Soon to launch FICCI-IAN social venture fund to help Start-ups financially: Dr Ajay Chowdhry, Founder, HCL
This is the time to say Silicon Valley here we come: Dr Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI
New Delhi, NFAPost: FICCI on Wednesday launched India’s first ‘FICCI for Start-ups’ initiative which will provide a wide range of services and benefits to the Indian start-ups. The prime aim of this initiative will be to provide a voice to start-ups in India.
Addressing the launch webinar of ‘FICCI for Start-ups’, FICCI President Dr Sangita Reddy said start-ups are immensely essential to the growth of a nation’s economy.
“FICCI Start-ups is envisioned to help young Indian entrepreneurs to create a vibrant economy. This is the time to say Silicon Valley here we come,” said FICCI President Dr Sangita Reddy.
Membership
FICCI President Dr Sangita Reddy further said that these benefits will be offered to the FICCI Start-up members and the start-up membership is being offered free of cost till December 31, 2020.
“Any start-up taking membership over the next three months can avail the benefit package without any cost for the next one year,” added FICCI President Dr Sangita Reddy.
FICCI Start-up Committee Chairman & Founder HCL Dr Ajai Chowdhry said that FICCI is the first global chamber to create a special program for Start-ups.
“The ‘FICCI Start-up’ ecosystem will provide complete solution that any Start-up will require. “We are Looking at a range of services to provide to all start-ups. We are working on existing and new Mentorships and a lot of these programs will be opened up for members,” said FICCI Start-up Committee Chairman & Founder HCL Dr Ajai Chowdhry.
FICCI Start-up Committee Chairman & Founder HCL Dr Ajai Chowdhry said entrepreneurs will help them in building relationships with accelerators, incubators, and angel funding.
Social venture
“We will soon be launching FICCI-IAN social venture fund to financially support the Indian Start-ups,” added FICCI Start-up Committee Chairman & Founder HCL Dr Ajai Chowdhry.
Startup India Hub Head Aastha Grover said today, 45% of start-ups are coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities with at least one start-up from each state and union territory in India.
“With the support of the State governments, industry association and stakeholders, India is the 3rd largest ecosystem when it comes to Start-ups,” said Startup India Hub Head Aastha Grover.
FICCI Secretary General Dilip Chenoy said that over the last decade, even before start-ups was a common word in the lexicon in India, FICCI had been playing an important role in fostering the Indian Innovation and entrepreneurship system in the country.
“We are currently implementing 14+ national and global programs through PPP to encourage and enable start-ups to grow and creating joint ventures of start-ups between India and countries in Africa and Latin America and more recently in Russia,” said FICCI Secretary General Dilip Chenoy.
Mentorship
A comprehensive benefit package has been developed by FICCI under the said initiative which includes connecting start-ups to FICCI corporate members, mentorship by industry experts, direct connect to the Indian Angel Network, access to soon to be set up FICCI-IAN social venture fund, access to FICCI innovation and start-up programs, exhibitions, delegations, conferences at special costs, connect to the global investor community, policy advocacy with the government on behalf of start-up members among others.
These benefits will be offered to the FICCI Start-up members, membership for which is being offered free of cost till December 31, 2020. Any start-up taking membership over the next three months can avail the benefit package without any cost for the next one year.
Funding
The official logo for ‘FICCI for Start-ups’ was also unveiled during the launch event. FICCI’s start-up committee is backed by stalwarts including Saurabh Srivastava, Padmaja Ruparel, Naganand Doraswamy, Ullas Kamath, Yogesh Andlay among others.
Since 2007, FICCI has been providing funding, capacity building and market access under several public-private programmes to the Indian start-ups. Having supported 1000+ startups/innovators till date with over Rs 125 Crores, FICCI has been an active player in the start-up ecosystem.
Start-up enterprises supported by FICCI have been able to generate 140,000+ jobs and leverage over five times from external market sources. Over 100 companies have been provided access to global markets across US, South Asia and Africa. For further details, please visit the website: www.ficciforstartups.org
