Vedanta Selects 23 Start-Ups As Winners For First Edition Of Its “Vedanta Spark” Global Corporate Accelerator Program

Vedanta Group, India’s leading producer of metals, minerals and oil & gas today announced 23 start-ups as winners of the first edition of their unique ‘Vedanta SPARK’ initiative. Vedanta SPARK was launched on 30 Oct’20 (www.vedantaspark.com) with the objective to build technology capabilities for achieving business transformation and strategic growth by partnering with early-stage, growth stage and venture stage Digital Tech start-ups. The initiative organised as an innovation grand challenge and corporate accelerator program attracted over 1,350 registrations from across 19 countries with more than 250 overseas startups.     

The winning 23 start-ups having      been      selected after a highly rigorous process of evaluation involving business executives and industry experts and under strong competition      hold the potential to deliver a  business impact of around $45-50 million in this current financial year.  As part of Vedanta      Spark the winners will be      offered      various opportunities including partnerships and collaborations, funding and investments, capacity and resources etc. to pave the way for outcomes in operational excellence, revenue growth from new products and markets, and new digital ventures.      These chosen start-ups will get pilot opportunities within Vedanta Group to implement and demonstrate business impact, opening up revenues to win commercial orders for a potential global roll out.

Commenting on it, Mr Sunil Duggal, Group CEO, Vedanta said: “We have selected      these 23 start-up partners after a rigorous selection process. I am very excited and very happy to be working with you. At Vedanta, we will make it our duty to embrace these start-up partners as we strongly believe Vedanta can derive      huge enterprise value. Vedanta will make this a periodic program going forward and consider expanding this partnership with global educational and research organizations as well.”

Mr Akarsh Hebbar, Executive Sponsor remarked: “Even in the 1990s Vedanta believed in making age-old industries like mining and metallurgy digital. Vedanta is always on the hunt to find the next big thing. Vedanta Spark is a further refreshing boost to Vedanta's cultural DNA and as we speak we are already thinking about the next cohort of start-ups to work with. What we offer to start-ups is our scale. We are always open to the idea of start-ups using us as their playground for testing their cutting edge technology. This is just the beginning and we welcome all these 23 start-ups to the Vedanta family!”

The almost two dozen start-ups were chosen following a thorough evaluation process by expert panels consisting of Vedanta’s professionals, domain experts and external mentors from reputed govt. ministries and industry     . The      23 winning      start-ups are Sparkcognition, Machinemax, Throughput, Promethean Energy,Dimension NXG, Infrrd, Zededa, MaximL, Tachyus, Neewee, SenseGiz, Guardhat, Prysmex, MicroSilicon, Detect Technologies, ExactSpace, Imaginate, Algo, Affine, Safe AI, Planys, Enmovil, and Edgistify.

Winning start-ups like Detect Technologies and SafeAI Inc were enthusiastic and appreciative of the programme and the opportunity to work with the Vedanta Group.

Daniel Raj David, CEO and Co-Founder, Detect Technologies said: “Vedanta Spark is a very structured and incredible platform for startups to work with large conglomerate for its digitization. For fostering innovation we need - awareness, execution of pilots and scale. The Vedanta Spark program provides all the 3 things on a single platter.”

Brenton Welford, VP Business Development, SafeAI Inc commented: “As an autonomous tech company with Vedanta we envision building systems that can bring people outside the line of fire. SafeAI is really excited to implement its first autonomous haulage system in India with Vedanta.”

The key national partners for Vedanta Spark are Forge (strategic partner incubator), Start     up India, AIM, Agnii (Invest India) and the key global partners are Core Hub, World Start     up. The company plans to make Investments of about INR 100 Cr towards the implementation of this programme.

The program roadmap has been formulated towards scaling up the engagement models with Innovative start-ups, whose partnership provide Vedanta with the potential to combine the speed, cost, scale and scope advantages of Start-ups in Innovation with the scale, reach, production, distribution, financial, and commercial capacity of Vedanta Limited.

About Vedanta Limited:

Vedanta Limited, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Limited, is one of the world’s leading Oil & Gas and Metals company with significant operations in Oil & Gas, Zinc, Lead, Silver, Copper, Iron Ore, Steel, and Aluminium & Power across India, South Africa, Namibia, and Australia. For two decades, Vedanta has been contributing significantly to nation building. Governance and sustainable development are at the core of Vedanta's strategy, with a strong focus on health, safety, and environment. Giving back is in the DNA of Vedanta, which is focused on enhancing the lives of local communities. Under the aegis of Vedanta Cares, the flagship social impact program, Nand Ghars have been set up as model anganwadis focused on eradicating child malnutrition, providing education, healthcare, and empowering women with skill development. Vedanta and its group companies have been featured in Dow Jones Sustainability Index 2020, and were conferred Frost & Sullivan Sustainability Awards 2020, CII Environmental Best Practices Award 2020, CSR Health Impact Award 2020, CII National Award 2020 for Excellence in Water Management, CII Digital Transformation Award 2020,  ICSI National Award 2020 for excellence in Corporate Governance, People First HR Excellence Award 2020,  ‘Company with Great Managers 2020’ by People Business  and certified as a Great Place to Work 2021. Vedanta’s flagship Nand Ghar Project was identified as best CSR project by the Government of Rajasthan.  Vedanta Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange in India and has ADRs listed on the New York Stock Exchange.