Eureka! is the one of the most popular International Business Model competition held by The Entrepreneurship Cell of IIT Bombay. Eureka’s inception dates back 19 years ago, and in all of these years of exponential growth of the popularity of Eureka, the competition has grown from 50 teams competing for INR 50,000, to a competition which now sees over 10,000 entries competing for prizes worth INR 5 million at stake, with excellent networking opportunities in India.
Eureka! has changed the outlook for the startups significantly. It now provides a startup the opportunity to incubate and come up with flying colours. Needless to say, the winners of Eureka every year have all gone on to be successful startups, to name a few are: Einfinitus Technologies (Winners 2001)- A research-oriented routing tech venture founded by an IIT Bombay alumnus. It received an initial funding of INR 1.5 crores and was later sold off to CISCO systems for INR 250 crores.
As for Eureka 2018, there are going to be prizes worth INR 5 million up for grabs along with excellent networking opportunities in India. Eureka prides itself on providing a 360 degree, holistic experience in the 5 month period that it spans. The competition has 4 phases, namely:
Illuminate (Pre-Eureka workshops): A 6 hour intensive workshop aimed at imparting knowledge about entrepreneurship among students and young professionals via brainstorming, Business Model Canvas, and hands-on experience.
Registrations: The registration portal was opened on 25th August and will take entries till 30th of September. Eureka! 2017 received 10320 entries which includes 200 IIT Bombay participants.
Online & Offline Mentors meet: A mentor specific to their field is allotted to all the 80 semi-finalists to help them formalize the final B-model. A lean startup workshop is conducted during the offline mentors meet which helps the participants to prepare their B-Model and an MVP. This is a platform where the participants get to interact with top venture capitalists and angel investors.
Pitching: Pitching workshops are conducted to help the participants during their pitching process. Finally comes ‘the day of reckoning’ during the E-Summit where the teams are required to pitch their B-plans in front of the judges and judges then decide the winners.
If you feel that your Idea is the best and funding is all that’s needed to turn your idea into reality. Then why don’t you let the same Idea win money for you. And so, register with E-Cell IIT Bombay as soon as possible to get going. And who knows, you might be the next best thing in the market. Register your idea at www.ecell.in/eureka
