India’s thriving startup community has produced some amazing innovations. But for every success story, there are several other deserving innovators waiting in the wings for an opportunity to prove themselves. What can help them is a collaboration between startups and corporates that will harness the value of their innovations, give them a global platform to showcase their solution and ultimately empower the ecosystem.

AIRmaker, an IoT-focused accelerator, is seeking to do exactly that, and is currently scouting for potential early-stage and growth-stage startups. The Singapore-based programme is powered by Ascendas-Singbridge, a leading provider of sustainable urban and business space, SGInnovate (previously known as Infocomm Investments), the investment arm under the purview of the National Research Foundation, and real-estate powerhouse Runyang Group.

What is it all about?

AIRmaker is looking for startups with innovative business models or those that already have a working prototype, or an early version of their product. The main focus areas include IoT, Digital Health and Smart Cities. The three-month programme aims to take your solution to market through proofs of concept (POCs) and pilot projects and get you funded. The programme will take place in three phases – discovering, building and scaling, where startups will be involved in various hands-on workshops and interact with well-known mentors to fine-tune their product and business model.

The success stories

Over the three batches of the accelerator program, AIRmaker has invested in a total of seven Indian startups including OCEO Water, an IoT-enabled drinking water solution, and JioVio Healthcare, an AI and IoT-enabled wearable health kit for maternal care. These two startups were part of the 2016 batch. Other AIRmaker alumni include StaTwig, Eyedentify, Docturnal, Praktice.ai, and Vicara.

Talking about his experience with the programme, Sunder Jagannathan, Co-Founder and CEO at JioVio, says, “AIRmaker helped us identify the right manufacturers in China to get our end product. We were able to establish a clear manufacturing strategy with the help of their team which was very crucial for us.”

Divya Krishnan, Co-Founder and COO, and Senthil Kumar, Co-Founder and CTO, agree that the company found a great opportunity in AIRmaker. According to Senthil, “The experience was enriching. We had an opportunity to meet some great startups and investors in Singapore.” Divya adds, “AIRmaker has always been very supportive. The mentorship program was very useful – we had an opportunity to get feedback from some amazing investors.”

OCEO, founded by Vikram Gulecha, Hasmukh Gulecha, Mahendra Kumar and Rajeev Kumar, has been trying to solve the drinking water problem in India. They joined AIRmaker for international exposure but ended up getting much more. Vikram says, “Before I joined the AIRmaker accelerator, I didn’t have any experience about startups or a realistic view on how to create one. The effort I invested into these activities helped me better understand the startup ecosystem. Every assignment during the programme was a chance for us to grow.”

Mahendra believes that the mentoring sessions really enlightened them. Hasmukh adds, “While the learning sessions and grants helped us greatly, it’s the post-accelerator support from AIRmaker that has us going. Be it customer connects or industry introductions, the support for OCEO continues even after our graduation.”

Once in a lifetime opportunity

The kind of exposure startups get via AIRmaker is phenomenal – from pilot opportunities, to product development, and sourcing. AIRmaker puts the startups in the limelight, allowing them to be noticed by investors and potential clients. Startups also get to interact with a network of mentors, who guide them on everything, from building competencies to engaging with the ecosystem and growing their revenue.

Selected startups will not only get funded, but also get the chance to work with and be mentored by leading corporates in the healthcare and smart cities space. The startups will get complete product development support and market feedback, along with access to AIRmaker’s office spaces in both Singapore and China.

So why not take this chance to give your startup the boost it needs? AIRmaker experts are coming to Bengaluru to interact with you and help you understand this life-changing programme.

It’s not everyday that you get an opportunity like this! So, don’t miss it.