Aerodyme Technologies Wins TiE University Global Pitch Competition 2020
New Delhi: TiE Global hosted the 2nd edition of the TiE University Pitch Competition over the weekend. Cash prizes of close to $14,000 and almost $35,000 worth of in-kind prizes were given out to the 13 participants. TiE Atlanta’s Aerodyme Technologies from Georgia Institute of Technology came in first, winning $5000. TiE Silicon Valley’s team Ambii from San Jose State University bagged the second prize, winning $3000; while TiE Toronto’s LSK Technologies, a MedTech startup from the University of Toronto emerged as the third winner, winning $2000.
The winning team, Aerodyme Technologies has created a novel device that saves fuel costs for tractor-trailers by minimizing aerodynamic drag. Ambii, which came in second, provides an in-store music streaming platform for retail outlets, cafes and restaurants without the hassles of licensing. Third prize winner, LSK Technologies, created a diagnostic device for testing infectious diseases such as Covid19 at the point of need.
Congratulating the winning team, Mahavir Pratap Sharma, Chairman of the TiE Global Board of Trustees said, “We are proud of these young talented entrepreneurs. Their growth story from pitches at their local TiE Chapters till the Global Finals has seen a massive expansion and iteration of thought and structure. This is a complete team effort put forward by the program co-chairs and charter member mentors who helped them grow their idea, giving them thorough guidance and mentoring the students over the last few months to compete on a global stage.”
The second edition of the TiE University jointly organized by TiE Atlanta & TiE Hyderabad had 13 teams representing TiE chapters from India, Israel, UAE, Israel, USA, and Canada. These teams were previously the chapter winners and were then mentored to participate in the Global finals. After the Semi-final round on Saturday, seven teams were selected for the finals. Teams had a 10-minute pitch to an eminent Jury panel and a 5-minute live Q&A.
Speaking at the Presentation Ceremony the TiE University program co-chairs Dr. Paul Lopez, SubbaRaju Pericherla and Viiveck Verma, said they are looking to expand the program participation to 40 chapters and 400+ universities worldwide by 2022.
The worldwide jury panel for the finals, consisting of VCs and investors, included Bodhi Capital’s Dharti Desai, Silicon Valley Bank’s Priya Rajan, Elevate Capital’s Kumar Sripadam, and Inflexor Ventures’ Venkat Vallabhaneni. Semi-finals judges from across the globe included Craig Abbott, Rakesh Bhatia, Radhika Iyengar, Rama Devi Kanneganti, Doc Parghi, and Sonia Weymuller.
Apart from the top three winners, prizes were announced in various other categories. Silicon Valley’s Ambii and New Jersey’s Volant from New Jersey Institute of Technology jointly received a $1,500 Best Elevator Pitch award. Similarly, Teams Clean Electric from IIT/BHU, Varanasi representing TiE Mumbai, and Aruga Technologies from Carnegie Mellon University representing TiE Pittsburgh jointly received $1,500 Best Technology prize. Frinks, from IIT Hyderabad, representing TiE Hyderabad took the $500 People’s Choice Award. Apart from this, all participating teams walked away with technology and service prizes worth $2500 per team.
The competition also hosted a keynote address by serial entrepreneur Thejo Kote. Thejo sold his connectivity startup, Automatic for $115 million to SiriusXm. He inspired the university startup teams and online audience alike by saying, “The biggest lesson I’ve learned along the way is to make sure you enjoy the journey (of building a startup) and it’s something that you learn from and grow from. Else it will be a lot more challenging.”