The T-block journey to support the startup ecosystem in India and incorporate blockchain technology to support innovative solutions started over 5 months ago, in partnership with the Government of Telangana and Tech Mahindra. Backed by platform partners, Investment Partners, and Government representatives we set out to find the most innovative startups in the space; Take a look a the journey so far.
Recruiting the fleet
We closed the registrations with over 150+ startups applying from various sectors ranging from Agri-Tech and Computer Vision to Health-Tech and Gaming. After the initial round of shortlisting based on due-diligence, we were able to identify 30 unique startups that went on to the next round of the accelerator program.
The Bootcamp Phase
We had to forego the personal interactions that come with an accelerator program on the ground and in-person in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. In our efforts to adapt to the new normal we decided to proceed unfettered with a first of it’s kind, Virtual-Bootcamp process which we started with 2 product workshops by Tezos and Matic Network followed by 1-on-1 mentoring sessions with each of the 30 startups and our star-studded panel of mentors, curated to each startup’s specialty.
After the mentor sessions(based on a better understanding of the startups and the team behind it) they were shortlisted further to 16 unique startups of the lot.
Lift-Off
After a gruelling series of shortlisting processes, the 16 startups moved on to the Internal Demo Day where they had to pitch their startups in a tight 3 mins to a panel of Judges consisting of Investors, Government Representatives, Go-to-Market Partners and other stakeholder’s of T-block along with a closed-door audience of investors, corporates and other industry leaders.
The Internal Demo Day started off with a welcome note from the organizers of T-block — Kaavya Prasad, COO of IBC Media followed by Keynote addresses by Mr.Jayesh Ranjan — IT Secretary, Government of Telangana and Mr.Rajesh Dhuddu — Blockchain Practice Leader, Tech Mahindra and Smt. Rama Devi Lanka, Director-Emerging Technologies, Government of Telangana.
“For the startups that make it today, if you have a relevant solution for the government, we will be your first customers” — Shri Jayesh Ranjan, Secretary, Information Technology (IT); Government of Telangana
“We didn’t see Covid coming and we started this accelerator before this. In a post pandemic world, this accelerator is all the more pertinent and I’m happy that we could do it digitally.”- Rajesh Dhudhu, Blockchain, Cyber-Security Practice Leader, Tech Mahindra,
After which we got right into the pitching session where the 16 startups pitched their projects and took questions from the panel of judges. While the judges convened separately to decide the results of the pitching session, we had some interesting conversations in a fireside chat to understand what an investors outlook would be towards blockchain companies with a fantastic panel line-up featuring some veterans in the Blockchain investment world.
Investors Advice to Startups:
“Execute and get traction, you need to able to prove that you can execute a competent solution” — Remington Ong, Fenbushi Capital
“There’s a lot of capital out there and the companies that show traction are the ones more likely to succeed.” Jalak Jobanputra, Future Perfect VC
“We like to see traction and a viable use case for blockchain and not tech for tech’s sake” — Nikoli Reinbold, Crypto Valley VC
“Be patient, and clarify your use cases. Building in india for a global market is an exciting way forward for the crypto world“ — Nitin Sharma, First Principles
Followed by the fireside chat was a panel discussion with the partners of T-block on building a blockchain startup ecosystem with a focus on India as a diverse hub of potential when it comes to blockchain use-cases.
“I’m excited about the sudden burst of technological progress in that India as a country has brought out the infrastructure necessary to facilitate the adoption of blockchain technology, at par with the global standard” — Sahil Dewan, Harmony Protocol
A lot of important learnings were brought up in this panel discussion from an entrepreneurs perspective as they discussed common mistakes blockchain entrepreneurs make and what the way forward should look like while building these solutions
“Entrepreneurs tend to implement blockchain technology for the tech’s sake and lose sight of the use-case in question. Another important thing for startups to keep in mind is that blockchain is a global market and they must think globally to leverage the opportunities that transcend borders and geographies.” — Om Malvia, Tezos India Foundation
“The difference in the west is companies chasing after revolutionary use-cases and thats the difference i see in india, because we have startups focused on the ground reality and implement solutions for real world use-cases” — Sandeep Nailwal , Matic Network
“Chase the product market fit, and wake up thinking about what you can do as a founder to discover and step towards the product-market fit and everything else will follow” — Vivekdeep Gupta, R3
“What’s important for anyone in the blockchain sector, is the time-to-market, to move quickly and at the right time to satisfy the product’s need in the market” — Mathew Van Niekerk, SettleMint
Results
After a tough decision of shortlisting the best 8 out of the 16 startups that pitched, the judges were ready with their final pick and Smt. Rama Devi Lanka made the announcement of the list of startups that would comprise the T-block 2020 Cohort.
Meet the Fleet
Ally Software LLP
Ally Software is a SaaS-based content distribution platform that provides an alternative for ‘Theatrical-At-Home’.
Bagmo
They are building a blood bank monitoring system ensuring that the supply chain is secured
Infyu Labs
InfyU Labs is aiming at decreasing food wastage by providing a smart handheld device that determines the quality of fruits without cutting them, and ensures traceability in the chain.
marketsN by Koinearth
Koinearth’s marketsN is a blockchain technology-based platform that is creating the digital twin for supply chains.
New Street Technologies
New Street Tech is a startup that develops, hosts and operates blockchain-enabled ecosystems in the Financial Services Industry
Param Network
Param Network is a startup that is building a blockchain-based multi-enterprise workflow automation platform to share documents electronically with all the necessary ‘proof of delivery’ to automate the entire invoice verification flow.
Guhaar by Retcons Technology
Retcons Technology is building Guhaar — a product that aspires to bridge between the top management and the last mile delivery person of the company.
TraceX Technologies
TraceX is building FOODPRINT — a digital agriculture platform which enables the Agri value chain to exchange information with mutual trust via a permissioned blockchain digital ledger enabling each one to prove transparency, traceability and provenance of the claims.
For the Final 8 Startups, this is only a milestone in a long journey of Acceleration ahead with T-block and we wish them nothing but success.
Join us in congratulating these innovative startups on making it to the final fleet of the T-block Accelerator.
