TiE Hyderabad hosted its 7th edition of the TIE GRAD BUSINESS IDEA TOURNAMENT in the city on Wednesday at Club Botanica in Kondapur, Hyderabad.
Ten teams short-listed competed in the finals. These ten teams were shortlisted from 80 teams who registered for the competition. All ten teams pitched their ideas in ten minutes each to a group of Jury members, who are experts from the industry.
Heamac Healthcare from IIIT Hyderabad emerged winner, and FeetWings from the Netaji Subhash University of Technology, New Delhi emerged as runner-up. Bluewingler from Vishnu Institute of Technology, Bimavaram walked away with an elevator pitch award.
The winner shall represent TiE Hyderabad and the state of Telangana in the Global Finals expected to be held in May-June in silicon valley.
Prof. Katta Narasimha Reddy, Vice Chancellor of JNTU, Hyderabad; Prof. Dandeboina Ravinder, Vice Chancellor of Osmania University, who were chief guests gave away prizes. The winning, runner-up teams walked away with Rs 75,000/- and 50,000/- prize money respectively for each team. The team that won Elevator Pitch bagged Rs 25,000/- prize money.
The Winning team Heamac Healthcare is an Intelligent Phototherapy System for Neonatal Jaundice co-founded by Akitha Kolloju as CTO and Prasad Muddam, Founder. Akitha received the prize from the guests. Akitha claimed it is the world’s first intelligent Jaundice Treatment. It is a photo-therapy system.
The runner-up pitch of FeetWings was about a Smart IoT-based early warning and management tool. Smart socks help in the early warning and management of diabetic complications using non-invasive, affordable and continuous monitoring. Hrithik one of the founders of the start-up received the prize money
Sai of Bluewinger made an elevator pitch on behalf of his team. He received prize money of Rs 25,000/- from the chief guests. BlueWingler is an autonomous water management system.
The top 10 finalists include those who competed in finals were: Heamac Healthcare (IIIT Hyderabad), Noishh. (G. Narayanamma Institute of Technology and Science), Bluewingler(Vishnu Institute of Technology), BECOBA ENERGY SYSTEMS (CVR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING), Apatbandhava (Sreenidhi Institute of Technology and Science), FeetWings (Netaji Subhash University of Technology), HOOKEN SEVEN (CMR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY), BirthTech (B V Raju institute of technology), Edodwaja (MALLA REDDY UNIVERSITY ), TARQ (ICFAI)
Other noteworthy ideas were BirthTech and Hookeseven. Hookeseven presented the idea of anti suicidal fan hook. No one can save people from suicide. But, a fan hook can save said K. Harshit Srinivas, founder of Hookeseven. If a person tries to attempt suicide by hanging a fan, ‘HOOKESEVEN’ can thwart that attempt. The device is used. so that we can save many people from that situation, he said. When a ceiling fan is fitted with the device, the spring in the hook comes out and saves lives, he explained.
The other interesting idea was BirthTech. Though pregnancy is not a disease, still every given day, 107 mothers die due to preventable causes during childbirth, said Veena Venu, Founder and CEO. It came out with BirthMithra, the first of its kind of foldable, portable, delivery table.
Addressing the gathering immediately after the pitch competition, Prof. Katta Narasimha Reddy said transforming ideas into businesses is a very important thing. Universities are trying hard to incubate the ideas of their students. But, you know they are not as professional as TiE in this area of specialisation. He urged TiE to collaborate with universities.
Prof. Dandeboina Ravinder said that Osmania University already has MoU with TiE. Osmania University has a Technology Incubator with 300 capacity. Universities disseminate knowledge but not practical knowledge as TiE does in this area of specialisation. He urged TiE to help Osmania University students to pursue their entrepreneurial aspirations.
Rashida Adenwala, President of TiE said the TiE Grad is an extension of the TiE University Challenge which is run in 10+ countries and 40+ locations across the world. TiE Hyderabad partnered with 20+ Engineering & Management institutions and introduced Entrepreneurship to over 10000+ students she informed.
This year we received some excellent ideas and business plans, " Bhanu Varla, Chairman of TiE Grad said in a message as he couldn’t be present due to an unavoidable emergency.
Many TiE Hyderabad Members and others witnessed the presentations.