CII Karnataka President Arjun M Ranga and vice president Vijaykrishnan Veketesan He said he had established a startup task force Which will work in specific sectors to further strengthen Bengaluru’s vibrant startup ecosystem and take it to the next level in Tier-II cities.
CII has identified some areas where startups struggle to grow despite chasing great ideas.
The task force will provide them with various types of support including access to large corporates, mentorship by CEOs, helping them proof of concept Ranga told ET that in large industries (POCs) and connecting them with angel/venture investors. “We will help them create opportunities to work with large industries.”
CII plans to create a new ecosystem for startups and help them solve some of the challenges they face. Many startups break down an idea and come up with a prototype, but struggle to run a test module or pilot it for access to large industries. Task force coordinator Laik Ali told this paper that CII’s Startup Task Force will step in and act as a bridge.
Ranga said, it was important that established industry leaders and CEOs handle upcoming startups with disruptive ideas, and suggested that startups subscribe to CII and take advantage of the many benefits including relevant sessions and events for them.
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The President of CII-Karnataka said that being a part of CII would bring them many benefits including policy advocacy, interaction with the government at the highest level and becoming globally competitive. He said that during the Covid pandemic many startups joined CII.
“Within the ecosystem we will align multiple stakeholders including startup founders, mentors, incubators, accelerators, angel investors and VC firms. The task force will focus on identifying specific actions to build the startup ecosystem,” said Ali.
CII will organize some of its events in open areas including co-working spaces and cafes as part of its outreach program and bring startups on board.
CII Karnataka, Ranga said, has around 700 members, and only 40% of them are MSMEs and 10% are educational institutions like engineering colleges and B-schools. Rest are all big industries and corporates, he said.
A recent research by UK-based London & Partners database Dealroom.Co revealed that Bengaluru is the leading Asian city and fifth in the world for tech venture capital investment in 2022.