IIT B Hosts MIT AITI Incubator

MIT’s globally renowned incubator, AITI, in conjunction with IIT Bombay and SJMSOM is proud to announce the culminating event of a six week course focusing on entrepreneurship and mobile phone application development. Forty selected IIT Students explored novel ideas, started businesses, built teams, found customers, and managed cashflows for their mobile-based ventures with guidance from their MIT-
affiliated instructors and will be presenting their work to the public in a ‘Startup Showcase’

The culminating Startup Showcase is August 9th on the IIT campus from 6 to 9pm. Student teams will be engaging with the Mumbai entrepreneurship community for mentorship, feedback, and eventually, funding.

Judges representing Mumbai Angels, Freemont Partners, TiE Mumbai, and Google will be on hand to give feedback to each of the student teams presenting as well as determine who will receive an incubation opportunity and potential seed funding from Freemont Partners.

External speakers have come in from organizations such as GSMA, CoolAge, Mumbai Angels, Flurry India, InfoStretch, Loop Mobile, and there have also been several guest lectures by IIT faculty.

1. Sriram Emani, Speaker Series and Startup Showcase Lead

“Mobile users are expected to drive India’s internet growth, as is the case for most emerging markets, and MIT-AITI program enables undergraduate students to be at the forefront of this movement. As an MIT graduate student and an alumnus of IIT Bombay, I was keen on bringing the two institutes together through MIT AITI to boost technology entrepreneurship in India. We are delighted to have the support of leading entrepreneurship and investor groups in Mumbai, like TiE Mumbai, Mumbai Angels and Freemont Partners, in mentoring and seed-funding these early-stage ventures”

2. Vivek Mohan, Founder, Freemont Partners

"I have great respect for the intellectual capital generated by the MIT ecosystem. In addition, I have very fond memories of MIT. During my MBA at Harvard, I had the opportunity to take a joint MIT and Harvard Business School class. Had awesome learnings! It is exciting to be engaged with this new MIT- AITI initiative to develop the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India and other emerging markets. Freemont Partners looks to help the students at IIT-Bombay who have participated in the MIT-AITI India Summer 2012  program develop their ideas into successful businesses."

3. Anil Joshi, President, Mumbai Angels

“AITI program is an interesting initiative by MIT where budding entrepreneurs are allowed to shape up their dream with help from various industry experts along with support from MIT. The experience has been phenomenal and we are sure that it will certainly help start-up ecosystem in great way. We are glad to be part of it and look forward to great show ahead.”

4. Ian Jacobi, Technical Instructor, MIT AITI India Program

“The students have really done a great job with their projects. Some of these students who, before this class, knew practically nothing about developing for mobile devices, have actually gotten to the point where they have developed some nice mockups. The teams know what they want and they're going out there to move above and beyond the basics I've covered to make sure their apps do exactly what they want them to do. I'm looking forward to seeing what they have to demonstrate at the showcase.”

5. Divya Bajekal, Assistant Technical Instructor

"I've been impressed with the students' enthusiasm and excitement throughout, starting from the first day when they brainstormed ideas for mobile apps. The students have worked hard to master Android, Django, and other technical skills necessary for bringing their ideas to reality. I can't wait to see the teams show off their apps at the Start-up Showcase and explain how they are turning their ideas into successful
businesses"

About Freemont Partners: Freemont Partners is India’s first Global Incubator and Accelerator, which provides seed funding to entrepreneurs focused on technology driven start-ups. Freemont Partners provides mentorship, strategic direction and access to local and global CXO mentors and partners. For more
information, visit www.freemontpartners.com

Started in 2000, AITI brings together a multidisciplinary group from MIT to teach development skills in countries where students can create businesses to fill the needs of the local communities. Since its initiation, the program has expanded to top universities in eleven countries with more than 1800 students participating.
MIT AITI develops curriculum materials, software technologies, platforms, and networks that enable undergraduate students in emerging regions to innovate in the fields of information and communication technologies, mostly focusing on mobile applications. Several exciting companies and organizations have become involved with AITI as sponsors including: Google. TiE Mumbai, Mumbai Angels,
Freemont Partners.

Read more about this at:

The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/education/article3742446.ece
Cool Age
http://www.coolage.in/2012/08/07/iitb-hosts-mit-aiti-incubator/
Cool Avenues
http://www.coolavenues.com/b-schools/news/iit-bombay-sjmsom-hosts-mit-aiti-incubator
100Marks
http://www.100marks.in/News/mit-launched-aiti-incubator-for-first-time-in-india-at-iit-bombay/ 
Minglebox
http://www.minglebox.com/article/news/iitb-and-sjmsom-to-display-mit-aiti-incubator 
Our Blog
http://blog.sjmsom.in/2012/07/mit-aiti-program-in-sjmsom-iit-bombay.html