MeitY, STPI Select 23 Blockchain Startups For Idea Challenge & More

Date: October 28, 2020

The STPI in partnership with MeitY finalises 23 blockchain startups under ‘Idea Challenge Program’ for its first cohort

The selected startups include WhatsLoan, RealX and others

Origo Commodities is leveraging blockchain technology to bring securitised agri commodity to India’s capital markets via TradeFi, backed by physical commodities at the warehouse

The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), in partnership with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), under its Apiary initiative has selected 23 blockchain startups under ‘Idea Challenge Program,’ for the first cohort, a person close to the advisory committee told Inc42.

The Apiary initiative is a centre of excellence (CoE) in blockchain technology at the STPI backed by MeitY and Government Blockchain Association (GBA). The selected startups include WhatsLoan, RealX and others.

STPI told us it is yet to officially announce the results. However, according to its website, it had received close to over 110 applications for the programme and 44 startups were shortlisted to pitch their blockchain solutions across various categories, including agritech (18), e-governance (14), finance (15), healthcare (16), pharmaceuticals (3), supply chain (26) and others (18).

For instance, blockchain-enabled real estate startup RealX which was selected as part of the first cohort enables customers to buy, sell and gain from fractional ownership in properties, where all property deals, after due diligence, are presented online for expression of interest.

Once the property reaches its sale price, the property goes offline and the sale is executed at the registrar. Post-registration, the same set of records is created on the blockchain-based registry system called PropChain.

Similarly, blockchain-based fintech startup WhatsLoan also part of the cohort offers unique digital financial identity to customers, where it helps them open a bank account, to save money, invest in mutual funds and securities, purchase life, general insurance and other financial instruments across BFSI providers in India.

Previously, during the launch of the programme, the director-general of STPI Omkar Rai said the programme will help startups gain access to mentors, capital, market and infrastructure to focus on developing innovative products and solutions leveraging blockchain technology. At the time, STPI had also said that it plans to incubate close to 100+ startups by 2025.

Featured on leading daily as mentioned below :

https://inc42.com/infocus/blockchain-this-week/meity-stpi-selects-23-blockchain… |