“Bangladesh: The Next Tech Frontier”
March 19th, 2016 saw the return of the highly successful Innovation Xtreme platform with a new theme, Bangladesh: The Next Tech Frontier. SD ASIA, one of the largest content and event making platform for Bangladeshi tech startups, organized the second installment with the country’s largest telecom operator, Grameenphone, as the lead sponsor.
This year’s Innovation Xtreme had Microsoft as its Gold Partner, along with IPDC, top-of-mind, The Daily Ittefaq, Tech in Asia, and Facebook as the event partners. The event had a diverse group of participants, including students, developers, academics, corporate, international organizations, and local & international media.
It brought over twenty five local startups and twenty five renowned industry experts under one roof, at Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel. Representatives from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, MasterCard, Uber, Top Of Mind, Fenox (Venture Capital), BASIS Razor Capital, Segnel Ventures, IMJ Investment Partners, Chaldal.com, GoBD, BDJobs and numerous others were present at the event.
This year’s sessions were designed to promote Bangladesh as the next tech hotspot with expert guidelines being provided by the people making it happen. It saw attendees directly plug into the burgeoning tech ecosystem. With a focus on networking, interactivity and access to high-profile ecosystem participants, attendees were encouraged to interact with each other, share ideas and form potential investment partnerships. Attendants who flocked in from various areas of the business spectrum were exposed to over three hours of guided ‘networking’ time throughout the day to help them seek out the right opportunities. It provided the startups with a platform to delve into their products with experts, potential investors, corporate buyers and customers.
The event was divided into twelve interactive sessions, where local and international industry experts reflected upon the promising future of Bangladesh’s tech startups. They also discussed how investors could help Bangladesh’s startup ecosystem grow further to be able to perform on the global stage. The speakers also talked about the challenges tech startups face under the Bangladesh’s socio-economic system, and the ways big corporations and the government can improve it.
Innovation Xtreme kicked off with opening words from the founders and co-founders. Mustafizur Rahman Khan, CEO & Founder of SD Asia, said, “Through this one-day event, we will showcase the potential of existing innovators and entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. By bringing both international and local investors along with other entrepreneurs and businesses under one roof, the event works as a catalyst to deepen the interest about the Internet-based local economy.”
Fayaz Taher, Co-Founder and CFO of SD Asia, went on to state, ‘This year’s Innovation Xtreme is much bigger than the first time we organized it, because now we have more entrepreneurs and investors who are interested in Bangladesh’s startup ecosystem.’
Samad Miraly, Co-Founder of SD ASIA said, “Tech is fun because it’s new. It changes the way we do things for the better. And Innovation Xtreme is the best place to experience tech in Bangladesh”.
After the opening speeches, Zarif Munir, Partner & Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group stepped in with his keynote speech in which he said, “We are in the era of ‘me’. This era revolves around social networks and is about looking at the world around you and creating a network that is powerful, strong and economic. If you are in the business of technology in Bangladesh then you will know that these are the words that define the future.”
Next Shameen Ahsan, President of BASIS went up to speak about the growth of the ICT sector and his vision for its future. “Our vision is to be among the top five global destinations. As such, we are inviting global players to invest in Bangladesh and become a part of this glorious journey.”
With the theme of ‘Bangladesh: The Next Tech Frontier’, the event was aimed towards showcasing Bangladesh’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and giving a platform to local startups to meet the investors. Therefore, the objective of this year’s Innovation Xtreme event was to highlight the technological and economic potential of Bangladesh in front of a diverse community.
Representatives from globally recognized firms such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Uber, Fenox (Venture Capital), Segnel Ventures, MasterCard, IMJ Investment Partners were present during the panel discussions. They were involved in panels which discussed investments in startups as well as the role of global tech giants in the of promotion local startup communities in countries like Bangladesh.
The event also had investor speed-dating and networking sessions where local startups had the chance to pitch in front of investors. All the participating tech startups received Microsoft’s BizSpark/YouthSpark packages (worth $10,000). The top six startups (Tripooly, Let’s Eat, Sheba, LightCastle Data, Repto and CHALO) won the Facebook Start-up packages, worth approximately $50,000 USD.
