Lock, Stock, Trade, or LST as the annual start-up and trading event of SPJIMR is popularly known, took place on January 7, 2017 with a stellar start.
Over 15 disruptive startups, more than a dozen venture capitalists and angel investors, and distinguished faculty – all came together to witness the 2017 edition of this exciting and fast-paced mock IPO event.
LST is a part of the course learning at SPJIMR combined with all the excitement of a simulation. The event has business ventures “sold” in IPO fashion to the audience and the best can get picked for exciting funding opportunities.This is the first time that LST was hosted after SPJIMR launched a Start-up Incubation Centre and renewed its efforts to nurture entrepreneurs.
The LST markets opened to a roaring cheer at 9:30 AM, with the start-ups ready to pitch and build on the opportunity to raise funds on the spot.
Prof. Shirish Kotmire, Head-Startup Incubation Centre, SPJIMR, said: “Start-up is a buzzword these days and finds relevance through all walks of life. SPJIMR is playing a leadership role in today’s entrepreneurship journey by building an innovative thought leadership centre that can support and nurture entrepreneurs.”
SPJIMR Dean Dr. Ranjan Banerjee said, “SPJIMR is more in sync with the entrepreneurship wave today and can easily be coined as an ‘entrepreneurial institute’ in the true sense.”
Mr. Geetansh Bamania, CEO & Co-Founder Rentomojo and Forbes under 30 youngest entrepreneurs, ‘16, a highly enthusiastic and dynamic entrepreneur himself, built the confidence of one and all by stressing on the importance of identifying the right opportunity and potential customers. Innovation is the mantra and some of the key successes come from the biggest constraints, he said.
Lock Stock Trade is a startup pitching competition held in a mock-IPO style format. 15 top startups from around the country do an elevator pitch in front of a panel of judges comprising of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, and academicians. The panel of judges, most of who are keen followers of startup activity in India and abroad, have a rich experience across various verticals like Investment Banking, Emerging Markets, BFSI, Capital Markets, Consulting, Retail, ITES and investing networks. The panel of judges at the 2017 event included Prateek Panda of Appknox, Mukund Agarwal of White Unicorn Ventures, Satish Kataria of Jarvis Accelerator, Sangram Nayaka of RiverBridge Ventures, Adhiraj Banerjee of IvyCap Ventures, Hitesh Sachdev of ICICI Investment Management Company, Abhijeet Kumar of AhVentures, Utkarsh Sinha of Bitkemy Ventures, among others.
SPJIMR announced separately that two exciting start-ups co-founded by SPJIMR alumni have raised around INR 450 million in funding, providing a new impetus to the efforts of the Institute to encourage, support and promote entrepreneurship among alumni and participants of its various management programmes. See the release at: https://goo.gl/xKgwhv