TiE South Coast Announces The Inaugural AI2025 Innovation Awards

Recipients Personify Excellence in AI, Real-Life Leadership, and Impact across the Greater San Diego Region Winners to be Honored at the TiE South Coast Tectonic Shifts AI Conference on March 29, 2025

SAN DIEGO, March 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The Indus Entrepreneur (TiE) South Coast chapter announced the winners of its inaugural AI2025 Innovation Awards and will be honoring them at its upcoming AI conference, themed “Tectonic Shifts”, scheduled for Saturday, March 29^th, 2025 in San Diego. The chosen recipients represent start-up founders and company executives who have demonstrated excellence across AI business and technical fields, personified real-world AI leadership, and showcased AI impacts across the Greater San Diego region.

“AI is transforming enterprises, incubating disruptive start-ups, and empowering entrepreneurs at an unprecedented and breathtaking pace,” said Pankaj Kedia, Founder and Managing Partner at 2468 Ventures LLC., an AI Investing, Advisory, and Consulting Firm, and TiE South Coast Charter Member. “We are delighted to launch the inaugural AI2025 Innovation Awards, recognize individuals who are seizing the AI mantle, and look forward to celebrating their achievements at the upcoming TiE South Coast AI Conference. Heartiest congratulations to all the well-deserving winners.”

The goal of the TiE South Coast AI2025 Innovation Awards is to recognize individuals and support them in our quest to make San Diego the hub of AI innovation and leadership. The inaugural TiE South Coast AI Conference is designed to discuss the opportunities that we must seize and the challenges we must overcome to accelerate AI development and adoption.

“At TiE, our mission is to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs,” said Jai Bhagat, President of TiE South Coast, a highly accomplished serial entrepreneur and Wireless Hall of Fame inductee. “We are excited about hosting our first AI Conference in San Diego and look forward to honoring the AI2025 Innovation Award winners at the event.”

The TiE South Coast Tectonic Shifts AI Conference will bring together prominent speakers from such leading organizations as Avasant, Illumina, Intel Corp., Meta, NVIDIA, Siemens Healthineers, Truvian, UC San Diego, Viasat, and many others. The conference is sponsored by Adeia, ATS Wealth Management, Avasant, CIPRA.ai, Dell Technologies, Knobbe Martens, and Tata Consultancy Services.

The TiE South Coast AI2025 Innovation Award winners include

• Aashika Arasu: Co-Founder and CMO at QRinger, a start-up using AI to enhance user identification and allow homeowners to have peace of mind by automatically recognizing and verifying visitors.
• AJ Sarkar: Founder and CEO of OptimEyes AI, an AI powered risk management company providing cutting-edge solutions to the Global 500.
• Arasu Sanjeevi: Business Solutions Architect and Lead Data Specialist at Solar Turbines Inc., a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc. and one of the world’s leading manufacturers of industrial gas turbines.
• Blythe Towal: Chief of AI at EyePop.ai, a self-service platform designed to make cutting-edge perception AI accessible to business – empowering them to build smart, vision-driven products without the need for deep technical expertise.
• Eddie Revollo: Founder and CEO of Gambit Group AI, an AI consultancy firm helping businesses transition from old technologies and programs to streamlined AI processes.
• Gaurav Agarwal: CEO of Eyenuk, Inc., a global medical technology company pioneering AI solutions in healthcare for autonomous diagnosis of vision and life-threatening diseases using retinal images.
• Jay Srinivasan: CEO of Truvian, a San Diego start-up enabling sustainable healthcare with accessible blood testing for a healthier you.
• Naresh Lachmandas: Sr. Partner, CIO, CCO and Fellow at Avasant, a leading management consulting firm focused on translating the power of technology into realizable business strategies.
• Naresh Soni: CEO of Next Wave Technologies, Inc., a prominent player in generative AI and predictive modeling, and Executive Technology Advisor at CXAPP, a leading workplace experience platform. Also Chair, of the TiE South Coast Angels group.
• Naseeha Machingal: Director, Client Success and Partnerships at LegalEase Solutions, a solutions provider with extensive expertise in offering corporate legal departments innovative technology and AI enabled services.
• Nataraj Pagadala: Founder, President & CEO of LigronBio Inc., a start-up advancing precision therapeutics for Alzheimer’s and beyond.
• Prakash Sangam: Founder and Principal at Tantra Analyst, a leading boutique Industry Analyst firm focused on cellular IPR, 5G, AI, IoT, cloud and edge compute, Wi-Fi and other emerging tech.
• Raghu Rau: Highly accomplished executive and board member leading transformative change in the technology industry across Adeia, Xperi Corp., Tivo Inc., Quantum Corp., SeaChange Inc., Rovi Corp., Aviat Networks and Microtune Inc. Also, past CEO and Chairman of multiple public companies.
• Ram Patrachari: President of SPentarkAI, where he is leveraging AI and emerging technologies to drive innovation within the casino gaming and hospitality industries. Also serving as the AI Committee Chair for TiE South Coast.
• Srinivasa Manapragada: VP of Technology Business Systems at Wells Fargo, where he spearheads the integration of systems and data across the enterprise.
• Sujit Dey: Founder and CEO at CIPRA.ai, an AI-based precise, personalized and pro-active care start-up to treat and reverse chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes. Also, serving as an accomplished Professor at UC San Diego.

Additional information on the conference including the agenda and registration is available here: https://events.tie.org/TectonicShiftsAIInnovationandInvestmentConference.

About TiE and TiE South Coast

TIE was founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley by a group of successful entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and senior professionals with roots in the Indus region. TiE has been supporting entrepreneurs globally through its five pillars: Mentoring, Networking, Education, Funding and Incubation. Dedicated to the virtuous cycle of wealth creation and giving back to the community, TiE’s focus is on generating and nurturing our next generation of entrepreneurs. There are currently over 12,000 global members, including over 2,500 charter members in 60 chapters across 17 countries. The TiE South Coast chapter is leading the charge in AI and Innovation across the Greater San Diego region.

For media inquiries, please contact Vinay Bhagat, VP of Marketing for TiE South Coast at vinay@southcoast.tie.org.

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SOURCE The Indus Entrepreneur (TiE) South Coast