STPI launches Chunauti 2.0, to focus on women tech entrepreneurs in Tier-II cities

The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) on Friday launched the second edition of CHUNAUTI to boost promising tech startups in Tier-II cities, with a special focus on women entrepreneurs.

The online challenge under Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) will be accepting applications till August 31.

Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), clicked open to unveil the contest during the event, "Enabling Women Entrepreneurs to Co-author the Innovation Growth Story of India." 

STPI is looking for startups based in non-metro cities with an innovative idea, product, or solutions in domains like fintech, healthcare and wellness, education and skill enhancement, ecommerce, enterprise software, environment, e-governance solutions, tourism and hospitality, agriculture, cybersecurity, assistive technology for persons with disabilities, and beyond.

Selected startups will receive physical incentives like ready-to-work, plug-and-play incubation, full-fledged security and vulnerability testing of software products, mentorship, networking opportunities, and greater access to funding opportunities from VCs. 

The beneficiaries will also receive a seed funding of Rs 25 lakh, along with cloud credits from third-party service providers.

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STPI — an autonomous organisation under the MeitY — is implementing Next Generation Incubation Scheme.

In the first batch of CHUNAUTI, It selected 42 tech startups from a pool of 1,820 applications from non-metro cities, including Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Bhilai, Dehradun, Guwahati, Jaipur, Patna, Mohali, and Vijaywada, among others.

Three prominent women in the tech and startup ecosystem — Suchitra Eashwar (Founder and CEO, Catalyst for Women Entrepreneurship), Deepti Dutt (Head - Strategic Initiatives, AWS), and Shradha Sharma, (Founder and CEO, YourStory Media) — also graced the event.

“Being a woman myself and working with a plethora of startups over the last few years, I can relate to the fact that the journey is not easy. A startup is a tough and lonely journey, and it gets even more difficult for women. This dedicated focus on women is a step in the right direction,” Deepti said. 

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In her two decades of career, she highlighted that women leadership is creating an impact across levels in both the government and corporate world.

“The hurdles in your life are very temporary, and so, don’t give up on your dreams,” she advised the audience.

Speaking at the event, Shradha emphasised the importance of bringing women to the playground.

"The startup ecosystem has a dismal number, where only 1.5 percent of startups founded in our country are women. Otherwise, it is purely male-dominated. Only 5.7 percent of startups founded by women got funding,” she shared. 

Suchitra also congratulated STPI for recognising the huge opportunity of addressing this gap by reaching out to women entrepreneurs through CHUNAUTI.