India’s women entrepreneurs find their way to Israel’s startup ecosystem

On Friday, founders Komal Talwar (XLPAT Lab) and Mausumi Acharyya (Advenio) were picked for an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel’s business capital for this year’s Start Tel Aviv, a global competition celebrating women entrepreneurship. They were picked from among five Indian finalists, and will join founders from 22 other nations at the event.

A five-day brainstorming meet — September 25 to 29 — it is meant for establishing ties with potential customers, partners, and high-profile industry leaders. Lectures and workshops with Israeli investors and professionals are some of the highlights of the event.

Tel Aviv's startup ecosystem is well known for its tech talent and multinationals. The startup scene there is also gender neutral, ranked as the top hub for women outside the US. According to a Compass report, Tel Aviv has 20 percent women founders, while the European average is 17 percent.

The India leg of the competition took place in Gurgaon, attended by Israel's ambassador Daniel Carmon. Here’s a look at the five finalists that fought it out:

XLPAT Lab: The startup is associated with patent and technology coverage in more than 120 countries, allowing users exhaustive patent searches and calling itself the world's largest technology database. XLPAT says its advanced automated features have led to a good fall in time spent in patent searches and technology analysis, thereby reducing the per hour cost for clients.

Advenio: The website of Advenio TecnoSys says it was founded with a vision to provide artificial intelligence, deep learning and machine learning-based computer assisted detection (CADx) for diagnostic clinical imaging. Their aim: to develop universal and equitable healthcare.

Technology Uncorked: The platform, founded by Meenakshi Vashist, calls itself a community of innovators, developers, dreamers, and creators, with the plan to use technology to innovate and change the way the world interacts and responds. They hope to fulfil dreams of creating a new gizmo, gadget, or toy. A young company, it employs young minds for ideation and hardware, software innovations, to bring out ‘designed and manufactured in India’ consumer electronics products and educational kits.

Medimojo: Founded by Dr Shikha Suman and Vikas Ranjan (co-founder), the startup aims to use technology to improve public healthcare by early detection and evidence-based treatment. They envision disease prevention, preserving and personalising health records, thus keeping people out of hospitals and cutting down on healthcare costs. A digital health assistant, if you will.

EZspend, better known as EZdhan: Founded by Neha Jetley, a former Wall Street investment banker, the startup offers an easy way to manage money. Neha launched EZspend Prepaid Payment Solutions in 2011, with the aim of providing financial inclusion to Indians. The company offers a pre-paid bankcard for those wanting to transfer or spend cash safely, in collaboration with YES Bank and MasterCard. Thus the card is a preloaded payment card that can be used at POS terminals and even for online shopping.

All in all, it is quite a head start for women entrepreneurs in India. They have achieved global recognition as also a chance to represent India in the world’s startup capital.