About Reliance Gennext hub, startups promoted by it, gennext hub roadshows, benefits of startups

3. Shri Mukesh D Ambani
Chairman, Reliance Industries
Limited

4. Dr. Raghunath Anant Mashelkar
Chairman, GenNext Ventures
Board Member, RIL

5.  With one of the fastest-growing economies in the
world, India has witnessed a huge influx of new entrants
in its flourishing startup ecosystem.
 But with so many contenders, the real challenge for
these newcomers is to get noticed in the crowd. This is
why Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has been actively
giving a hand to startups, and helping them build a
strong foundation to scale up via its GenNext Hub
platform.

6. Backed by RIL, the GenNext Hub programme is an
initiative to catalyse the startup community in India.
The four-month-long immersive programme aims to
provide startups with access to funding opportunities,
business mentors, and technical experts, among other
resources.
In addition to the mentoring programme, GenNext Hub
has launched the “Scalerator” programme that is aimed
at providing an opportunity to high-growth startups
looking at RIL as a potential client through facilitated
discussions between startup founders and RIL leaders.

7.  In the 100-acre reliance corporate park, the nerve
centre of the Rs 3,39,000 crore enterprise, a non-
descript, two-storey structure called the MAB, or the
Main Administrative Building, is home to a batch of
20 entrepreneurs testing products and honing
business plans. The accelerator for the startups is
under the auspices of GenNext hub.

11. GenNext Hub’s main focus is to nurture technology
startups in the areas of Retail, Telecom, Mobile Apps,
Fintech, Messaging, Healthcare, Cloud Services, SME
Solutions, Media, Industrial IoT or Consumer IoT, with a
specific focus on Machine Learning, Deep Learning,
Analytics, SaaS, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality,
among others.

12. As part of this initiative, the third GenNext Hub
Roadshow was held in Bangalore on April 26, 2017. It was
a full house at the event, which saw select startups pitch
their business ideas to eminent investors and RIL leaders.

13. The event had three tracks that were allotted to startups at
different stages.
One track saw 15 of 51 GenNext Hub alumni startups pitch to
angel investors and venture capitalists. These startups
included Mobiotics, Dattus, Megdap, Doctors’ Circle, VDeliver,
Pickcel, Codemojo, Curefy, Benow, BuyHatke, DSYH, Enguru,
1Mobility, Sqrrl and Health Vectors.
The second track had high-growth startups pitch their
offering to the RIL business leaders, which included senior
executives from Reliance Jio, Reliance Retail, RIL Enterprise IT
and Digital Transformation. These startups are driving
innovation in the areas of AI, drones, logistics,
nanotechnology, fintech, among others.

15. The third track had early-stage
startups pitching to the GenNext
Hub team. The 2017 Summer
Programme Applications were
open till May 7, 2017.
In all, 24 startups from seed stage
to post-Series A stage pitched to
11 panelists across different tracks.
GenNext Hub plans to hold more
roadshows going forward to
identify high-potential startups
that it can help scale-up.

16.  What makes the GenNext Hub unique is that it is a “Scalerator”,
and not just an accelerator. The four-month-long programme
helps startups evolve from a ‘minimum viable product’ to a
‘minimum viable company’, by achieving product-market fit,
scaling up revenues, and increasing customer and user traction.
 GenNext Hub provides participants with an elevated playing
field that includes access to funding and mentoring. Investors,
industry experts, and RIL business leaders with diverse
experiences will help you scale up your business.

17. This is GenNext’s third year, in which it has received
almost 1,000 applications from entrepreneurs keen to
board the accelerator. The proposals have come even
from non-metros like Kochi and Jaipur, other than the big
cities.
This year’s statement of purpose by the chairman of
India’s largest private-sector firm by revenues on
partnering entrepreneurs follows up on his September
2016 address. Ambani had then declared that RIL will
have a Rs 5,000 crore corpus to invest in startups. The
plan to play mentor and accelerator may also include
setting up camps at Palo Alto, the world’s startup capital,
and in Tel Aviv in Israel, a hotbed for innovation.

18.  For entrepreneurs, feeding off the Jio ecosystem makes immense
sense. With 100 million customers, RIL’s telecom megaproject
makes for an ideal testing ground and marketplace. They (RIL) are
pushing the barriers on the size of the device, reach, footprint,
bandwidth. All of these can be catalysts for startup growth. RIL is a
large industrial group and any opportunity to engage with them
through an organised programme is a great opportunity.
Otherwise, you can get lost in the mail.
 This is the place to be in. If any of the startups grows into a
unicorn, it will give RIL much satisfaction, and be a feather in their
cap. RIL, which straddles sectors, recognises the need to keep
innovating. All large companies have realised that no one
company can do it on its own. And that’s because of the pace of
innovation. By the time they do it on their own, it may be too late.