SV Square initiative of Startup Village now open to startups
Early last month, Startup Village Kochi, announced its plans to take five young techies from Kerala to the Silicon Valley. Today is the last day for students across Kerala to send their entries and take a shot at going to the Valley. However, for startups and entrepreneurs who thought this was an opportunity missed, there is good news in store. From tomorrow, i.e. 16th March 2013, SV Square would be open to Kerala based startups for limited period. Startups willing to participate in the contest need to hurry and send in their entries by midnight of 20th March 2013. The final winners will be announced on 25th March 2013.
“Startup Village is building for the future and we look to kindle the young minds with world class exposure early on. This was the reason for our initial focus on students. The criteria of judging the qualified entries are predominantly on the innovative ideas, previous accomplishments and the passion,” explained George Paul, director - partner network, Startup Village. The SV Square initiative by Startup Village is being done in partnership with Rajeev Motwani Foundation to help startups and students from the state of Kerala to get a firsthand experience of the Silicon Valley. As part of the reward, winners will be taken to Silicon Valley where they stand a chance to interact with accomplished tech entrepreneurs like Larry Page of Google and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg who are part of Rajeev Circle.
To participate in the SV Square initiative, aspirants have to send a three-minute video which can showcase innovative ideas that they have. At the close of the contest all the videos will be seen by the jury, which comprises Kiran Karnik, former president of NASSCOM and Anil Gupta, professor in the Centre for Management in Agriculture, IIM Ahmedabad. The entries will be judged on the uniqueness of the idea. Winners of the SV Square initiative will be flying to Silicon Valley later this year in May. The SV Square initiative was launched by venture capitalist Asha Jadeja Motwani in Kerala earlier this year.