The startup scene in India is expected to get a boost with this event, scheduled later in the month. Over 40 big names of the Silicon Valley are expected to visit India later this month for the launch of “Start Up India”, where Indian PM Narendra Modi will introduce his government’s plan for promoting startups.
Among those expected to attend are Silicon Valley’s well-known venture capitalists & angel investors including Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son & WeWork founder Adam Nuemann. These & several other top heavyweights will have mentoring sessions with founders & other key personnel of 2,000 Indian startups. Kalanick will also deliver the keynote address at the event. He will also hold a “JamPad” session for Indian entrepreneurs & speak on subjects like company creation, its building & best use of technology.
The day-long event will be inaugurated in the Indian capital of New Delhi on January 16. It will be telecast ‘live’ at major universities, educational institutes & youth groups in over 350 Indian districts. According to Amitabh Kant, Secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, the government intends to create an ecosystem to enable startups to become job creators instead of job seekers. Kant told reporters that the government wants to minimize its role & ease the compliances faced by startups
Several mentoring sessions on digitization, healthcare & financial inclusion & encouraging women entrepreneurship will be held through the day. A session titled “Face-to-face with Policy makers” has also been organized. Here, top secretaries to the Government of India will be available to respond to questions of startups on subjects concerning their domain. Google will conduct a session titled ‘Launchpad Accelerator’, offering US $15,000 of equity funding for early stage startups. Entrepreneurs can also make ‘live ‘presentations about their business ideas. Softbank President & COO Nikesh Arora will also mentor the youth & guide them on aspects of fund raising for their projects.
Indian entrepreneurs who have been invited for the event include Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal, Quikr founder Pranay Chulet, Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma & Freecharge CEO Kunal Shah.
A virtual exhibition is also being organized as part of the event to showcase innovative work by Indian startups.
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