Gujarat’s tech start-up scene not mature, NRGs willing to help

Non-Resident Gujarati (NRG) entrepreneurs will set up a research and innovation centre in Gujarat for start-ups from the state, across the country and even abroad. They say that the technology-based start-up ecosystem in Gujarat is not as mature as it is in the southern states and hence Gujaratis living in the USA are eager to contribute to Gujarat’s start-up.

“While there is a positive intent, the main bottleneck is engagement. Our centre for research, innovation and entrepreneurship will be an important link for them. All start-up hubs have at least one success story and Gujarat also needs one to emerge on a global platform,” Jay Patel, founder of NRI Start-up India told media person here on Friday on the sidelines of a national start-up pitching event. About a dozen-odd start-ups from across the country, including one from Gujarat, participated in the pitching session to the investor community, where seven start-ups bagged investments worth Rs50 lakh.

The centre will also provide opportunities of scaling up to local start-ups and provide them with the exposure and the expertise of NRI Start-up India, which has networks in the US, the UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand.

“We plan to reach out to one million NRIs, who are eager to contribute to India. We are sector-neutral and will focus on various sectors like agrotech, health-tech, biotech, fin-tech as well as future technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning,” said Patel.

A challenge!

NRI Start-up India has announced a challenge for start-ups in the fin-tech sector, the winner of which will get investments worth USD 1 million. It will be a pan-India challenge and the finals will take place in October this year. 
A challenge similar to this one will also be held in 50 countries, under which 25 clusters will be developed. Each winner will get equity investment worth Rs25 lakh.