August Fest 2017: where Asian startups meet to thrive coming to Mumbai, Hyderabad

Asia’s largest startup festival, August Fest, is just around the corner and is expected to bring together 15000 attendees on August 19 and 20 in Mumbai and August 26 and 27 in Hyderabad.

The colossal gathering will bring together startup enthusiasts, experts and investors at the Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research in Mumbai and the Indian School of Business of Hyderabad for four days dedicated to talking, sharing and improving the entrepreneurial scene around the Indian subcontinent.

August Fest will cover relevant speakers that will share their stories and participate in discussions and panels. Interactive activities, including workshops and exercises, aim to further enhance the skill set and competitivity of attendees in a globalized environment.

To complete the picture, dozens of up-and-coming startups will be able to pitch their concepts to the right audience in a broader manner: at August Fest, pitches provide the opportunity for ongoing projects to connect with potential talent and investors while inspiring budding entrepreneurs from all over the globe.

Each city has prepared an agenda for the 2017 edition structured around three events. Some of these focus on exploring business strategies for startups, while others provide insight on specific industries that have high potential for innovation.

The Mumbai crowd will focus on startup growth, the media industry and social innovation topics. Later on, the Hyderabad attendees will discuss future technologies, innovation in sports, and business scaling. Notably, the the Sports Carnival event has expanded the scope of the festival and opened the door for startups in areas beyond, but not unrelated to, business and technology.

This year’s carefully crafted list of speakers include Shabir Momin, creator of ZengaTV; Raj Neravati, founder of India’s own smartwatch maker Hug Innovations; Jayesh Ranjan, secretary of ITC and IT of the Telangana government; Poorna Malavath, the youngest woman to climb Mount Everest; and Diksha Dwivedi, founder and editor of AkkarBakkar.

Many of the 150 speakers are consultants, strategists and coaches for startups or larger companies. The resulting line-up has the unique mix of knowledge, experience and vocation for sharing to match the spirit of August Fest.

The event has grown from 500 attendees in the first edition to 9,600 in 2016, reflecting the growing interest in entrepreneurship across the Asian continent. The festival started itself as an startup in 2013, eventually becoming the year-round endeavor it is today for co-founders Kiran Maverick and Adi Vemuru.

Both passionate and experienced entrepreneurs, Maverick and Vemuru have relied substantially on other startups, such as event management partner Hubilo, design agency Clearcut and crowdfunding platform DesiredWings to make this year’s fest bigger and better than ever.

Tickets for the fifth edition of the August Fest are available now via MeraEvents at affordable prices ranging from INR 1,000 to INR 1,800.