The Maharashtra State Innovation Society organizes the Maharashtra Startup Week in an effort to encourage, engage and enable the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Women on Wings’ business partner Tisser Rural Handicraft got selected one of 24 startups out of 1,600 applications.
One-of-a-kind opportunity
The Maharashtra Startup Week provides startups with a platform to showcase their innovative solutions to the Government of Maharashtra. For startups, this is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to engage directly with the Government and will open doors to scale their solutions further and mitigate development challenges. Startups from sectors such as education, skilling, healthcare, agriculture, clean energy, water & waste water management, financial inclusion and cyber security were invited to submit their applications to the Maharashtra State Innovation Society.
Venture with a social heart
The top 100 ventures from 1,600 applications were selected to present their solutions to a panel of judges comprising representatives from the Government, industry, academia and investors. Tisser Rural Handicraft (Tisser) made it to the first 100 and then got selected among the 24 startups for its social work, innovative products and team efforts. Tisser ensures a fair price to the rural artisans as well as quality products to the customers. Profits earned from sales will in part go back to ensure a better life for the rural communities and to support the girl child’s education of weavers and artisans.
Proof the concept
During the week-long event, 100 selected startups made their pitch to the panel, and the best 24 received work orders of upto INR 15 Lakhs, or close to 20,000 euros, from the Maharashtra State Innovation Society to pilot their solutions within the state and demonstrate the proof of concept. Subsequently, the startups receive handholding support in terms of access to the government machinery and mentoring from its institutional partners for a period of up to twelve months to deploy their solutions on ground.
