Airtel launches 'Startup Innovation Challenge' in partnership with Invest India

Telecom company Bharti Airtel announced the launch of 'Airtel India Startup Innovation Challenge' in partnership with Invest India.

Under the Startup Innovation Challenge, early-stage technology companies are being invited to demonstrate differentiated solutions in areas such as 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Communications, Digital Advertising and Digital Entertainment, Airtel said in a statement.

The top 10 winners will win cash prizes, get access to Airtel's Innovation Lab and will be able to leverage its advanced technology infrastructure to scale up their use cases, even co-innovate with Airtel's engineering teams.

A select few of the 10 startups shall be offered to be on-boarded onto the Airtel Startup Accelerator Program and hyper-scale their company with Airtel.

Announcing Airtel's launch of Startup Innovation Challenge in partnership with Invest India, the statement said applications will close on January 24, 2022 and the results will be announced on February 14, 2022.

Under the program, startups gain access to Airtel's core platform strengths of data, distribution, network and payments. In addition, the startups get access to Airtel's global partner ecosystem and advisory from Airtel's executive team.

Set up in 2009, Invest India is a non-profit venture under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Invest India, as the national investment promotion and facilitation agency, focuses on sector-specific investor targeting and development of new partnerships to enable sustainable investments in India.