Bengaluru– Jaipur-based Hexpressions, which offers affordable, ready-to- assemble homes made out of composite paper honeycomb panels was the winner of the Samsung Global Startup Acceleration Program award and was given a prize of Rs 200,000, the South Korean tech giant said on Friday.

Samsung organiseed the programme here in partnership with the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B) to mentor startups in varied fields in order to support the sustainable growth of local entrepreneurs in the country.

Bengaluru-based Ziroh Labs that works in the area of privacy engineering and runtime encryption of data emerged as the first runners up was given a prize of Rs 150,000 while New Delhi-based Olly Credit, with a business model around mobile micro credit cards for millennials, was judged the second runners up and was given a prize of Rs 100,000.

“At Samsung we strive to encourage young minds and nurture the spirit of innovation. With the Global Startup Acceleration Program, our experts and engineers from different domains are volunteering to support the sustainable growth of local entrepreneurs in the early stage,” Aloknath De, Chief Technology Officer, Samsung R&D Institute, Bangaluru, said in a statement.

As part of the progaramme, a group of university students and employees from Samsung’s global headquarters in South Korea mentored 20 shortlisted startups remotely for the last two months.

Since 2010, about 1,500 employees have joined this programme in 43 countries, Samsung said, adding that this year the company was focused on supporting local entrepreneurs and helping them build their businesses for a sustainable impact on society.

This programme is being held globally in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa between July and September with 80 selected startups, Samsung said. (IANS)