With the likes of Uber, Co-founder Travis Kalanick, Kotak Mahindra, Managing Director, Uday Kotak, SEBI, Chairman, UK Sinha and Niti Aayog, CEO, Amitabh Kant among others, the TiE Global Summit scheduled to be held on December 16-17 at New Delhi, promises to be the biggest startup event in the country.
The Chairman Emeritus at TiE Delhi NCR, Former TiE Global Board Member and Co-Founder at Indian Angel Network, Saurabh Srivastava, talks about the importance of the Summit, entrepreneurship in India and the rationale behind holding such an event.
Q: Why do you think a conference like TiE Global Summit is apt for India today?
A: India is a growing ecosystem for entrepreneurs. Today, India stands tall as one of the top five startup ecosystems in the world, alongside the US, China, the UK and Israel. Looking at the growth patterns of startups over the last few years, there is a vital need of a Global platform to encourage networking, ideation and mentorship for entrepreneurs.
With the TiE Global Summit we aim to bring together seasoned and serial entrepreneurs, investors and sponsors from across the globe under one platform. The event will give entrepreneurs access to the most innovative and brightest minds working on scalable and profitable business ideas in the country.
The TiE Global Summit, through its network of 61 chapters in 18 countries and 13,000 members around the world will open opportunities for entrepreneurs to learn from the stellar line-up of speakers, meet the exhibitors and very efficiently and effectively connect with the funding sources with new program like VC Connect, which has been created to connect entrepreneurs with multiple venture capitalists at a rapid pace.
Q: Is it the tech scene in India that investors/established companies find interesting or is there diversity in what we do?
A: When it comes to investment, Indian technology startups are a major pull for the investor community across the Globe. Recent funding improvement has been observed from US and China with more and more investors opening up to the idea of investment in India startups. Despite few startups becoming profitable so far, tech innovations are set to back India for further growth.
Q: What are the changing dynamics of entrepreneurship in India and globally?
A: Entrepreneurship has the capacity to reshape economies and industries throughout the world and entrepreneurs have become the driving force behind the growth of any economy in India and globally. While there have been a few lay downs, overall, startups are creating jobs and opportunities for millions of individuals.
In India, the government has opened up gateways to foster entrepreneurship though various programs like Skill India, Make in India, etc. and its Rs. 10,000 crore fund for startups at SIDBI that was announced in the beginning of 2016. The Indian ecosystem has progressed with the focus shifting from the dominant ecommerce startups to innovations in sectors like Fintech and data analytics. Artificial Intelligence is also emerging as the next big innovation and has garnered the interest of key investors and angel networks globally.
Q: The funding scene is not looking very bright at the moment? Is there a cause to worry? Are our fundamentals correct?
A: The funding scene has tightened up for the large e commerce players and also a bit at the late stage companies. However, it remains very bullish at the angel stage, with more and more good professionals turning entrepreneur and increasingly quality people with truly innovative ideas starting up.
We are already amongst the top three startup hubs globally, have a large unsaturated market in many sectors and, therefore, I think we will continue to attract capital from around the world. The Government has set up a Fund-of-Funds which is infusing Rs 10,000 crore into VC Funds targeting early stage companies and this is a game changer
Source: Economic Times
Image Courtesy: NDTV
