2021 TYE Global Final Competition Hosted by TIE Carolinas Concludes Successfully With 4,800 Attendees Worldwide

TYE Global Final Competition 2021

Cybersecurity Startup by High schoolers, Asteria From Washington DC, Wins First Prize

The 12th annual TYE Global Final Competition 2021 was hosted by TIE Carolinas on June 18-19. It was the grand finale event for the 2021 TYE (TIE Young Entrepreneurs) Program, a global initiative where high school students are taught how to build real-world startups over a 6-month period.

First prize honors went to TIE DC's Asteria, a machine-learning-based, predictive cybersecurity services startup. Second place went to TIE Boston's Scollab, a collaboration platform for students, outside the classroom setting. The third-place winner was Intern-net from TIE Rajasthan, a platform for matching high school students to company internships. Total cash prizes worth USD 12,500 were awarded to student teams. Young startup teams pitched disruptive ideas ranging from tackling water contamination issues in the fracking industry to injury-reducing socks to a farmers' marketplace to rent out expensive machinery.

The virtual event saw 105 students participating, representing 20 TIE chapters. It was judged by 23 esteemed international jury members and attended by 4,800 viewers, over the two-day period. Several TIE Carolinas leaders and TYE program leaders organized the event. For the 2020-2021 cohort, the TYE program enrolled 1,400 students worldwide and assisted them in building their first startups. Since its origin in 2005, TYE has impacted over 20,000 students. TiE Carolinas President Simmi Prasad underscored the global connectivity and participation that this event provided across several continents and geographies.

Tim Humphrey, Vice President of IBM's Chief Data Office, was invited as the Chief Guest of the event. Mr. Humphrey is also the senior location executive for IBM's largest site in North America, at Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Guest speakers, Pree Walia, founder of Preemadonna and Sajan Pillai, former CEO of UST Global, encouraged the young students with their personal startup stories and to go forth and affect positive change for the future.

Praveen Tailam, chairman of TIE Global, was pleased to see six all-girls teams who made it to the TYE Global Final Competition. An innovative new category introduced this year was the People's Choice award, where attendees could vote for their favorite startups.TIE Kerala's Kaapiphile, an all-girl team selling premium filter coffee sachets took home the prize this year. Many cash prizes and sponsor awards were given out at the event. 

The winning team's captain said, Alisha Luthra, said, "Our application has drawn immense interest from local businesses ... after winning the global competition, we are excited to develop our business further and launch our startup soon." Addressing the students, one of the judges, Magda Sanchez said, "The ideas presented today were solid. My hope is that the kids realize how talented they are, and there's nothing stopping them from moving forward and seeking funding."

Source: TIE Global

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