Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and Textiles, during the Startup India Innovation Week chaired a unicorn roundtable to celebrate the growth of the unicorns and chart a collaborative way forward to support the growth of more unicorns in India.
The 40 participating unicorns highlighted their learnings from their experience, factors that enabled their growth, and identified areas to boost the growth of the Indian ecosystem that can help the nation emerge as a global startup leader. Piyush Goyal urged the unicorns to come together and set up a unicorn club or association that would come up with solutions for access to capital for startups in the country, according to a PIB release.
The conversation focused on streamlining regulatory processes to foster a more startup friendly environment, increasing access in Tier-2/3 cities and learning from the best practices set up by financial institutions in the private sector.
Notably, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), this year, celebrated the coming together of the country’s key startups, entrepreneurs, investors, policy makers and other stakeholders on innovation and entrepreneurship across the country from 10th – 18th January 2024.
Marquee announcements and launches included ‘StartupShala’ – Startup India’s Accelerator Program, a 3-month long accelerator program for early-stage startups to provide them access to knowledge, network, funds, and guidance required to scale up. Each cohort of the program will be focused on a particular sector, the first one being CleanTech and 20 startups per cohort will be handpicked by experts through an open call for application.
To inspire students and aspiring entrepreneurs, 5 dedicated webinars focused on ‘How to Start Up’ were organised titled ‘MAARG Mentorship Series for Budding Entrepreneurs’. Industry leaders and mentors shared insights and key lessons about the basics of starting a startup.