The National Association of Software & Services (NASSCOM) announced the launch of “10,000 Start-ups”, a program aimed at incubating, funding and supporting 10,000 technology start-ups in India over the next ten years. The program is partnered by Indian Angel Network and supported by Google, Microsoft and Verisign.
The program will focus on multifold activities aimed at fostering entrepreneurship, building entrepreneurial capabilities at scale and providing robust early stage support through incubation, mentorship and angel funding.
10,000 Start-ups brings together key stakeholders of the ecosystem including start-up incubators, accelerators, angel investors, venture capitalists, start-up support groups and technology corporations to support entrepreneurs at early stages of their venture. This initiative is a collaborative effort to empower young entrepreneurs to create ventures of global scale from India. The program will focus on 3 core pillars. To evangelize and create awareness about technology entrepreneurship as a preferred career option, engage deeply with aspiring entrepreneurs through digital and social channels and start-up support groups to create entrepreneurial capability at scale and to incubate and facilitate funding of 10,000 start-ups through partnerships with some of the leading incubators, accelerators and angel networks in India.
Som Mittal, President Nasscom, said, “10,000 Start-ups aims to catalyze the technology start-up ecosystem by 5X and create a significant national impact on employment, GDP, innovation and entrepreneurship indices. This is one of the largest initiatives that Nasscom is undertaking and will be vital to realize the industry vision of $300 billion by 2020”.
Rajan Anandan, VP and Managing Director, Google India said “With over 150 million internet users and growing, the internet in India presents enormous opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship. At Google we are very excited about the possibilities that India represents and are committed to extend all the support to make this initiative a roaring success.”
Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India said, “Microsoft welcomes Nasscom’s 10,000 start-ups initiative, and is delighted to be a part of it. We believe that disruptive technologies and opportunities in the Indian market supported by this collaborative initiative will propel technology entrepreneurship in India to the next level”.