Events

• HST is the annual flagship event hosted by Catalyst on IIT Mandi campus in Himachal Pradesh. The event is designed to bring together stakeholders of Indian Startup Ecosystem from across the country. The two-day event features pitch rounds by tens of startups, investor meetings, mentor meetings, panel discussions, tech talks and E-talks. We have hosted experienced entrepreneurs from companies that include Google, Delhivery, OLX, 100X.VC, Ecoware India, Fractal, WaterBridge Ventures, Zenatix, Paytm, Qure.ai, etc.
• The event features more than 70 startups that are carefully shortlisted from hundreds of applicants that are received before the event. Presence of founders of leading startups, senior executives from the industry, and government officials, creates a ripe ground for networking opportunities for the young startups.
• From amongst the startups that pitch during the event, Catalyst selects over 40 startups in various areas which include Cleantech, Healthtech, Agrotech, Edutech, ITES, Waste management, Security, Road safety etc. The startups are offered incubation program during which they get mentoring and funding support during their idea-commercialization journey.
• Catalyst has hosted four editions of HST during 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, bringing hundreds of people to hills to discuss issues relevant to the startup ecosystem in India. In 2020, HST went digital for the first time due to COVID-19 uncertainties. 
• Find out more: HST 2018, HST 2019 , HST 2020

Himalayan innovation challenge (HIC) is an effort of IIT Mandi Catalyst to actuate a series of innovative technology based solutions designed specifically to solve social and economic problems in the Himalayan regions of the world. HIC 2019 brought together a range of individuals and organizations that care about building such solutions and were willing to ideate, deliberate, debate and innovate to this end. IIT Mandi Catalyst picked a handful of most feasible ideas and enabled the willing innovators/entrepreneurs in prototyping, testing and implementing to create an impact in Himalayan region. See more

Webinar on ‘Startup Legal Clinic’

Speaker- Shantanu Srivastava

Dates: May 9, 2020

Description: Mr. Shantanu had an interactive webinar on “Startup Legal Clinic” with portfolio teams of Catalyst

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Webinar on ‘Reimagining business strategy during Covid19- Using Design Thinking’

Dates: May 8, 2020

Speaker:Dr. Kaustubh Dhargalkar

Description:Dr. Kaustubh Dhargalkar had an interactive webinar on “Reimagining business strategy during Covid19- Using Design Thinking” with portfolio teams of Catalyst.

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Webinar on ‘Understanding Startup Valuations’

Dates: May 7, 2020

Speaker: Mr. Vikrant Potnis

Description: Mr. Vikrant  had an interactive webinar on “Understanding Startup Valuations” with portfolio

teams of Catalyst.

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Webinar on ‘How non tech founders should look at technology’

Dates: May 6, 2020

Speaker: Mr. Vivek Venugopalan

Description: Mr. Vivek had an interactive webinar on “How non tech founders should look at technology” with portfolio teams of Catalyst.

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Webinar on ‘Leadership challenges in the world post Corona- Imperatives for Startups ’

Dates: May 5, 2020

Speaker: Saurabh Mittal

Description: Saurabh had an interactive webinar on “Leadership challenges in the world post Corona” with portfolio teams of Catalyst. Saurabh shared his extensive experience on how to think through and go back to the drawing board and start assessing how the world is changing and what impact that would have on your startup.

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Designing Business Model Canvas

Dates: March 6-7, 2020

Speaker: Mr. Raj Bhat

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: Mr. Raj Bhat had an interactive two-day session on “Designing Business Model Canvas” with our new batch of the Exploration Program

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Design Thinking Workshop

Dates: March 4-5, 2020

Speaker: Dr. Kaustubh Dhargalkar

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: Human-centered design is a philosophy, not a precise set of methods, but one that assumes that innovation should start by getting close to users and observing their activities.” – Donald A. Norman.

