GMIC Bangalore, India’s major mobile conference, has announced
the winners of their flagship startup competition, G-Startup. HyperVerge,
a Bay-area based startup, which uses deep learning to organize images emerged
as winners at the competition. A global platform, G-Startup is emerging as one
of the most prominent launch pads for innovative mobile startups to showcase
their product, reach out to international investors and collaborate with peers
and industry experts.
Launched for the first time in India, G-Startup saw competition
from 120+ startups from across the world.The previous editions of G-Startup
have been held in San Francisco and Beijing. Some of the previous winners and
runner-ups at the competition include companies likeFleksy Keyboard and Open Garden,
who’s product FireChat is a disruptive mobile communication platform that also
works without a data plan and where there is no Internet connection or cellular
phone coverage. Other big names that have participated in the G-Startup
competition include Chinese cab giant DidiDache that recently merged with
KuaidiDache to create one of the world's largest smartphone-based transport
services valued upwards of $8.5 billion
and Visual Lead, an Israeli QR Technology companywhich recently received
strategic investment from Alibaba.
Speaking about winning at G-Startup India, Kedar Kulkarni,
co-founder of HyperVerge said, “We are extremely excited to win the first ever
G-Startup competition in India. GMIC being one of the biggest conferences in
India has been a fantastic platform for us to showcase our product and gain
visibility in the right circles. In fact, after coming to GMIC, we have already
seen investment interest from atleast 3 groups from China. We now look forward
to going to GMIC Beijing 2016 and compete with the rest of the winners from
across the globe.”
The eminent jury for G-startup India consisted ofSasha
Mirchandani, Founder & Managing Director, Kae Capital, Amit Somani,
Managing Partner, Prime Ventures and Hiro Mashita, Founder & Director, M&S
Partners.
According to Amit of Prime Ventures and
Hiro of M&S Partners, “It was a pleasure to be a part of the jury of the
first edition of G-Startup. The quality of startups that displayed their
products and the depth of research they had done was impressive to say the
least. The G-Startup competition by GMIC provides an excellent opportunity for
startups from India and China to collaborate and learn from each other.
HyperVerge impressed us the most with the the deep technology expertise
demonstrated by them. What got us even more excitedwas the fact that such
differentiated mobile products are being created out of India”.
G-Startup’s platform has given several disruptive mobile
startups international exposure. As part of the win, HyperVerge will get a
round-trip airfare to Beijing for GMIC Beijing 2016, where they will be given a
demo booth to showcase their product. With Beijing being among one of world
mobile ecosystem’s key centers for innovation, GMIC organizers hope that
HyperVerge would also get to collaborate with their global counterparts.
Talking about G-Startup, Gurpreet Singh, President, Asia, GMIC
said "We are excited to bring our flagship startup competition to India
after China and the U.S. Since 2010, G-Startup has emerged as a leading global
platform to nurture and support startups. Startups that have gone through the
platform have achieved wide-ranging success, from achieving billion-dollar
valuations to being acquired by tech giants like Apple and Google. By bringing
this platform to India, we wish to help and bring the same level of support and
success to Indian startups."
GMIC brings together some
of the most advanced and disruptive companies in the Mobile Internet Space. It
hosts Mobile Executives, Entrepreneurs, Developers and Investors across global
platforms to build partnerships, learn from industry thought leaders and study
mobile technology trends. Some of the well-known names that were a part of GMIC
include Sachin Bansal (Co-founder Flipkart), Naveen Tiwari (CEO, Inmobi), Kunal
Shah (CEO, Freecharge) Fu Sheng (CEO Cheetah Mobile), Li Tao (CEO, APUS Group)
and Vijay Shekhar Sharma (CEO, Paytm), among others.