Latest news with #ThePitch
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
250+ startups and counting, with Runway Incubator at UPES
India has emerged as one of the world's most dynamic startup ecosystems, currently home to over 119 unicorns (Tracxn, 2025) and thousands of ventures disrupting traditional industries. Ranked third globally in terms of the number of startups, the country continues to benefit from government-led initiatives focused on building job creators rather than just job seekers. A robust digital infrastructure and a new generation of entrepreneurial talent have further accelerated this momentum. Yet, many young innovators, particularly from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, still lack access to a nurturing ecosystem that provides structured mentorship, funding opportunities, and hands-on experience to transform ideas into meaningful impact. Recognising this need, UPES has taken a proactive approach to foster innovation and entrepreneurship from the ground up. At UPES, this nurturing ecosystem has a name: Runway. Launched in 2021, Runway is the university's dedicated startup incubator, built to empower student founders and early-stage entrepreneurs from ideation to investment. In just under four years, Runway has grown into a full-fledged innovation hub, supporting over 250 startups. This reflects UPES' broader vision to embed entrepreneurship into the fabric of education, not as an elective, but as a core skill for the future. What sets the Runway apart is the credibility it has built in a remarkably short span. The incubator has secured over ₹20 crore in competitive grants from key national and state-level agencies, including DST, MeitY, DBT–BIRAC SPARSH, Startup Uttarakhand, and ACIC–AIM, NITI Aayog. Startups nurtured at the incubator have collectively raised close to ₹25 crore in external funding. These recognitions have positioned Runway as a serious platform for entrepreneurship—not only for students, but also for startups across the region seeking capital, mentorship, and technical support. Runway is grounded in a philosophy that seeks to lower barriers to entrepreneurship—especially for students from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, many of whom are first-generation entrepreneurs. The incubator welcomes students from all disciplines—engineering, law, design, liberal studies—encouraging interdisciplinary innovation. The focus is not just on launching startups, but on building ventures that solve real-world problems. Support spans a curated pre-incubation program, access to co-working spaces, labs for prototyping, legal and IP advisory, training in the art of pitching and GTM strategy, and mentorship from ecosystem experts and industry leaders. Regular demo days help connect founders with investors and funding opportunities. The most powerful driver, however, is the entrepreneurial culture on campus, where students are inspired to see themselves not just as job seekers, but as creators. This culture of action-oriented innovation will be further strengthened through 'The Pitch', an upcoming Shark Tank-style event at UPES. The high-stakes showcase will feature 12–15 early-stage startups pitching live for a chance to secure funding from a ₹3 crore pool, with a minimum ticket size of ₹25 lakhs (approximately $25,000) per startup. But this is more than just a funding event. The Pitch reflects UPES' broader vision of redefining higher education by backing entrepreneurial talent with real money, real mentorship, and real opportunities. With university leadership, investors, and industry experts on the panel, the event is set to mark a bold chapter in UPES' journey as a startup university. This culture has already given rise to several promising startups such as: UGreen Technology Founded by Gaurav Dwivedi ( Petroleum Engineering, UPES, 2019–2023), UGreen Technology is a CleanTech venture that began as a bold idea, and Runway was the first to believe in it. UGreen launched India's first carbon capture pilot for the E&P sector. Its flagship product, OCOFix, uses a patented molecular engineering method to decarbonise hard-to-abate industries. With ₹92.5 lakh raised through grants and a ₹4 crore funding round in the pipeline, UGreen is setting the pace in climate innovation. Gaurav thanks his alma mater for the exposure and access to cutting-edge labs for his success. 'The professors believed in my ideas even before they were fully formed. Their mentorship was instrumental in turning an idea on paper into a national-level CleanTech startup,' he says. Pension Box Founded by Kuldeep Parashar ( Applied Petroleum Engineering, UPES, 2010–2014), Pension Box is helping India rethink retirement. It offers a digital pension infrastructure that enables users, especially gig workers and the self-employed, to plan, automate, and manage their retirement savings effortlessly. With ₹7 crore in funding from marquee investors, including the founders of Zerodha, the platform has grown rapidly and become a thought leader in the retirement tech space. Kuldeep credits UPES for having instilled in him the confidence to think beyond the obvious. 'The faculty not only taught us what was in the books but also challenged us to apply that knowledge in real-world scenarios. That mindset helped shape my entrepreneurial journey,' he says. Indian Hempstore Founded by Siddharth Gupta (MBA, Logistics, Materials, and Supply Chain Management, UPES, 2013–2015), Indian Hempstore is building India's first hybrid marketplace for hemp-based products. The venture promotes sustainable alternatives across fashion, food, wellness, and lifestyle, while also supporting rural producers and artisans. The idea took root during Siddharth's time at UPES, where early exposure to sustainable practices inspired him to explore hemp as a future-ready material. With support from Runway, Indian Hempstore has fulfilled over 2,000 orders, onboarded 40+ brands, and generated over ₹15 lakh in revenue, helping position hemp as a planet-positive solution for the future. Siddharth credits UPES and Runway for enabling him to channel his purpose into a scalable business. 'Runway gave us the space to dream bigger and the support to build what truly matters- a startup that is good for people and the planet,' he says. These ventures stand out not only for innovation but for their purpose, with a focus on accessibility and social impact. They reflect what's possible when young entrepreneurs are equipped with the right environment and intent. With Runway, UPES is doing more than launching startups, it's cultivating changemakers who may well define India's next innovation wave.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bong Joon-ho and Robert Pattinson's Mickey 17 Is One Messy Trip to Space: Review
