Jain organisation steps forward to back tech-enabled startups from within the community

Nine tech-enabled startups pitch for funding at second Pitch Day; chosen ones will receive shared support and mentoring from Jain industrialists.

The enterprising Jain community, in a bid to support startups from within the community, recently held its second Investor Pitch Day. The event was organised in New Delhi by the Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO), a platform that brings together Jain businessmen, professionals and industrialists.

Nine tech-enabled startups pitched for funding at the event. The incubation programme is open only to startups that are founded by entrepreneurs from the Jain community and who use technology to solve problems.

They pitched to a panel of experts from the startup ecosystem, including Padmaja Ruparel, President, Indian Angel Network; Praveen Sinha, Founder, Jabong; Ankita Sancheti, Founder, Parksnap; and Aditya Chaturvedi, Co-Founder Clovia and Partner Saesif Fund.

They also participated in a fireside chat to discuss the “New Playground for Investing and Entrepreneurial Pursuit by Jain Investors/Entrepreneurs”.

Anil Jain, Director-in-charge, JITO Incubation and Innovation Foundation (JIIF), said: “We looked at how young businessmen will scale their ventures and how they will be able to solve consumer problems in an innovative way. We went through some very bright business ideas and will finalise the investment very soon.”

The first Pitch Day was organised in Mumbai where seven startups participated and close to $3 million investment was committed by the JITO Angel Network (JAN). During the pitch, two startups, Zophop and Onn Bikes, raised about $1 million funding from JAN.

Many participating startups will be incubated in JITO centres set to be opened in cities across India soon.

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Here’s a closer look at the nine startups that participated and pitched during the event:

Impact Guru: An online fundraising or crowdfunding platform that helps individuals and NGOs raise money for medical, personal or social purposes.

Picostone: A company that specialises in home automation and aims to make your home smarter by providing cost-effective technologies and devices.

Suntelematics: A company that has built a platform to aggregate the supply of unorganised transport to help them optimise and earn more.

Instio: A guest experience management company that helps hospitality businesses offer the best experience to their guests and increase profitability.

Auquan: A company building a platform to crowd-source trading strategies. It will restructure trading into a data and math problem by abstracting out finance knowledge.

CupShup: A startup that aims to convert tea stalls in the country into discussion joints for brands by advertising on paper tea/coffee cups. It has a distribution network of 1,000 offices, 500-plus colleges, 5,000-plus retail tea vendors and a partnership with four airlines.

Goeventz: A one-stop platform where you can buy or sell tickets for events (entertainment, marathon, health and fitness, sports, career development programmess). You can also book tickets for tourist attractions, flights and hotels across the world.

Universal Cancer Conquest: A Pune-based firm established in 2015 to provide comprehensive cancer care treatment under one roof. UCC offerings include end-to-end cancer services and online second opinion on diagnosis and treatment.

Parksnap: A parking assistance app available on Android and iOS platforms to provide real-time data, offline and online, to ensure complete transparency about available areas and parking tariffs.

How is JITO empowering entrepreneurs from the community?

 JITO is a multi-stakeholder community of Jains who aim to shape India’s future by working with the younger generation. The platform currently has nearly 6,000 members, 10 administrative zones, 61 chapters and 37 units.

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To assist the community in keeping pace with the rapid startup boom and investment ecosystem, JIIF has also formed JITO Angel Network, which helps community members to invest in startups.

In September this year, the first incubation centre was launched in Mumbai. Spread over 8,500 square feet, the centre has a capacity of more than 100 seats. It will offer shared support services like HR, legal, IT and accounts, and ready market for implementation as per eligibility.

Narendra Shyamsukha, Chairman, JITO Incubation & Innovation Foundation and Founder Chairman, ICA Edu Skills, said: “We see the youth as leaders of tomorrow and we have a vision to shape the future of the country. This pitch round will be followed up with actual funding and a lot of hand-holding by experienced Jain industrialists and professionals in various fields.”