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AkzoNobel’s Paint the Future India challenge awards two startups
September 26, 2022
Two startups in India have won Paint the Future awards and the chance to continue working together with AkzoNobel to accelerate their solutions.
The winning submissions answered the company’s call for innovative ways to enhance the digital consumer experience for Dulux paints in India. The winners are:
Startup |
Location |
Solution |
HyperReality Technologies |
Bengaluru, India |
Collaborative platform for inspiration and visualization of a space in the metaverse |
Fluid AI |
Mumbai, India |
Multi-channel, conversational, immersive and interactive AI platform to guide consumers during their painting journey |
Having already signed letters of intent to work together on sustainable business opportunities, the two winners now join AkzoNobel’s accelerator program.
“Over the next six months, the goal is clear – to work together with our winners and develop a digital value proposition,” says Oscar Wezenbeek, Managing Director of AkzoNobel Decorative Paints in South East and South Asia and Chair of AkzoNobel India. “The startups will have access to our global network of experts and resources leading up to ‘Demo Day’. That’s when they’ll showcase the results that will shape the future of their collaboration with AkzoNobel.”
“This startup challenge is about collaborating with equally passionate Indian startups to boost the magic of Dulux and paint the future of paint consumers’ digital experience,” says Rajiv Rajgopal, Managing Director of AkzoNobel India. “Innovation is key to AkzoNobel’s approach to sustainable business, and we see a lot of potential in these winning solutions.”
“From the depth of the expert sessions to the sheer amount of industry knowledge we’ve gained, this bootcamp has been a collaborative experience unlike any other,” says Sobin Thombra, CEO of HyperReality Technologies.
“We’re stoked about our win,” say the co-founders of Fluid AI, Abhinav Aggarwal and Raghav Aggarwal. “AkzoNobel’s astute understanding of our artificial intelligence solution is a gateway to bringing new consumer-centric disruptions in the paints sector.”
The India startup challenge is the third regional edition of Paint the Future. Run in partnership with NASSCOM Industry Partnership Program (NIPP), the challenge attracted 207 submissions from 33 cities across India.
Nine finalists were invited to an intense two-day bootcamp program, where customized sessions with AkzoNobel experts helped them further refine their solution’s value proposition before the final pitch to the Paint the Future jury.
For more information, visit the Paint the Future India startup challenge 2022.
About Paint the Future
Launched in 2019, Paint the Future is AkzoNobel’s global collaborative innovation ecosystem. It’s a bold initiative to accelerate, test, launch and scale ideas and solutions for the paints and coatings industry. Paint the Future runs a variety of programs to accelerate innovation. Initially open to startups, it was quickly expanded to embrace academia, research institutes and two large groups of suppliers. As the ecosystem continues to grow and build on the success of each program, it’s become the largest in the industry.
About AkzoNobel
We supply the sustainable and innovative paints and coatings that our customers, communities – and the environment – are increasingly relying on. That’s why everything we do starts with People. Planet. Paint. Our world class portfolio of brands – including Dulux, International, Sikkens and Interpon – is trusted by customers around the globe. We’re active in more than 150 countries and have set our sights on becoming the global industry leader. It’s what you’d expect from a pioneering paints company that’s committed to science-based targets and is taking genuine action to address globally relevant challenges and protect future generations.
