EVC in Partnership With (DoT) -TCOE India Unveils the Prolific I-MADE Project

Gurgaon, February 5^th, 2015: Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital (EVC) today, announced the launch of a Mobile App Development Ecosystem (I-MADE) program, in- association with Telecom Centres of Excellence (TCOE) India & Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India.

Innovation in Mobile App Development Ecosystem (I-MADE) framework is a 5-year program in which one hundred (100) institutes will be selected to be a part in Phase I of the program. Phase II will include up to 3000 institutions. The goal of the program is to help Indian entrepreneurs build 1 million mobile app start-ups which can eventually become Indian unicorns.

The program includes following major components:

Start-up Hubs: Setting up of start-up hubs in major cities across the country

Entrepreneurship Development: Mentoring entrepreneurs in areas including writing an app, making business presentations to investors and developing viable business models.

Appathons: Appathons to be organized across country leading to mega AppFest annually and opportunity to visit Google & Microsoft HQs.

Industry Connect: Interaction of entrepreneurs with industry professionals to enable real time industry exposure and better problem solving capabilities.

Investor Connect: Opportunity for entrepreneurs to interact with investors to accelerate development of Indian start-up ecosystem through direct mentorship and raising of capital.

“We are honored to have the opportunity to fund the I-MADE initiative” said Mrs. Anjli Jain, Managing Partner – EVC. “India has 315 million students – the largest in the world.  The goal of I-MADE is to give students in India the tools, training and mentorship to launch 1 million apps and as many start-ups. With our support and the vision and leadership of the Department of Telecommunications, this project has the potential to drive unprecedented and transformative economic change within India and position India as The Global Leader in technological innovation and entrepreneurship”

“The I-MADE program will provide world-class mobile app infrastructure to Indian institutions to match their counterparts in countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia” said Ms. Kathleen Winnings, Partner – EVC. “This program will level the playing field and will enable Indian student entrepreneurs to produce world-class globally competitive start-ups.”

“TCOE India strongly supports creation and nurturing of ecosystem for cutting edge & world class Apps development out of India.“said Mr RK Pathak, Director-TCOE India.

About EVC:

Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital (EVC) helps entrepreneurs turn ideas into unicorns. EVC is a $50 million fund focused exclusively on early stage enterprise software, Internet and mobile companies that target the education market or companies created from intellectual property technology transfer from colleges and universities. For select start-ups in EVC’s portfolio, EVC also operates EVC Accelerators in the United States and India.

EVC provides the following resources to enable its portfolio companies to achieve their goals:

•         Mentorship by two Partners with extensive relevant technology and business experience
•         Extensive ecosystem of Partners to help increase revenue
•         Extensive ecosystem of vendors that help companies manage back-office operations.
•         Capital to finance the growth of the business in areas such as product development, sales and marketing

For more information, please visit: EVC

About TCOE:

Telecom Centres of Excellence, set up in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, are created for promoting development of new technologies, to generate IPRs, incubate innovations and promote entrepreneurship to position India as a global leader in telecom innovation and making India a hub of telecom equipment manufacturing.

For more information, please visit: TCOE INDIA

About DoT:

Department of Telecommunications (DoT), under Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, manages matters related to communication mediums like telegraphs, telephones, wireless, data, facsimile and telematics services. Information is provided on DOT units, public grievances, acts, legislations, regulations, plans, telecom policy, network status, financial data, internet services, etc. Details of access services, satellite communication, infrastructure provider and telemarketing are also available.