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Bengaluru-based IamHere, the AI-based hyperlocal social network wins the prestigious Elevate award for 2019. Elevate is a first-of-its-kind programme for start-ups conducted by the Government of Karnataka and selected start-ups get support from the Govt in the form of grants, mentorship and pilot opportunities for Govt projects.
Talking at the event, Mr. Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, Department of IT, BT, S&T, Govt of Karnataka said, “Over the last few years, the State of Karnataka has emerged as the Start-up Capital of India. As part of the program, we not only provide funding support, but also provide mentorship, idea validation, and market access.”
IamHere is a hyperlocal social network to discover and connect with hobbyists, professionals, causes, and events in your neighborhood. With over 50K users in Bengaluru, the IamHere app has helped people form cricket teams, lounges find guitarists and singers, art lovers connect with artists, small businesses hire sales executives, NGOs get volunteers; people have even formed start-ups through the app.
Talking about the award, Naren Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO of IamHere (www.iamhere.mobi) said, “While we are helping nearby hobbyists connect with each other, the real social impact comes when we are able to touch the lives of people at the bottom of the pyramid. In our efforts to build a brokerless, borderless neighborhood marketplace, we have started aggregating farmers, artists and other professionals on to our platform. We are committed to creating social impact through technology and the Elevate award takes us one step closer to realizing this larger dream.”
If the IT revolution in the 1990s made India the IT Capital, the Startup revolution in the current decade is certainly putting India on to the global entrepreneurship map. Startups like IamHere are not only innovating for the local market through technology but are also having tangible social impact. It is not a far cry from proclaiming that the next Google or Facebook is going to come out of the Indian startup ecosystem!