New Delhi : Canvera.com was today declared the winner of the TiE-Lumis Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards 2010 at the TiE Entrepreneurial Summit 2010, one of the largest entrepreneurship symposium in Asia. Currently in its 3rd year, the Excellence Awards are aimed to not only recognize the idea but also the effort, innovation and passion of the entrepreneurs who have braved the odds and made a mark with their start-ups. Canvera won this award along with B2R Technologies and ixigo.com. The award received 700+ submissions out of which 20 were shortlisted for screening and 6 companies were invited to present at the conference to decide the final winners.

Luminaries such as Pramod Bhasin CEO of Genpact, Saurabh Srivastava Chairman-Emeritus TiE-Delhi and Rohit Bhayana Managing Partner at Lumis formed a part of the jury and followed a fairly stringent evaluation process which focussed on the business understanding of the market vis-à-vis product placement; Current clientele and potential pipeline; Comparative positioning to the competitors; differentiators; value proposition; Social Impact, etc.

Canvera.com, a pioneer in the field of online digital photography started by Dr. Dhiraj Kacker (CEO) & Peeyush Rai (CTO) both first generation entrepreneurs. Dhiraj has been working in the field of Digital Imaging since 1991 and has a B.Tech in EE from IIT Mumbai and a PhD in EE with specialization in Imaging from Purdue University. Dhiraj moved to India after almost 13 years of living in the US to begin his journey as an entrepreneur. Peeyush is also a graduate of IIT Mumbai and had worked in the software industry both in India and the US for almost 13 years before starting the company with Dhiraj. Peeyush had stints at large corporations such as Oracle and a number of startups in Silicon Valley & India.

Commenting on this honour Dhiraj said, “This award is a testimony to the faith and entrepreneurial drive of the team at Canvera. I am humbled and elated at this honour as it recognizes the hard work and dedication of the the 500+ team members of Canvera.” Canvera has also previously won the “Best Photobook in Asia Pacific & Japan” HP Digital Print Award in the years 2008 and 2009 and the “Best Innovation in Technology” 2010 award by Asian Photography magazine for bringing innovation and professionalism to an unorganized market.