Nagpur: Vidarbha Economic Development (VED) Council, in collaboration with start-up mentoring firm Lemon Ideas, Nagpur University (NU) and Vidarbha Infotech will be organising Viksit Bharat Nagpur Start-Up Conclave from April 10 and 11.The event is expected to bring together over 40 start-ups from across the country. At a pre-event media briefing, VED president Rina Sinha said the event would be an effort to bring Nagpur on the global startup map.Vice-chancellor Manali Kshirsagar, who was also present on the occasion, said the university is open to all for supporting start-ups. They need not be its students. Even minors as young as 8 years old and senior citizens planning to start a second innings can bring a start-up and get a place in NU’s incubation centre.“It is for the first time that the university would be investing in the start-ups under incubation at its centre. This is expected to help in attracting bigger investors,” said Kshirsagar.At present, there are 30 start-ups in the NU incubation centre, four of which have reached the revenue stage. “One of the company has touched Rs20 crore and is a tech-based venture apart from other two. The cumulative revenue of the start-ups under incubation comes to over Rs40 crore,” said director of the university’s incubation centre, Incubein Foundation, Abhay Deshpande.The Innopreneurs Global Start-Up Contests will also judge the best ideas. “This would be the 12th edition of Innoprenuers contest,” said Deepak Menaria of Lemon Ideas. The participants include even school-going children.