Dr. Kaustubh Dhargalkar, Design thinking coach & an ‘Innovation & Strategy’ Consultant, facilitated a design thinking workshop for our latest batch of exploration program 2020

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The inaugural session of Exploration Program, March 2020

Dates: March 3, 2020

Speaker: Prof. Gonsalves, Director IIT Mandi, Prof. Bringi Dev, IIM Bangalore and Prof S. C. Jain, Dean, IIT Mandi

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: The first batch of startup exploration program for 2020 began on March 3rd at IIT Mandi Catalyst. 16 startups from agrotech, waste management, enterprise management, healthcare, clean & renewable energy, road safety, biotech & education are part of this batch. Director IIT Mandi, Prof. Gonsalves congratulated the teams and shared snippets from his own entrepreneurial journey. Startups also got a chance to hear from Prof. Bringi Dev, IIM Bangalore and Prof S. C. Jain, Dean, IIT Mandi. Adding more to that, a panel of IIT Mandi faculty comprising Dr. Puran Singh (moderator), Dr. Shyam Kumar Masakapalli, Dr. Kala Venkata Uday & Dr.Satvasheel Powar helped startups understand how startups have benefitted from IIT Mandi ecosystem in the past.

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Goal Setting Exercise

Dates: March 2, 2020

Speaker: Dr. Puran Singh

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” – Lewis Carroll

Dr. Puran Singh, Incharge IIT Mandi Catalyst, facilitated a goal setting exercise for the latest batch of Exploration Program 2020.

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Startup Pitch Event, Feb 2020

Dates: Feb 16 & 17, 2020

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: Catalyst organized two more rounds of pitching in Feb 2020. Budding innovators from across the country in areas of Agrotech, Biotech, Healthcare, Waste management, Road safety and Enterprise management pitched their ideas.

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Startup Pitch Event ,Jan 2020

Dates: Jan 15, 2020

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: THE PITCHING IS ON: IIT MANDI CATALYST GEARS UP FOR THE NEXT BATCH OF STARTUPS.

15 Teams pitched on January 15 for the next Exploration Program starting in February 2020.

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Pitch for Seed Support System

Dates: Jan 16, 2020

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: Catalyst organized pitching event for incubated startups under the NIDHI Seed support System supported by DST on Jan 16, 2020. 15 teams pitched to raise seed funding of upto 50 Lakhs.

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Unique User Research

Dates: Nov 19 & 20, 2019

Speaker: Dr. Kaustubh Dhargalkar

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: What do you think the customer wants? And what does the customer actually want? For a startup, customers’ perspective should matter more than any assumptions!

Dr. Kaustubh Dhargalkar, Founder, Potentials & Possibilities, emphasized this point during the two-day workshop with our startup teams on Nov 19-20 on ‘Unique User Research.”

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Pitch Deck Building

Dates: Nov 18 & 19, 2020

Speaker: Mr. Dilnawaz Khan

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: A two-day workshop was conducted on Nov 18-19 by Mr. Dilnawaz Khan on Pitch Decks and Elevator pitch.

“Pitching is nothing but the art of storytelling and it has to come from inside of an entrepreneur. Investment happens when the pitch can showcase the right balance of passion, opportunity, and execution.”

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Go to Market Strategy

Dates: Nov 14 & 15, 2020

Speaker: Apporv Bamba

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: Apporv Bamba, CEO Ingenious Faces had an interactive two-day workshop on Go to Market Strategy with our Startup cohort on Nov 14-15.

He spent time with each team one on one to understand their marketing strategies and help them plan more effectively.

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Investment Readiness, Valuation

Dates: Nov 12 & 13, 2020

Speaker: Anuj Sharma

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: “Investment readiness for startups: a practitioner’s perspective”

Anuj Sharma, Founder, Alsisar Impact & ASCo conducted a two-day workshop on Nov 12-13 on ‘Investment Readiness’ for the current batch of Startup teams at Catalyst.

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Designing Business model & Minimum Viable product

Dates: Oct 12 & 13, 2020

Speaker: Dr. Rajeev Roy

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: “Empathy, Grit and Opportunity focus are the three elements central to a strong entrepreneur!”, Rajeev Roy, Professor of Entrepreneurship, XLRI.

Rajeev conducted a two-day workshop to facilitate learning on business model design and implementation for startup teams at IIT Mandi Catalyst on October 12-13.

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Design Thinking Workshop

Dates: Oct 10 & 11, 2020

Speaker: Anay Mashruwala

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: Conducted by Anay Mashruwala on Oct 10-11, a two-day workshop on ‘Design Thinking and Innovation’ was no less than a learning extravaganza for the new batch of startups.

In pictures: Teams enthusiastically participating in learning exercises during the workshop.

