SIDBI Investor – Startup Meet

February 17, 2024: An event to deliberate on the various matters related to Startup Ecosystem in Uttar Pradesh, viz. “Amrit Kaal for Uttar Pradesh Startups – Roadmap for Next 25 years” was organised by SIDBI, in association with SIIC-IIT Kanpur & StartinUP on February 16, 2024, in Radisson Blu MBD Hotel, Noida. The event was organised as an in-person interaction with the leading Fund Managers & Startups with the officials of GoUP, for promoting the startup culture and nurturing the ecosystem in UP though Venture Capital Funding. The event was graced by Shri D. S. Mishra (IAS), Chief Secretary, GoUP and Shri S Ramann (IA&AS), CMD, SIDBI as chief guests. Shri Anil Kumar Sagar, (IAS), Principal Secretary, GoUP, Shri Alok Kumar, (IAS), Principal Secretary, Planning GoUP, Dr Lokesh M, (IAS), CEO, Noida Authority and Shri Ravi Ranjan, (IAS), Managing Director UPLC in presence of other senior officials of GoUP and over 50 representatives of various Alternative Investment Funds and startups. Of the various prominent Venture Capitalists in India, Shri Saket Misra of SVAS Fund, Shri Sudhir Sethi of Chiratae Ventures, Smt Padmaja Ruparel of IAN Fund, Shri Sunil Goyal of Yournest Capital, Shri Alok Mehta of Blume Ventures, Smt. Ankhi Das of Ankurit Capital and Smt. Archana Hingorani of Siana Capital were also present, among others.

Shri S P Singh, Chief General Manager, SIDBI, while welcoming the participants & dignitaries, appreciated the work and policies that have been formulated by the GoUP. He further appreciated the handholding support being provided in terms of setting up of incubation platforms, centre of excellence etc. He highlighted the support that SIDBI is ready to provide and has been providing for promoting the startup culture in the state of Uttar Pradesh, through UP Startup fund of ` 1000 Crore established under the UP IT & Startup policy 2017.

Prof Ankush Sharma, Prof-In-Charge Innovation, IITK, & Dr Nikhil Agarwal, CEO, AI CoE & FIRST, IITK, presented on the topic “Amrit-Kal for UP Startups: Roadmap for next 25 years”, charting detailed current status and their views on capitalising on the momentum.

Shri Alok Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Planning GoUP, highlighted on the achievements of the GoUP in the promotion of the Startup culture. He further stated that in the past 2 years, GoUP has established more than 60 incubators and Centre of excellence’s (COE). Furthermore, the incubators are being provided with capital grant for setting and scaling up their technology infrastructure, financial support of ` 30 lakh per year, a grant of ` 1 lakh to ` 10 lakh, financial support in the form of grant-in-aid up to 10 crore COE and developing infrastructure to support the growth of ecosystem.

Shri Anil Kumar Sagar, IAS, Principal Secretary, GoUP in his address emphasised upon various initiatives such as “StartinUP and skill development centres in the major cities of Uttar Pradesh among others which has helped in creating a conducive environment for giving shape to the innovative ideas. He indicated that the startup incubators are well equipped in terms of all resources to support any idea into a workable enterprise.

Shri S. Ramann, Chairman and Managing Director, SIDBI said, “By committing `10,000 crore to Startup India Fund of Funds, the Government of India took a leap of Faith for vitalising the startup ecosystem. He stated that, against the commitment of `10,000 crore, the AIFs have brought in `55,000 crore of capital from global sources, which is a great contribution to Indian economy. From this commitment of `10,000 crore the SIDBI had already disbursed ~`4300 crore to ~100 AIFs which in turn were able to mobilise an investment of ~`17,000 crore in to ~1000 startups which is almost 4 times. He opined that the AIFs have become the preferred route of private capital investment in startups and the ready availability of funding from the AIF’s have enabled the startups to work on large scale problem solving. The Indian startup ecosystem is an intricate one with the small

startups supporting the large enterprises in developing technologies/ products which have the potential to benefit the mass. With SEBI mandating dematerialization of units representing investment in AIFs, the secondary market for private capital is bound to grow.”

During the course of deliberations founders of several startups such as Lal10, Getwork, University Living shared their views on current status business environment and suggestions for further improvements. They all were unanimous that Uttar Pradesh could emerge as a Startup hub on the same level as that of Karnataka and Maharashtra. Furthermore, the AIFs such as SVAS Fund, IAN Fund, Alkemi, Blume Venture, Chiratae Venture also shared their thoughts on proliferating the startup ecosystem and increasing the mobilisation of Venture capital funds in the state of UP.

Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, IAS, Chief Secretary, GoUP in his remarks as chief guest announced that together with developing the area near the Jewar airport, the Government is also working on a major plan to develop the Bundelkhand area on the model of Noida by setting up Bundelkhand Industrial Development Authority. He assured that the request from various quarters for setting up of RoC at Noida will be addressed with utmost priority by the Government. The government is also working to operationalise 21 airports in Uttar Pradesh and 12 new universities. These measures are being taken to encourage reverse migration of talent in Uttar Pradesh. To address issues being faced by AIFs and the Startups, a dedicated single window system will be setup. He also highlighted the importance of collaboration of educational institutes in UP on the lines of the USA. While underlining prospects of various segments, he called on the AIFs and Startups setup their units and offices in Uttar Pradesh, as it offered, a growing economy with per capita income growing at an extremely fast rate.

Shri Ravi Ranjan, IAS, Managing Director UPLC in his closing remarks, stated that they have noted all the suggestions and the problems that are being faced by the startups and the AIF’s and the GoUP shall be proactively resolving the same. He then thanked all the dignitaries and the participants in actively participating in the discussion and sharing their thoughts.