Bangalore: SiliconIndia and Mentor Graphics together organized an overwhelming event, Semicon and VLSI Startup Showcase India on May 30, 2013 in Bangalore. The event served as an exceptional platform for Startups in Semiconductor and VLSI to discuss the importance and the varied opportunities in this space. SiliconIndia and Mentor Graphics would like to thank all the speakers, delegates and all parties who made this event a grand success.

The event kick started with an interesting panel discussion on "VC Perspectives: Opportunities for Entrepreneurs in the Embedded Space. What Startups Need to do Right.?" by the Venture Capitalists. The speakers in this panel discussion were Samir Kumar, Managing Director, Inventus Capital Partners, Rahul Chandra, Co-founder and Managing Director, Helion Ventures, Bhavanipratap Rana, Investment Director, Intel Capital, Ramesh Radhakrishnan, Partner, Artiman Capital and it was very well moderated by Karthee Madasamy, Managing Director, Qualcomm Ventures India.

Samir Kumar, Managing Director, Inventus Capital Partners during the discussion quoted  "The bar is higher for semiconductor & embedded software start-ups, but this does not mean that disruptive innovations will not get funded".

While discussing on the above panel discussion, Rahul Chandra said, "Startups should focus on providing early validations while balancing the pressure to work on IP which is an order of magnitude better than current. Startup teams should be able to respond to faster times at the best capital efficiency ratio."

While discussing on “Growing a Start-Up into a Global Powerhouse”, Gude Dasaradha, CEO, Ineda Systems highlighted upon how one can come out with great ideas to grow in the semiconductor industry. He further added that Startup's should come up with ideas which have been validated globally with their potential customer. He also focused on the challenges faced by the Semiconductor Startups to grow globally.

Mark Haward, Chief Technology Officer, Syndiant gave an enthralling Keynote Session on "Concept to Success: Milestones for Startups". While speaking on this topic, Mark said, "Do not fall in love with your strategy & business model as the best market for your solution may not be the first market that you attack and the business model you initially propose may need to be modified to enable success."

He also highlighted on the various Innovations in this space. According to Mark, "Three years from now, we will look back on today and see many innovations in products and services that we did not think of. "So know that there are countless problems to which our eyes are presently blind."Look at the world from different perspectives with fresh eyes. See them." Solve them."

The following session was on "Enabling the Semicon/ VLSI Ecosystem" by M N Vidyashankar, Principal Secretary - Commerce & Industries Department, Government of Karnataka. According to Vidyashankar, "We need to kick start the start up culture in the two verticals and turbo charge the potential."

Speaking on "The Sankalp Journey", Vivek Pawar, Founder & Executive Chairman, Sankalp Semiconductor said, "Recruit better people than yourself as founder, in experience and performance for better scaling of company. Every churning/tough situation is opportunity to strengthen and come out stronger. Be flexible to change plan, strategy and roadmap by being open to learning, instead of being overly rigid."

The session was followed by an exciting panel discussion on "Semiconductor Entrepreneurship: Opportunities & Challenges". The speakers who were involved in this discussion are Vishwakumara Kayargadde, Co-Founder & CEO, Saankhya Labs, Naveen Chava, CEO, SiCon Tech, Dr. S S Mahant Shetti, Founder, KarMic Design Centre and it was very well steered by Arnob Roy, Co-Founder & President - Engineering, Tejas Networks.

During the discussion Vishwakumara Kayargadde, Co-Founder & CEO, Saankhya Labs said, "The Indian market offers many opportunities for Semiconductor product startups. Given the challenges of the Indian market and investment climate for semiconductor investments, technology innovation, partnerships and innovative ways to fund and execute the project are essential for success."