Qualcomm has announced that Ark Robot as the winner of the QPrize – Make in India contest. and will receive a Rs. 2 crore investment from Qualcomm. The contest was held in support of the Indian government’s vision of Make in India. The contest was held on February 18 at the Make in India Center in Mumbai. Ark Robot demonstrated an army of smart robots for smart logistics.
Read the complete press release below
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) through its venture investment group, Qualcomm Ventures, together with the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), today announced Ark Robot as the winner of the QPrize™ – Make in India contest, who will receive a Rs. 2 Crore investment from Qualcomm. This special edition of the QPrize™ contest was held in support of the Government of India’s vision of Make in India and received tremendous response from the Indian start-up community.
The QPrize – Make in India competition shortlisted five companies and invited them to compete for the Rs. 2 Crore prize. Details of the competition are as follows:
Held on February 18, 2016 at the Make in India Centre, Mumbai
Eminent panel of judges
Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India
Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder, Infosys; Chairman, CII Innovation & Entrepreneurship Council and Chairman, Axilor Ventures
Ravi Gururaj, Founder & CEO – QikPod.com & Chairman, NASSCOM Product Council
Sunil Lalvani, vice president and president, Qualcomm India
Karthee Madasamy, vice president, Qualcomm Ventures India
Companies competing in the QPrize Make in India contest included:
Ark Robot – Army of autonomous Robots for smart logistics.
Cardiac Design Labs – Democratizing advanced cardiac diagnostics: Bringing it to the masses in an affordable way, using intelligent technology.
NexGear Technology is developing Frodo – an intelligent strap-on adventure camera which not only captures videos but automatically edits hours of raw footage into short shareable summarized stories.
TeraFlight Data Labs – drone data analytics solutions for solar.
Threye Interactive – award winning immersive and interactive tech company venturing in AR/VR and robotics and deeply engaged with aerospace and defense.
Qualcomm has supported the Government’s vision of Make in India by recently announcing the Qualcomm Design in India Initiative. Now with the QPrize – Make in India contest, the company has further incentivized the start-up ecosystem to join this movement towards the goal of local design and manufacturing. Qualcomm Ventures has been present in India since 2007 and has been actively investing and nurturing the Indian startup ecosystem. It has been holding the QPrize competition since 2009 to identify the industry’s most promising early-stage startups.