TechSparks 2019 agenda: Know first-hand what the doers in the startup ecosystem are thinking
With its theme of ‘India 2025: Inclusive, Future-ready, and Intelligence-led’, the 10th edition of TechSparks promises an exciting two days.
It’s that time of the year again. The curtains will go up on India’s oldest and most definitive tech conferences, TechSparks, on the morning of Oct 11 in Bengaluru.
The two-day conference, often dubbed as the Kumbh Mela of tech conferences, will be a sangam of India’s tech ecosystem from startup founders and employees, investors, corporate leaders, policy makers, accelerators and incubators, software engineers, and pretty much anyone who follows India’s booming internet economy.
What is it about TechSparks that draws people from all over the country and outside India to camp in Bengaluru for two days? The answer in one sentence will be, you need to be there to see it for yourself.
This is the 10th year of TechSparks that has been witnessed by over 40,000 people over these past years, including more than 10,000 startups. Over the years, TechSparks has been instrumental in building over 15 lakh connections, creating 3 lakh+ jobs, and helping companies raise more than $1.2 billion in funding.
Spread over Oct 11-12 at the Taj Yeshwantpur, Bengaluru, this year’s TechSparks theme is ‘India 2025: Inclusive, Future-ready, and Intelligence-led’.
Since it began in 2010, TechSparks has become a benchmark platform to discuss, debate and develop ideas & engagements that build and shape the technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship narrative in India.
YourStory's Shradha Sharma in conversation with Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma at last year's TechSparks.
This year, too, we have an enviable lineup of speakers providing deep insights and perspectives of their respective domains.
TechSparks 2019 will see participation from some of the biggest names in the ecosystem, including:
● Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder of Paytm
● Bhavish Aggarwal, Founder of Ola
● Taapsee Pannu, Actor
● S Iswaran, Minister for Communications and Information Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations Republic of Singapore
● Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart
● Munish Varma, Managing Partner at SoftBank Vision Fund
● Manu Jain, Vice President & MD, Xiaomi India
● Naveen Tiwari, Founder & CEO, InMobi
● William Bissel, Chairman, FabIndia
● Amod Malviya, Vaibhav Gupta, and Sujeet Kumar, Co-Founders of Udaan
● Meeta Malhotra, Founder, The Hard Copy
● Anjana Sasidaran, Principal, Sequoia Capital
● Varsha Tagare, Managing Director, Qualcomm Ventures India
● Shashank Kumar, Co-Founder, Razorpay
● Rajiv Srivatsa, Founder of Urban Ladder
● Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Founder of Ninjacart
and many more….
Ashwathnarayan, Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, and Minister for Higher and Medical Education, IT and BT, Science and Technology, will share the innovation story of Karnataka which is home to the startup hub of India.
Founder and CEO of Paytm Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Founder and CEO of YourStory Shradha Sharma will engage in a fireside chat and delve on businesses that are built for impact. The entrepreneur, who got many Indians on board the fintech revolution, will share his insights into Paytm’s role in making a large-scale impact.
As building a billion-dollar company has become the new chase, Naveen Tewari, Founder and CEO of InMobi will talk on just how to tread the path, with reference to global businesses. The session will be followed by fireside chats with Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital and actor entrepreneur Taapsee Pannu.
The eclectic crowd at TechSparks last year.
Post lunch, we’ll look into the Softbank investment thesis with Munish Verma, Managing Partner of SoftBank Investment Advisers. This will be followed by more discussions around inclusive fintech, artificial intelligence, and how to scale startups.
At the same time, masterclasses on branding with Meeta Malhotra, Founder, The Hard copy, and other topics, including growth, product-market fit, and going global with other experts in the area will take place simultaneously.
The Second Day will feature equally empowered sessions and talks. Manu Jain, Vice President and Managing Director of Xiaomi India, will share the routes to map a successful and disruptive presence in the market. Aniketh Jain, General Manager of Global Enterprise Business at Kaleyra, will shed light on the bootstrapping journey for startups.
This will be followed by a panel comprising members from investment firms, researchers, and entrepreneurs who are making a dent in the healthcare sector. They will discuss on disruptive ideas in the healthcare sector.
Arranging daily commute of autos or cabs from one's phone is a fantasy turned reality. And our next speaker has not only enabled it but continues to steer its growth in the country. At TechSparks, Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO of Ola, will take the stage for a fireside chat with Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory.
This will be followed by the Tech30 pitches and awards.
The story of entrepreneurs can be crazy. And Shradha Sharma will have a chat with actor Rajkummar Rao to talk about a story of an unlikely entrepreneur.
Other speakers include William Bissel, Chairman of FabIndia, and Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart.
On the agenda are a report launch and discussion on the state of accelerators in India that give the much needed push to startups. Other interesting panel discussions include one on the rise of spacetech industry in India, and the other panel on the booming economy of social media influencers.
Simultaneously, there will be workshops on Google Cloud, laying the foundation for startups and leveraging CRM to the best.
This 10th edition of TechSparks will be just the bridge towards growth, perspective, and more learning for all the attendees.
Check here for the detailed agenda.
