TMC selects two startups to represent Thane in UK

Toolyt and Culture Aangan were selected in a competition in which more than 200 homegrown startups participatedstaret up

The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has selected two startups to represent the city at the International Business Festival at Liverpool, United Kingdom.

French start-up Prynt recently presented its smartphone case, which includes a built-in printer.

Toolyt and Culture Aangan were selected in a competition in which more than 200 homegrown startups participated.

The jury, chaired by TMC commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal, finalized the startups.

The initiative is a part of TMC’s vision to transform the city into a hub for startups and business ventures. The focus of the competition was on solving grassroots issues, cutting across tourism, technology, administration and infrastructure, creating new entrepreneurial and revenue opportunities.

Jaiswal said, “This is part of our larger initiative to solve local infrastructural issues through innovation, with the vision of putting Thane on the global startup map. I look forward to collaborating with the selected startups in our vision to transform Thane.”

Toolyt is a business automation tool that helps organisations to increase the productivity of its field force.

Nizamudheen Valliyattu, founder of Toolyt, said, “We can rope in global best practices and mentors to create entrepreneurial and revenue opportunities to build solutions to transform Thane.”

Culture Aangan is dedicated to bring grassroot-level changes in rural communities by creating sustainable and experiential tourism destinations. This in turn creates livelihoods by educating and empowering the local village women.

Similarly, Rashmi Sudhir Sawant, Founder of Culture Aangan, said, “there is an opportunity of creating an eco-system at Yeoor Hills which can be promoted as a tourist hub. By preserving the heritage of the original habitants of the villages, pockets of the villages can be developed as a home-stay for families from Thane or neighbouring Mumbai. Apart from that, there are huge opportunities to develop many neighbouring villages into an eco-tourism model, creating sustainable communities and possibly mitigating migration of the villagers to cities in search of employment.”