DHAKA: SD ASIA, one of the largest content and event making platform for Bangladeshi tech startups, is proud to bring back its flagship event ‘Innovation Xtreme’ for the second time this year, with country’s largest telecom operator Grameenphone as the lead sponsor.
The event brought over 25 local startups and 25 renowned industry experts under one roof at Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel, Dhaka on the 19th March 2016.
Speaking at the event, Mustafizur Rahman Khan, CEO & Founder of SD Asia, said, “Through this one-day event, we showcase the potential of existing innovators and entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. By bringing international and local investors, entrepreneurs, businesses under one roof the event works as a catalyst to deepen the interest about the Internet-based local economy.”
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.
FayazTaher, Co-founder and CFO of SD Asia, said, ‘This year’s Innovation Xtreme was 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.’
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.
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”.
The event was divided into 12 interactive sessions, where local and international industry experts reflected upon the promising future of Bangladesh’s tech startups and how investors can help Bangladesh’s startup ecosystem to grow on a global scale. 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.
Representatives from Fenox (Venture Capital), Facebook, Microsoft, Top Of Mind, Bongo, Razor Capital, Segnel Ventures, MasterCard, IMJ Investment Partners, Chaldal.com, GOBD and BDJobs were present at the event.
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). Each of the top six startups – Tripooly, Let’s Eat, Sheba, LightCastle Data, Repto, CHALO won the Facebook Start-up packages, worth approximately $50,000 USD.
SD ASIA is a content and event platform that connects local tech startup with investors. The company was founded in 2014 by venture builders Mustafizur Rahman Khan, Fayaz Taher and Samad Miraly. SD ASIA’s main objective is to promote and encourage tech entrepreneurs who work to solve local or global problems. It has hosted tech-meet-ups, workshops, and large tech conferences to bring Bangladesh forward as a viable foreign investment destination. The company advocates founder-friendly startup policies, particularly with its latest project, the Grameenphone Accelerator (powered by SD ASIA).
BDST: 2020 HRS, MAR 19, 2016
AKA
