Power PitchFest, a TiECON Chennai initiative, provided 48 start-up entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch for funding from potential investors.

The event brought together entrepreneurs and investors for interactions, said Lakshmi Narayanan, President, TiE Chennai, and Vice- Chairman, Cognizant Technology Solutions.

The event was targeted at highlighting the development of an early stage entrepreneurial eco-system in Tamil Nadu. It was meant to increase the exposure of venture investors across the country to opportunities available to them in South. The event provided entrepreneurs mentoring and guidance on how best to represent themselves while raising funds.

PitchFest 2012 received applications from over 200 entrepreneurs across sectors such as agriculture, e-commerce, education, energy, food, healthcare, infrastructure, information technology, retail and transportation. After an initial screening, the list was pruned to 48 companies.

The final participants received personalised assistance from individual mentors to tweak their fund-raising pitch, said Rajan Srikanth, Chairman and Managing Director, SmartKapital, and Chairman, PitchFest 2012. The appetite for money from start-ups ranged between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 10 crore, he told newspersons.

As a final step, the PitchFest participants were matched with two-three investors attending PitchFest. A total of 28 investors, including ten venture capital firms, participated in the event, he said.

According to V.T. Bharadwaj, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital, sponsor of PitchFest, there were a number of start-up companies whose founders had six-seven years work experience and now wanted to start their own ventures.

raja.simhan@thehindu.co.in

Published on December 3, 2012