Leading startups along with venture capitalists attended the seminar on ‘Funding For Startups – When, Where, and How’, organized by 
APE Communication, in association with MSME Development Institute, a unit of Ministry of MSME, Government of India. CeBIT India, organized by Hannover Milano Fairs India Pvt Ltd, the Indian subsidiary company of the global joint venture of Deutsche Messe (Germany) and Fiera Milano Group (Italy), was associated with the seminar as the associate partner. The seminar provided an apt platform for the startup community to connect with mentors and venture capitalists, and discuss possible solutions to the challenges that impede MSME growth in india.
The event saw participation from over 30 Indian startups, along with an interesting mix of industry veterans and members of academia. Dr Neelam Saxena, Head of Amity Centre for Entrepreneurship Development, Amity University delivered the inaugural speech at the seminar, followed by Mr R K Panigrahi, Director, MSME Development Institute. Thought leaders from the industry deconstructed the process of raising funds, through sessions on Sources of Funding a startup and Art of Raising and Managing Finance. Mr Umesh Unnikrishnan, Head – Strategic 
Alliances, Hannover Milano Fairs India; Mr Pradeep Sharma, General Manager, SBI; Ms Renu Shukla, General Manager, SIDBI; and Ms Alkananda Kumar, MD, Royal Foods were panellists at the session on Sources of Funding a startup. This was followed by the second session on Art of Raising and Managing Finance, with Ms Manisha Ahlawat, MD, VivaFit; and Ms Sarita Chauhan, eminent speakers, startup funding sharing their thoughts with leading entrepreneurs.
“India is the world’s fastest growing startup ecosystem. From 3,100 startups in 2014 to a projection of more than 11,500 by 2020, Indian entreprenurs have taken the world by storm. This revolutionary growth must be supported by able guidance and consistent mentorship. At CeBIT India, we understand the immense potential that the Indian MSME sector holds and through initiatives like the +91 Challenge we aim to showcase the incredible innovation of Indian startups.”, said Umesh Unnikrishnan, Head-Strategic Alliances, Hannover Milano Fairs India.
CeBIT India has been a key enabler in showcasing the Indian MSME sector’s strength of innovation. In a first-of-its-kind startup competition +91 Challenge, hundreds of Indian startups will compete with each other to demonstrate business ideas and solutions in the areas of cloud, mobility, analytics, internet of things and 3D printing, in a startup competition. Due to be held from October 29th-31st in Bangalore, +91 will also be a qualifying round for Code_n. Code_n, an initiative by Germany-based GFT Technologies, provides a platform for 50 promising startups from around the world to showcase their business ideas and compete for the grand prize in CeBIT’s flagship technology showcase in Hannover in Germany.
Last year, participating start-ups were mentored by Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer, Infosys Mark McDonald, Managing Director, Accenture Ravi Gururaj, Chair – Product Council & Member – Executive Council, NASSCOM Heinz-Paul Bonn, Honorary Member of the Board of BITKOM Bhavish Aggarwal – Founder OlaCabs.