Three start-ups in Silicon Valley

KOLLAM: Three student start-up teams from the TKM College of Engineering here have been selected  to present their  ideas before corporate giants, including Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, in the Silicon Valley, US.  The teams were selected at an idea pitching competition for best start-ups for all engineering colleges in India conducted by the Start-up village, Kochi. The results were announced this month. As many as 2,326 teams participated in the programme, including aro-und 300 teams from Kerala.

The teams ‘Reffera’ under the leadership of Vinayak Nair (third year production engineering), ‘Tia’ by Ansim Anzari and ‘Sentyment’ by D. Adarsh (second-year computer science) included a total of 15 students from the college. These teams had undergone an initial incubation programme for six months at the Startup village, Kochi. The objective of the  platform at the Facebook headquarters in Silicon Valley is to have face-to- face interaction with developers of international firms.

The winners will leave for the US soon. “A total of 11 start-ups have already been incubated in the college and assistance will be provided for future student start-ups. A start-up kit worth '1.5 lakh was awarded to each of these teams by Kerala Startup Mission during the initial incubation stages itself,” said Prof. Rahulnath, nodal officer of the Innovation and Entrepreneur Cell of the college.