Scaler School of Technology Hosts Student Shark Tank: Young Innovators Pitch Big Idea

In celebration of bold ideas and an entrepreneurial mindset, the Scaler School of Technology hosted the grand finale of its flagship startup event – the Pitch Challenge – at the Scaler Innovation Lab in Bengaluru, coordinated by SST’s Entrepreneurship Cell. This energy-fuelled pitch competition highlighted the final eight student-led startups, all designed by passionate innovators younger than 22, providing them the opportunity to pitch to a panel made up of experienced industry investors, founders and leaders in technology.

The Pitch Challenge is part of Scaler’s real-world learning vision, through the hands-on practice firmly embedded as a key pillar of the educational experience and curriculum preparing students to look beyond theory and create solutions in the world. All year, students intern with leading tech companies and create real products and quite often, their own startups before they graduate.

The finale was graced by a distinguished panel of judges, including Bhavik Rathod – India Head at Scale AI and the visionary who built Uber Eats in India; Subhash Choudhary – CTO and Co-founder of Dukaan, one of India’s fastest-growing SaaS platforms; and Abhimanyu Saxena – Co-founder of Scaler, a serial entrepreneur who began his journey at Fab.com and is now a revered tech mentor. The energy in the room was palpable as students pitched ideas spanning artificial intelligence, healthtech, dev tools, smart mobility and more, all solving real problems that matter with a clear product vision.

After a solid round of presentations and Q&A, first prize of ₹1 lakh was won by Aether Labs Flow.  The jury was impressed with their AI-based business management and CRM for insurance agents to automate data extraction from policy documents, track the business, user communications with their clients and collect claims and endorsements on a centralised dashboard. The product serves a nich and yet the judges praised its laser-focused nature and the meaningful impact it has had on its current users who are loyal customers who rely on it as a mission-critical tool. Importantly, the platform already has two paying broking firms in addition to four paying agents and one agency, signalling early market validation and demand.

In second place of ₹50,000 was Health Nivaran, which was a fully AI-enabled health assistant for patients on WhatsApp, with a particular focus on patients in under-served areas. The chatbot aids patients in identifying symptoms, and connects users to care with actual doctors. The team was praised for its clarity of thought, the robustness of their planning, and their performance under pressure relating to the difficult questions around AI-assisted healthcare and user trust. 

Gradonix and Cytroid went on to take third and fourth places respectively, each winning ₹50,000. Gradonix is rethinking the academic assessment experience with the help of an AI tool that allows teachers to upload a model question paper, and student response, which are then assessed with automatic annotations and feedback provided. With successful pilot program already underway, the venture was noted for its tremendous potential to streamline evaluation in Indian schools. Cytroid made an audacious rethinking of the cycling experience through a smart bicycle, tech-integrated platform that includes theft protection, gesture based controls and mobile connectivity. The judges praised the team for their foresight and their ambition in addressing issues at the intersection of hardware and user experience at scale.

Among the other interesting finalists were Godamlelo, a B2B logistics platform that works in the area of warehouse optimisation; MailCheck, which is building an AI-based API that prevents users from abusing free trials – saving companies millions of dollars in potential losses; and ReArc, a “platform that allows for self-paced learning on any area of interest using AI, allowing for more personalised access to education while also being more efficient”.

In total, more than ₹2.5 lakhs in cash prizes were given out to the four teams. But again, beyond the cash prizes, the event solidified SST’s status as a launchpad for India’s next wave of tech entrepreneurs. As Bhavik Rathod stated during closing remarks, “These students are not only building projects – they are building the future of India’s tech ecosystem.”

With various teams already in discussions around pilot deployments and early stage funding, the Pitch Challenge demonstrated that, given the right tools, mentorship, and ecosystem, student teams can indeed solve world problems – some of which are incredibly difficult before they even get out of college. SST’s “learning by doing” model is pushing students out of traditional academic silos and into position of real problem solving in the world, compelling them to think like builders from day one.

Catch the buzz! The Pitch Challenge finale episodes — featuring game-changing ideas and bold student founders — will be dropping soon on the Scaler School of Technology YouTube channel.- https://scalerschooloftech.com/4l52eLZ