CII K'taka focuses on startups, proffers access to industries, CEOs, investors

By Team Startupcity  |  Wednesday, 20 July 2022, 17:46 IST

CII K'taka focuses on startups, proffers access to industries, CEOs, investors
The CII Karnataka, on Tuesday announced a slew of initiatives targeting startups, especially those focused on the B2B space.
CII Karnataka chairman Arjun M Ranga and vice chairman Vijaykrishnan Vekatesan said they have set up a Startup Task Force which will work in specific areas to further strengthen the vibrant startup ecosystem that Bengaluru has and take those in tier-II cities to the next level.
The CII has identified a few areas that startups struggle to surmount despite pursuing great ideas.
The task force would offer them a host of assistance including access to large corporates, mentorship by CEOs, helping them with proof of concept (PoC)at large industries and connecting them with angel/venture investors, Ranga told ET. “We will help create opportunities for them to work with big industries.”
The CII has plans to create a whole new ecosystem for startups and help them in solving some of the challenges they are facing. Several startups crack an idea and come up with a prototype, but struggle to run a test module or pilot it for want of access to bigger industries. The CII’s startup task force would step in here, and act as a bridge, the task force convenor Laeeq Ali told this paper.
It was important that established industry leaders and CEOs handhold the upcoming startups with disruptive ideas, Ranga said, and suggested that the startups take CII membership and avail a host of advantages including sessions and events relevant to them.
Being part of the CII would also bring them many advantages including in policy advocacy, interactions with the government at the highest level and become globally competitive, the CII-Karnataka chairman said. Many startups took CII membership during the Covid pandemic, he added.
“Within the ecosystem we will align a lot of stakeholders including startup founders, mentors, incubators, accelerators, angel investors, and VC firms. The Task Force will focus on identifying the tasks specific to building the startup ecosystem,” Ali said.
The CII will hold some of its events in open areas including co-working spaces and cafes as part of its outreach programme and bring startups onboard.
The CII Karnataka, Ranga said, has about 700 members, and only about 40% of them are MSMEs and 10% are academic institutions like engineering colleges and b-schools. Rest are all large industries and corporates, he said.
A recent research by database Dealroom.Co for the UK-based London & Partners has shown that Bengaluru is the leading Asian city and fifth ranked hub in the world for tech venture capital investment in 2022.

CURRENT ISSUE

BEST STARTUPS TO WORK FOR

siliconindia