Virendra Singh Rawat / Lucknow
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur has joined hands with the diversified Hinduja Group to promote Indian startup ventures.
The conglomerate has come on board to catalyse startups by providing “crucial support” to budding entrepreneurs, fostering innovation and driving growth in the Indian startup ecosystem, according to the IIT Kanpur.
In this regard, the Group has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the IIT Kanpur’s business incubator, Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC).
Hinduja Group has business interests in legacy and new age sectors viz. automotive, oil, chemicals, banking, finance, IT, healthcare, infrastructure etc.
Meanwhile, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has also announced to set up a pilot fund of Rs 50 crore for startups incubated at the IIT Kanpur.
Of the Rs 50 crore corpus under the SIDBI Seed Equity Support Scheme (S4-SIIC), Rs 10 crore will be invested in startups each year. IIT Kanpur firmed up these collaborations at its recent two-day startup fest ‘Abhivyakti 2023’.
IIT Kanpur director Abhay Karandikar said the Institute was headstrong in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship across sectors, with the startup fest providing a launch pad to startups and enriching the startup ecosystem.
Meanwhile, SIDBI CMD Sivasubramanian Ramann said, “The Vision for Fund of Funds is aligned with the Government’s objective of promoting entrepreneurship by providing indirect funding to emerging startups through Venture Capital (VC) funds.”
“Abhivyakti is a great initiative for startups to showcase ideas and connect with investors and mentors,” IIT Kanpur professor-in-charge, innovation and incubation, Ankush Sharma noted.
Meanwhile, former defence secretary Ajay Kumar highlighted the role of innovators in the field of defense, emphasising the power of their ideas to transform the sector through cutting-edge technologies.
IIT Kanpur to groom urban development startups
The fest showcased startups in agritech, cleantech, cybersecurity, fintech, healthcare, infrastructure, defence, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) etc.