India Startup Festival-2023 to bring HNIs, VCs, startups together to tackle funding winter

Startups are going through a tough time owing to the funding winter globally. And India is no exception. However, there are many eminent personalities which are in pursuit of improving the funding situation by connecting Indian startups with HNIs across the world. ‘India Startup Festival’ organised by India Startup Foundation is one such initiative which has a mission of turning around the funding and business environment for startups in India. In an interview with Bizz Buzz, Founder and Chairman of India Startup Foundation (ISF), JA Chowdary said that the foundation is going to hold its second ‘India Startup Festival 2023' during August 10-12, in Bengaluru. The event, which has seen more than 10,000 startup registrations, will bring together more than 200 HNIs, several VC funds and industry leaders along with startups for exploring the way ahead for the Indian startup ecosystem. The event will see selection of 15-20 startups which will receive active weekly mentorship from eminent industry leaders across the world apart from funding from investors. The ISF is trying to improve the overall success rates of startups in the country through active funding, business networking and scale up opportunities

Can you give an overview of ‘India Startup Festival, 2023’ scheduled to be held on August 10-12?

We are organising Asia’s largest startup event called ‘India Startup Festival’. This is the second conference happening in Bengaluru. Last conference was held in October last year. We received around 2,500 startups participating in the first event. We selected 15 companies, which we are mentoring on weekly basis. This is the first time in India. About 200 mentors from India and the US have actively mentored these selected startups. Many companies have received funding; some companies have got funding and several startups have got business opportunities.

Startups have a high failure rate with most startups perishing within first three years of operations. What is your insight into this matter? How India Startup Foundation is trying to change such state of affairs?

Normally in the startup world, only one entrepreneur survives out of 10. On an average, nine companies are not able to survive. This is a known fact that many startups don’t survive because of funding crunch, and business cycles. Several startups enter into the startup death-valley. That is the reason that we want to change the formula.

We want to set a new record. Under this, we want to make sure all our 15 companies succeed on Indian scale. We have created an elephant like structure last time and we want to continue with the trend. The difference between this year’s conference, scheduled to be held on August 10-12, 2023, is that there are more than 10,000 startups, which want to register for our competition. From these many startups, we will select startups, which will receive our mentorship programme.

Globally including India, startup ecosystem is going through a severe funding winter. How do you view the current environment? What are the steps taken up by Indian Startup Festival 2023 to address the critical issue?

We are focussing on this critical issue. For example, startups in India, especially early stage ones, are promoted by students from IIT and IIIT, who hail from middle class background. These founders don’t have the required capital as they are not from business families. These students have many innovative ideas. When they go to the VC (venture capital) funds, angel funding platforms; investors usually ask them whether they have the revenue or the product. In this year’s conference, what we are trying to do is that we are getting more than 200 HNIs (high net worth individuals). We are trying to give them a message that this is the time when India needs HNIs help the startups which are in very early stage. If they fund these startups, then that capital will be utilized by these early stage startups to build product, hire employees and grow their business. That will help them get further funding from VCs and other fund houses. This is the unique thing we are doing.

We are convincing the high net worth individuals, because of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and others, many routine jobs in the IT services like coding, programming and testing are going to be automated by the AI tools. This creates a fear of job losses because of generative AI tools. Moreover, good human resources are critical for the success of any startup. But these resources don’t come cheap. That is the reason we think, we should encourage HNIs because they will come and support early stage startups in the country. We don’t want early stage startups to enter the death valley. Through HNI funding route, these startups will be able to hire good talent, develop their product, devise a go-to-market strategy and scale up their businesses.

What are the other areas that the India Startup Festival 2023 intend to cover in its upcoming conference?

Quality human resource is a critical need of any startup. That’s why we have two sessions in the ISF, 2023 on human resources. Many industry leaders will be participating in this seminar. These eminent personalities are going to deliberate on the kind of resources they require to run complex task in their organisations. We will conduct another seminar named ‘University Connect’. We have invited several IIT Directors and many universities’ Vice-Chancellors. This will focus on what kind of changes the educational institutions should bring in so that right human capital is created. Because we have to understand that if talent is not available in India to startups, they will start hiring people from South East Asian countries or Eastern Europe, where the salary is almost at a similar level with India. Then, India will lose out. With remote work becoming prevalent, this is very much a possibility. So, on one side, AI tools are likely to destroy a lot of jobs, on the other side the existing people are not able to meet up the requirement of the industry, then India’s demographic dividend will not play out as desired. Even rise in unemployment may create social unrest. Another important thing is that technology is ever-changing. Many technological applications of the past have become obsolete now. Unless we go with the trend, we will be the losers. That is the reason that we are focussed on most startups to succeed. So, India Startup Festival is a great platform for startups and related stakeholders to network and deliberate on the way ahead for growing their businesses.

Can you throw some light on the response of startup ecosystem to India Startup Festival 2023 given the environment?

The response is very sound. We have received more than 10,000 startups registration. We are currently doing the due diligence process out of which 350 startups will be selected and participate on the demo day on August 10. These startups will give physical presentation to the top jurists, VC funds, angel forums and CEOs of big companies during the conference. Out of these 350 startups, we will select 15-20 startups, which will receive the prize money and will get active mentorship from our eminent members and panellists on ongoing basis for one year.