Girls in Technology To Pep-Up Nasscom's 10,000 Start-ups Programme

National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has celebrated the one year anniversary of its 10,000 Start-up Programme. It was announced that under this programme In the future, NASSCOM will also strengthen this initiatives such as ‘Girls in Technology’, ‘Start-up connect’ sessions’ and aims to introduce more initiatives that will support start-ups and build India as entrepreneurship friendly nation.

NASSCOM also aims to build more start-ups warehouses in different regions of the country to provide necessary support to budding businesses. The initiative started in March 2013 was aimed at providing the necessary support to Indian technology start-ups and create 10,000 domain specific start-ups in the country.

Addressing a group of start-ups in Bangalore, R. Chandrashekhar, President,

NASSCOM and Ravi Gururaj, Chairman, NASSCOM Product Council highlighted various achievements and developments in the journey of NASSCOM 10,000 Start-ups Programme.

NASSCOM had commenced the programme with the support of Google, Kotak, Microsoft and Verisign. In April, last year NASSCOM invited the first round of entries and shortlisted entrepreneurs were provided funding ranging from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 2 crore through leading angel investor networks of the country. Selected start-ups were also offered 3 to 4 months of incubation at leading incubators of India, along with co-working space at affordable cost. The second phase of applications commenced in October 2013

NASSCOM, along with partners focused on multi-fold activities aimed at fostering entrepreneurship, building entrepreneurial capabilities at scale and providing robust early stage support through mentorship. One of the major developments during the journey was the launch of the Start-up Warehouse in Bangalore to create a micro-ecosystem where start-ups and entrepreneurs can work together, share their learnings and best practices with each other.

Speaking on the occasion, R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM stated “We are overwhelmed with the response received for the programme and have processed more than 7000 applications in two cycles. NASSCOM is glad to have initiated this programme and is successfully enabling start-ups along with VCs, angel investors and other relevant communities that provide support to start-ups accelerating its growth.” He further added that “With a strong focus on innovation, NASSCOM remains committed to build a vibrant tech start-up ecosystem in India to sustain this momentum.”

Recently, NASSCOM nominated 25 innovative technology start-ups from India for Innotrek – a visit to US for salient entrepreneur focused events. With this initiative NASSCOM aims to provide a global platform for innovative young businesses to ‘Collaborate, Connect and Co-create’. It will be a week long immersive experience in which these start-ups will have a first-hand experience of Silicon Valley product ecosystem, access to global VCs/Angels and chance to connect with big tech enterprises. InnoTrek aims to help the selected start-ups to understand what it takes to build world class products.

In the past one year, the programme has received a very encouraging response from the start-up community. Playing the role of catalyst, NASSCOM 10,000 Start-ups Programme has provided a platform for young businesses to have access for suitable incubation, mentoring and funding through multifold activities. Start-up events included fireside chats, pitch sessions, mentoring sessions, whitespace discussions, skill building workshops, recruitment events, and co-founder hunts.