#BuildOnIndiaStack: Venture pitch competition launched for early-stage startups

Dalberg and iSPIRT in collaboration with Bharat Innovations Fund, Omidyar Network and Unitus Seed Fund have launched #BuildOnIndiaStack - a venture pitch competition for early-stage startups, building on top of the India Stack, a set of open APIs released by the Government of India.

The competition is open to all innovations that leverage the India Stack to unlock new business models and/or reach previously underserved, new customer segments across diverse sectors such as financial services, education, healthcare and others.

The other focus areas for the competition include digital lending and supporting activities, such as alternative credit scoring; sector specific digital services such as health insurance or education loans, skilling and certification, property registration agreements, patient-centric healthcare management; and SaaS platforms “as a service” that support the development of other India Stack based innovations such as Digi-locker or e-sign providers.

"This competition is a starting point to support disruptive innovation, especially for the non-affluent ‘Bharat’ consumer,” said Varad Pandey, Head of Financial Inclusion at Dalberg Advisors.

Selection criteria

The startups that will qualify will be in teams of 2-4 members, including the founder. They will also have to be early stage startups that have received only seed or limited angel funding. Furthermore, they need to meet the three point criteria of being tech-enabled, leveraging India Stack platform and serving the underserved.

Shortlisted ventures will pitch to some of the leading investors and thinkers in the Indian startup ecosystem who will also be providing mentoring through their specialists and experts. The ventures also stand to interact with select India Stack network of investors and operators, entrepreneurs and technologists, designers and engineers, academicians and policy makers, with the singular mission to solve some of India’s toughest problems.

Deadline to submit an online application is August 14, 2017.