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Silicon Valley angel investors at Shark Tank, a pitching event for early-stage start-ups at San Francisco, have invested in an Indian firm WAGmob, which provides learning solutions for sales professionals. WAGmob was among the 39 start-ups selected by tech industry body Nasscom to attend the show in the US.
Shark Tank is an event where entrepreneurs pitch their company, ideas or inventions to a group of investors, who then negotiate the terms of their deals on the spot.
The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) handpicked 39 start-ups for this year’s edition, showcasing diverse domains such as ad-tech, mobility, big data analytics and SaaS.
“As part of Nasscom's 10k start-ups, Innotrek brings a select group of Indian technology entrepreneurs and founders to Silicon Valley for a week-long programme,” said BVR Mohan Reddy, Nasscom Chairman. “This year, in its second edition, we got 100 applications. We shortlisted 39, took them to Silicon Valley and bagged funding for one start-up on the spot," he told Business Line .
WAGmob that powers mobile-first software and services for learning and training, squared off against other start-ups and won $25,000 (₹16 lakh). Founded by Kalpit Jain and Kavita Jain, ex-Microsoft employees who started to dabble in the world of mobile, the duo initiated WAGmob by building customer apps in the field of education. On its website, the firm says it has served more than 4 million customers.
WAGmob CEO Kalpit Jain termed it a nice feeling, in a message on social media, especially since he was not planning to pitch. Jain has raised $325K for WAGmob (total raised $955K). The learning acceleration platform company has three offices in India, in Bengaluru and Indore, and one in the US in Seattle.
"Innotrek promotes entrepreneurship, and provides a learning and networking platform for the participants. The idea is that these startups can meet with and learn from successful entrepreneurs. We also ensure that they get to visit top tech companies and landmark locations like Google, Facebook and LinkedIn headquarters," he said.
P“We aim to present a platform for tech start-ups to meet and grab the attention of global investors, and attend a slew of mentoring sessions. The aim is to evangelise and mentor India’s burgeoning start-up ecosystem,” added Reddy.
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