The 18-week programme focused on development, mentoring and piloting of technology startups in aerospace, mobility, social impact, healthcare and agriculture, among others.
“Bosch has an inherent advantage. We support nascent teams by offering technological inputs,” said Manohar Esarapu, head, corporate venture programme DNA, Bosch India.
The company received 450 applications and teams were eliminated on the grounds of lack of clarity with respect to ideas or business plans not offering much potential for growth.
With every round, teams were judged on their planning, solutions and understanding of the market they claimed to address. Based on these solutions, Bosch also assessed the value the group could offer in enhancing their existing business plan.
“The chosen startups are in those areas that could add value to our existing business, as much as we can add to theirs,” said Esarapu. Bosch is looking to go to market with at least four of these startups.
“One is an indoor airport navigation startup working on beacon technology and (focused) more on personalisation. (There are) reasons we are not in aerospace and we think it is a good domain to enter. We see synergies in automotive aerospace going forward. There is also a (startup) pure play navigation without beacon… and a flight simulator. The ticket size is big. We are helping an ARVR company, which we are taking to the US. We see a bigger market there,” said Esarapu.
He also indicated that Bosch funding arm Robert Bosch Venture Capital might potentially invest in two of the 13 startups. The VC arm might also potentially set shop in India in the next year or so, according to Esarapu.
For Bosch India, DNA is not a one-off activity but a long-term growth strategy.
The next batch is expected to kick off in September and Bosch will look to collaborate with startups building technology solutions in Internet of Things, deep learning, analytics, cloud, virtual reality and block chain.
Source: Economic Times