NASSCOM kick starts 10,000 start-ups program

BENGALURU, INDIA: As a part of the recently launched '10,000 start-ups' program, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), recently organized StartupRoots in the city in partnership with NextBigWhat.

With an aim to evangelize the entrepreneurial landscape in the country, NASSCOM invited early stage entrepreneurs to attend enriching sessions from some successful startups founders and active angel investors.

The highlight of the event though was four early stage ventures pitching for live on-spot funding to angel investors in a 'Shark Tank' format, said NASSCOM.

On the occasion, KK Natarajan, chairman, NASSCOM, said, "We have received an overwhelming response for the 10,000 Start-ups program with over 2000 start-up applications in the last 20 days. Our goal is to help these startups scale up their business and also globally position India as 'the innovative startup destination'."

"The Silicon valley roadshow planned by 10,000 Start-ups will be an important first step in that direction," he added.

Rajan Anandan, member - executive Council, NASSCOM, said, "India has all the qualities to become one of the world's most innovative startup ecosystems. With 10,000 Start-ups we are trying to connect the dots and put together a concerted effort to convert the latent excitement into real companies that can contribute to the economy."

With an aspiration to create a vibrant ecosystem for the tech start-ups in the country, NASSCOM launched the '10,000 start-ups' program last month in partnership with Indian Angel Network, Google, Microsoft and Verisign.

Zinnov is the consulting partner of 10,000 Start-ups.