4 city startups bag top honours at TiE

Hyderabad: Four city-based innovative startups in healthcare and lifestyle sector walked away with top honours at the TiE Women Regional Finals, virtually hosted by TiE Hyderabad on Monday. While one has been adjudged the winner, the rest three have been declared runners up in a competition that witnessed over 16 women-led startups battle for top honours.

Sapien Biosciences, co-founded by Dr Jugnu Jain, got the top prize for her bio-bank multi-disease screening solution idea with diverse sample collection across cancers, rare disorders, cardiovascular conditions, type 2 diabetes to name a few. Dr. Jugnu, the winner took away a fully paid Bootcamp organised by empoWer (a tech accelerator exclusively for women entrepreneurs) and would be representing Hyderabad at the TiE Global Competition to be held in December 2020, where she stands a chance to win an equity-free fund of $100,000 for her business pitch.

Dibbu Solutions, represented by Deepthi Nathala, was adjudged the first runner up for their product Hecoll, a washable and reusable face mask and headgear that protects humans from airborne viruses.

Silpa Lingareddy- founded Luxpack was announced as the second runner up for their business of manufacturing a rigid box company that promises to deliver an unparalleled luxury packaging experience.

Hemis, founded by Prashansa Shahani, was named the third runners up, A one-of-its-kind movement sees a range of possibilities using Hemp to create a wide range of sustainable products across several categories including apparel, footwear, accessories, stationery, home furnishing, wellness, and nutrition.

The winners were evaluated based on their strength of ideas, global scalability, and presentation by an eminent jury panel comprising Lakshmi Nambiar (Anthill Ventures), Ranjan Chak (Oak Investment Partners) and Jay Krishnan (Mantra Capital).

The three-runner ups will be eligible to attend the fully paid bootcamp by empoWer besides access to a six-month-long mentorship at T-Hub in addition to the Mentor Advisor programme offered by TiE Hyderabad.