The post Bong Joon-ho and Robert Pattinson's Mickey 17 Is One Messy Trip to Space: Review appeared first on Consequence. The Pitch: If Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) was on Earth, you'd say he had the worst job on Earth. However, he works in space as an 'Expendable' — a man who's agreed to be killed and 'reprinted' infinitely on a colonization expedition to the far-off planet Nilfheim. When we first meet Mickey, he's Mickey 17, having been killed 16 previous times while completing hazardous tasks or in the name of scientific experimentation. But the not-so-bright Mickey doesn't mind it that much. If nothing else, he's in love with a fellow crewmate, the fierce but loyal Nasha (Naomi Ackie), who gives him reason to live (and then live again). When a planet-side mission doesn't end up killing him (for once), Mickey 17 returns back to his ship, only to discover that a new Mickey has already been printed — a major violation of the rules about reprinting humans. That's only one of the problems Mickey's got, though, thanks to the despotic failed politician and wife (Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette) running this operation, and the real dangers of the planet outside… Director Bong's Blank Check? It's been over five years since the groundbreaking Oscar wins of Bong Joon-ho's Parasite, building up no shortage of anticipation about what the singular South Korean director might tackle next. Mickey 17 probably isn't the follow-up anyone was really expecting, though — an often wild, narratively messy sci-fi comedy that definitely feels like it got re-edited a whole bunch between filming and release. As one example of said re-editing: It's never a great sign when the protagonist narrates what's going on over a scene where two characters are having an inaudible conversation — a conversation that was clearly audible in the original cut of the movie. That's how the movie ends up introducing us to Mickey's lover Nasha, entirely as a support system for Mickey as he goes through his unending cycle of life and death. She's one of several characters who feels like more of a sketch than a fully realized human. Lost in Space: To her credit, Naomi Ackie's game and committed in her performance as Nasha, like pretty much everyone else who showed up to play. It's an ensemble filled with people making big, sometimes huge choices — like every single line delivery from Mark Ruffalo. As Kenneth Marshall, the expedition's leader, Ruffalo unlocks a level of previously undiscovered cartoonishness, which plays in fascinating if unbalanced contrast to Toni Collette's unhinged work as his wife and ally. Meanwhile, Steven Yeun's role as Mickey's friend from home (and also the reason Mickey's in this mess) feels like it was the one most cut down, to the point where you can't really say he has all that much of a character arc. Oh, except there's also Holliday Grainger as one of the chief architects of the human printing technology, who gets a few unhinged moments that hint at a much darker, much stranger movie than the final product. Mickey 17 (Warner Bros.) Copy and Paste It's fascinating to look back over Robert Pattinson's past roles, which feature a remarkable percentage of fascinating freaks in freaky situations — even when playing literal Bruce Wayne in The Batman, Pattinson found a way to bring out the superhero's inner Orin from Parks and Recreation. So of course he based the voices of Mickey 17 and Mickey 18 on Ren and Stimpy. Why wouldn't he? Truthfully, it's a testament to Pattinson's skills as an actor that 17 and 18 both feel like very distinct individuals; it's easy to accept the artifice of him playing two separate characters in a way that hasn't always been the case with actors acting opposite themselves. More importantly, Pattinson doesn't let the stranger elements of the story overwhelm Mickey's simple yet sweet nature — across multiple iterations, he's a character to root for, a true testament to Pattinson's talents. He might consistently resist the temptation to go the traditional movie star route, but that movie star charisma cannot be contained. The Verdict: Mickey 17 is at its best when director Bong really leans into exploring the dirty details of blue-collar space exploration: The spaceship sets are grimy, lived-in, and factory-like and the human-printing technology is a janky 3-D printer on a whole new scale, almost making noises like an old dot-matrix machine as it spits out copy after copy of Mickey. And Mickey's many deaths are depicted with a slapstick glee that epitomizes the best kind of black comedy. Yet there are numerous plotting issues throughout the movie — as just one example, there's a sequence in which characters lie down to commit forbidden acts of debauchery with the door to their cabin left open. If it were a rushed act of passion, maybe it'd make sense, but in the context of the film it just makes the viewer question the common sense of everyone involved. It's not that Mickey 17 is an aberration for Bong — three of his past seven movies have dwelled in the realm of oddball sci-fi. But as mentioned earlier, it feels like the movie that he shot is much stranger and darker than the movie actually being released, its weirder moments sanded away for a mainstream release. The movie thus ends up being a little disappointing, in a way that it wouldn't be if Mickey 17 were directed by a less noteworthy director after a less noteworthy period of years. The existential elements of the premise, you can tell, were the big draw for Bong. But beyond Mickey confirming that no matter how often he does it, he still hates dying, it's unclear what Bong is trying to say about life. Beyond the fact that it beats the alternative. Where to Watch: Mickey 17 blasts off into theaters on Friday, March 7th. Trailer: Bong Joon-ho and Robert Pattinson's Mickey 17 Is One Messy Trip to Space: Review Liz Shannon Miller Popular Posts Michelle Trachtenberg Dead at 39 Jon Stewart Calls Out Elon Musk for Flaking on The Daily Show Interview Gene Hackman and Wife's Deaths Ruled "Suspicious" as Investigators Find No Signs of Gas Leak Faster Pussycat Singer's Fiancée Dies After Falling Overboard on '80s Cruise That Band Was Playing Pink Floyd to Release 4K Remaster of Live At Pompeii in Theaters and IMAX 10 Pop-Rock Bands You Forgot Used to Be Heavy Subscribe to Consequence's email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox.
