Kochi :
When George Panamkuzha and three of his friends were organising the college fest during their student days, the biggest problem the youngsters encountered was getting sponsorship, and convincing prospective sponsors on the possible benefits they would get on the money spent. After launching Praudyogiki Technolabs, a software development firm immediately out of the college in 2013, the quartet’s second startup ‘Daddyspocket.com’ founded this year is aimed at addressing the issue of sponsorship at events.
The Kochi-based startup found instant recognition when it was recently chosen for Spark10’s Accelerator Programme, a three-month programme held at Hyderabad. The programme is to help early stage startups turn their prototype or a minimum viable product into a scalable, positive and sustainable business. “We were chosen from nearly 500 applicants from all over India,” said George, adding that only nine startups were selected for the coveted programme. Only two startups from Kerala qualified — the second being ‘PaySack’, a mobile wallet for enterprises. DaddysPocket, according to George, is India’s first sponsorship marketplace for college events that helps college groups get easy sponsorship, allowing them to focus on organising a quality event. He said the company has over 20 high-profile brands as sponsors on board as of June 2016, and are the official partner for Techfest 2016 happening at JNTU, Hyderabad.
The other three in the founding team are Karan Radhakrishnan, Akhil Ashok and Jacob Jose Mattom. The three-month programme has helped the startup founders’ access to industry leaders and business leaders, but also ensured funding of Rs 10 lakh. In return, DaddysPocket has shed eight per cent stake to Spark10 Accelerator, said George.
“Right now, sponsors for events can’t measure the tasks. We at DaddysPocket will provide a task-based platform. Funds will be released based on the task,” explained George. George said his focus will be to scale-up ‘DaddysPocket’.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities. Kochi / by Express News Service / August 18th, 2016