DW BUREAU / CHANDIGARH Chitkara University recently conducted the grand finale of the 'India Innovation Challenge- 2021' ? one of the largest funding fest and University driven platforms for upcoming start-ups. With a mission to promote novel and practical innovations, India Innovation Championship witnessed record participation by teams from across the nation and abroad. The Championship which was open to innovators, entrepreneurs, designers, thinkers, students, engineers, scientists, coders, trainers, academicians from any background was launched in October 2020 as 'India Innovation Challenge ? 2021' and received a record 460 applications from the progressive sectors ranging from fin-tech, agri-tech, ed-tech, waste management solutions to the health sector. Only 23 start-ups qualified for the stringent screening and were allowed to 'Pitch and Present' their ideas to a panel of 10. Among the four start-ups that made it to the finals of IIC-2021, the start-up created by IIT Kharagpur final year students, Tushar Singla, Mann Goel, Anuprava and Shubham, 'eSaathi,' attracted investment and special mention. eSaathi is a software-based UI that aims to bridge the gap between new smartphone users and apps, which have become an essential part of a post-pandemic lifestyle. As shared by founders, their eureka moment came when they came across the fact that with nation-wide adoption of digitization for payment related tasks, especially during the pandemic, the instances of frauds had also skyrocketed (especially for new smartphone users). They were quick to identify an opportunity to leverage technology to help the users, and thus 'eSaathi' was born. eSAATHI provides users with guided audio-visual assistance, which helps them navigate all the apps step-by-step, thus augmenting a real human being. eSAATHI software has been designed to integrate itself with the partner companies' application element ID, thus ensuring a seamless and high-quality guided experience. Once integrated, the user receives guidance to navigate through one's phone, from unlocking the phone to making the payment or updating information. (editor@dailyworld.in)