Mysuru: The TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Global Summit (TGS)- 2024 concluded successfully at the Mysore Palace premises last evening, blending innovation with India’s rich cultural heritage.

The four-day event served as a vibrant platform for exploring global entrepreneurial opportunities while showcasing the spirit of collaboration and tradition.

The summit was organised by TiE Bangalore and featured Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) as a strategic partner, with the Government of Karnataka lending support as the State Partner. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), MeitY Startup Hub, India AI Mission and Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) co-hosted the event.

A highlight of the summit was the recognition of exceptional achievements with awards presented to outstanding organisations and entrepreneurs across diverse categories. The honours celebrated innovation, collaboration, exemplary service and entrepreneurial milestones, reinforcing the summit’s role as a beacon for global business opportunities and innovation.

Awards in 18 categories

The day witnessed the announcement of the prestigious TiE Global Awards 2024 which celebrated entrepreneurial excellence across 18 prestigious categories, recognising exceptional leaders, organisations, and startups shaping the global startup ecosystem.

The ‘Spirit of TiE Awards’ were presented to Hiroshi Mikitani, Founder and CEO of ‘Rakuten’, Anu Aga from ‘Thermax’ and Eric Yuan, CEO of ‘Zoom Communications’, for their outstanding contributions to entrepreneurship and innovation.

In the ‘Ecosystem Awards’, ‘ANTLER’ was awarded ‘Best Global Incubator/Accelerator’, Harvard University was recognised as the ‘Best Global University Promoting Entrepreneurship’, and ‘Amazon’ received the ‘Best Global Corporate Supporting Entrepreneurship’ award.

The ‘Most Active Angel Network – Global’ honour went to ‘AngelList’, while the ‘Best Government Agency Supporting Startups Globally’ was awarded to the ‘Israel Innovation Authority’ and regionally to ‘Invest India’. ‘Khosla Ventures’ was named the ‘Best Performing VC Fund’.

Unicorn/Startup Awards

The ‘Unicorn/Startup Awards’ highlighted disruptive innovations, with ‘Revolut’ winning the ‘Most Innovative Startup’ award and ‘TBM Co. Ltd.’ receiving ‘Sustainability Excellence Award’.

‘Grammarly’ was honoured for transitioning from a bootstrapped startup to a multi-billion-dollar enterprise globally. At the same time, ‘Kaynes Technology’ and ‘Mankind Pharma’ were recognised for their regional bootstrapped-to-billions success.

The ‘Trail Blazing Woman Entrepreneur’ awards went to Melanie Perkins of ‘Canva (Global)’ and Upasana Taku of ‘MobiKwik’ (Regional). Finally, Srikanth Bolla was honoured with the ‘Unstoppable Award’ for his extraordinary perseverance and accomplishments.

Showcasing art, tourism, culture

The final day, co-hosted by TiE Bangalore, NICEorg, and TiE Mysuru, also spotlighted Cultural Entrepreneurship, a unique conclave dedicated to showcasing art, tourism and culture time, TGS 2024 brought Cultural Entrepreneurship to the forefront in partnership with NICE.

It was brought to life through insights by Nand Kishore Choudhary, Social Entrepreneur, Chairman & Managing Director, of ‘Jaipur Rugs’ and dynamic panels featuring leaders like Vinay Parameswarappa, Founder, of ‘Gully Tours’ and Payal Nath, Co-Founder of ‘Kadam’.

The day also featured inspiring pitches by social entrepreneurs like Sahar Mansoor, Founder, of ‘Bare Necessities’, and a moving conversation between Arjun Ranga, MD, ‘Cycle Pure Agarbathies’ and Sanjay Anandaram, Partner, ‘NICEorg’. Noted artist and sculptor Arun Yogiraj participated in the closing session and shared his perspectives on ‘Making Ram Lalla’.

The celebrations featured cultural performances by Ananya Bhat and her team, followed by a symbolic baton-passing ceremony to the Rajasthan TiE Team, as Jaipur will host the next TiE Global Summit in 2025.

The ceremony was led by Amit Gupta, Chair of TiE Global, Madan Padaki, President, TiE Bangalore and Chair of TGS 2024 with Dr. Deepak Chopra as chief guest alongside B.V. Naidu, Chairman KDEM, Mahesh Rao, President of TiE Mysore and Sanjeev Gupta, CEO of KEDM.