ICICI Securities as part of its CSR activity in April 2020, and received over 240 applications from across the country. The selection panel comprising of Rajiv Sawhney, COO, NSRCEL and Prof. Venky Panchapagesan, Chairperson, NSRCEL, evaluated all applicants and interviewed over 60 entrepreneurs, before handpicking the finalists.
The ventures selected are early-stage startups working in areas like trading, lending, payments, wealth advisory, insurance tech, accounting and financial management, billing software and auxiliary sector-logistics. The cohort covers the participants from nine cities across India including Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, Gurugram, Raipur, Noida, Udaipur and Hyderabad.
ICICI Securities has undertaken to partner the initiative as it believes that fintech has immense potential in job creation and economic growth.
The selected startups are: Insurtech - Wellmo, WIMWIsure, Zimyo; Trading - Tradebeat, Purpletrades; Lending - WhatsLoan, Credochain, Mudra Circle; Wealth Advisory / Investment Platforms - 7Prosper, Jarvis, Capital Quotient, Patten Effect Labs; Payments - MinksPay, Paperking, Paymatrix, Phi-Commerce, Zopnote, KhaaliJeb, NearPe; Accounting and Billing SAAS - GIM Books, IDOS India, Hylo Challenger; Auxiliary - Docboyz.