IBM shares details of its Startup Star program

IBM has shared details of its B2C startup challenge called IBM Startup Star. To be a part of the program, the startup will be required to upload a video about their business and share it among their friends and customers. The Top 20 trending videos will be curated by IBM and out of which, five will be selected to present at the final event. Any B2C startup that is less than five years old can participate. There will be a panel consisting of IBM executives and VCs to judge the startups. Talking about the benefits that the winning startups stand to gain, IBM shares that they will get to present their company before an audience of more than 250 people. There would be a mentoring session from IBM. The IBM Global Entrepreneurship Program will publish the winners’ list to VCs and angel investors in India. IBM will also promote the winning companies via social media. Sharing more details on the IBM Global Entreprneur Program (GEP), IBM says that it offers cloud credits worth $1000/month for a year on Softlayer and $1000/month for a year on Bluemix to its members. It also provides technical support to startups on Bluemix and Softlayer. To select startups, it provides business mentoring, connects them to enterprises, connects to IBM teams for synergies. IBM GEP conducts engages with startups by conducting Enterprise Hackathons. In addition to the IBM Startup Star challenge, a key event organised by IBM GEP in India is Smartcamp – the B2B startup challenge.