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Visioning Exercise

Dates: Oct 8, 2020

Speaker: Saurabh Mittal

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: Mr. Saurabh Mittal leadership coach, and senior advisor, IIT Mandi Catalyst conducted a Visioning Workshop with the new bunch of startups. The workshop facilitated soul searching that helped answer questions such as: Why am I doing this startup? What do I want to build? What do I want to achieve?

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The inaugural session of the Startup Exploration Program Oct 2019

Dates: Oct 7, 2020

Speaker: Prof. Gonsalves, Director IIT Mandi

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: The third batch of the Startup Exploration Program for 2019 has begun at the IIT Mandi Catalyst. As many as 23 startup teams checked into IIT Mandi Campus for the inaugural session on Oct 7.

The biggest batch of the year has teams working in Health Tech, Edu Tech, Waste Management, Logistics, Clean & renewable energy, Agriculture and Road safety, Smart homes, Manufacturing, Enterprise management, Finance, etc.

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• HST is the annual flagship event hosted by Catalyst on IIT Mandi campus in Himachal Pradesh. The event is designed to bring together stakeholders of Indian Startup Ecosystem from across the country. The two day event features pitch rounds by tens of startups, investor meetings, mentor meetings, panel discussions, tech talks and E-talks. We have hosted experienced entrepreneurs from companies that include Google, Delhivery, Olx, Zenatix, Paytm, Qure.ai, etc.
• The event features more than 50 startups that are carefully shortlisted from hundreds of applicants that are received before the event. Presence of founders of leading startup founders, senior executives from the industry, and government officials, creates a ripe ground for networking opportunities for the young startups.
• From amongst the startups that pitch during the event, Catalyst selects 20-25 startups in various areas which include clean tech, health tech, consumer tech, Edu tech, affordable housing, security, road safety etc. The startups are offered incubation program during which they get mentoring and funding support during their idea-commercialization journey.
• Catalyst has hosted three editions of HST during 2017, 2018 and 2019, bringing hundreds of people to hills to discuss issues relevant to the startup ecosystem in India.
• See more: HST 2018, HST 2019 (links)

Himalayan Innovation Challenge

Dates: May 25 & 26, 2020

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: IIT Mandi Catalyst, successfully organized the first edition of the ‘Himalayan Innovation Challenge’ for startups and innovators on 25th – 26th May 2019.

Total prize money of Rs. 1 lakh was awarded to top three ideas and 15 startup teams are selected for the next incubation program out of 32 startups that presented during the event.

1. Drone Tech Lab won the First prize of Rs. 50,000
2. Go Vidyouth won the Second prize of Rs. 30,000
3. KapUM won the Third prize of Rs. 20,000

Jury for the challenge comprised of Entrepreneurs, IIT Mandi Faculty and experts from the domain.

Ms. Deepika, Deputy Director, Department of Industries, HP and Prof Gonsalves handed the prizes to the winners during the closing ceremony on 26th, May 2019.

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Digital Marketing for Startups

Dates: April 04, 2019

Speaker: Mr. Varun Rattan Singh

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: Current Startup teams with Mr. Varun Rattan Singh during an interesting session on the importance of “Digital Marketing for Startups”. He introduced the teams to several project management tools to organize their data and information which will help them to scale up their businesses

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Soft skills and Executive Presence

Dates: March 12, 2019

Speaker: Saurabh Mittal

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: Mr. Saurabh Mittal conducted a Workshop on Soft skills and Executive Presence with the new bunch of startups. He shared his extensive global experience of defining strategy, providing thought leadership, creating new business solutions and leading large multicultural, cross-functional teams to implement improved business processes in global businesses.

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A round-table discussion on ‘Unleashing Potential of Indian Agriculture: Role of Entrepreneurs and Incubators’

Dates: Feb 23, 2019

Venue: IIT Mandi Campus

Description: A roundtable discussion was hosted by IIT Mandi Catalyst in collaboration with the Himachal Pradesh Horticulture development project (HPHDP) at Mandav Complex in Mandi with an aim to identify challenges and opportunities in the Indian Agriculture and to promote innovation & entrepreneurship in this sector.

The roundtable was attended by officials from District Industry Center (DIC), HPHDP, Agro Entrepreneurs, NGOs engaged in agriculture ecosystem, budding startups in Agritech sector, Agro researchers, officials of Farmer Zone project of IIT Mandi, and the faculty members of IIT Mandi