Surge – Intro
Surge – PhotoWalk
The biggest tech conference of India, SURGE 2016 was a two day event held at “Manpho
Convention Centre” in Bengaluru on February 23rd and 24th
2016. It was a massive platform for startups to showcase their mettle and
convince the investors.
Over 5,000 people from 72 countries were present to attend the conference.
Over 5,000 people from 72 countries were present to attend the conference.
Surge – Stats & Figures
1. 433
Startups from across the world.
2. 288
pre-arranged meetings were held between Surge Mentors and startups.
3. 480
meetings between Surge Startups and investors.
4. 130
speakers gave talks on Surge stage.
5. 290
international media was present such as BBC, Wall Street Journal, CNBC and
Financial times.
Surge – Impact
Although it was the first event of Web
Summit in India it had lot of positive aspects associated to it.
Surge was able to create a sharp focus on the startup ecosystem in the country and what it can do to make life easier.
Surge was able to create a sharp focus on the startup ecosystem in the country and what it can do to make life easier.
One thing that was clear from the
event was not just the boom in startups but also the quality of the output and
products. The innovative thinking is very much there but what is required is to
direct the thinking to get into action and deliver. This was the context of
most of the discussions and it was a pleasure to watch them live.
Such discussions & talks are
important as it moves the ideas into a reality and the adjustments from idea to
deployment will highlight the challenges and innovations that will be needed to
get it in place.
Investors are looking at new startups
to help build their wealth and bring with them the expertise to scale up. SURGE
was precisely looking at disruptive technologies that will speed up innovation
and impact human life in a positive manner and more so looking at the disruption
to impact low income regions that can then translate to impact in high income
regions and developed countries.
The real question that needs to be
asked is if the event will become a startup mainstay in India and the answer to
that is still not clear.
One thing that became very clear
with most interactions is that there is a need to move ideas to production
quickly and they have to impact human condition. Though it is a large challenge
but not impossible. Most ideas are not able to move cost effectively to
production and that is precisely a reason funding is drying up.
Surge – Issues
Undoubtedly, for a first time event
it had its fair share of issues:
1. The
location chosen had no mobile signal coverage.
2. The
Wi-Fi in the convention center failed.
These were just the 2 of the smaller
issues I would say.
One of the major issues was the
media interaction with the speakers. It could have been managed better with a
common platform being created as we could have collectively got all our
questions answered.
Surge – Spotlight
Ather Energy was one of the startup
which was able to gain some limelight by unveiling India’s first smart electric
scooter on day one.
Arctron Mobility, the winner of the Pitch
(A startup Competition held at Surge) was also one of the few startups which
got investors attention.
Surge – Learning
Gone are days when we had funds
coming in freely to support ideas. It is now the survival of the fittest and
that is where it we will see real value being translated.
Surge – PhotoWalk
Pics Credit - Here
