ISF Startup Fest To Focus On Early Stage Ventures

The purpose and objective of International Startup Foundation is to create a robust ecosystem for nurturing the early stage startups and to see that they are properly mentored and hand-held so that they will be successful, create jobs and generate wealth - JA Chowdary, Chairperson and Convenor, ISF, tells Bizz Buzz 

Hyderabad: For the first time, International Startup Festival (ISF), in its third year now, is going to take place in Hyderabad during September 26-28, 2024, with a theme ‘Innovation and entrepreneurship in the age of AI.’

“The purpose and objective of International Startup Foundation is to create a robust ecosystem for nurturing the early stage startups and to see that they are properly mentored and hand-held so that they will be successful, create jobs and generate wealth,” JA Chowdary, Chairperson and Convenor, ISF, told Bizz Buzz.

Organised by not-for-profit organisation, International Startup Foundation and startup incubator International Startups Network Pvt Ltd, the event will witness participation of 5,000 startups, 800 global angel investors, 300 venture capitalists (VCs), 250 CXOs, and pavilions from 15 countries, at the Engineering Staff College of India, here.

“We have more than 500 startup mentors, who can guide the early stage startups. The International Startup Festival in Hyderabad will bring together startups, angel investors, venture capitalists, inspiring business leaders and others for promoting startup ecosystem globally,” he added.

Dr Siva Mahesh Tangutooru, Director, ISF Network, added that top-100 startups, the shortlisted finalists of the Investor Connect Workshops held in Pune, Bengaluru, Andhra Pradesh, USA, Europe and Hyderabad, will be pitching their ideas onstage for securing funding. In addition, roundtables will be held by thought leaders and policy makers covering topics such as women in business, rural innovations besides discussing on health-tech, fintech, agri-tech, defence and space tech, edtech, consumer tech, VLSI, embedded tech, and others.

Day-one of the event will commence with a pitch fest, followed by inauguration of startup expo, first keynote address by Dr KV Subramanian, the Executive Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF)-India, roundtables and plenary session. The day-two of ISF 2024 will begin with fintech and cybersecurity roundtable, investor connect - aviation, spacetech and consumertech. Later in the day, a fireside chat on ‘Startup to Scaleup, a relentless pursuit,’ is being held, followed by a plenary session and award ceremony. On the third day of the event, Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman, AIG Hospitals will commence the programme by delivering an ISFTalk. The other speakers of ISF Talk include Amit Gupta, Founder, Ecosystem Group; S Siva Kumar, Group Head (Agri and IT Businesses), ITC; Jon Levingston, Executive Director, Crossroads Economic Partnership; Amit Jain, Founder, CarDekho; Aubyn Hill, Jamaica Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce; Dayakar Puskoor, Founder, Dallas Venture Capital, and others.