Nasscom to offer up to Rs 2cr funding to 500 tech start-ups

 Nasscom, which recently launched its '10,000 start-ups' programme, announced inviting applications from innovative technology start-ups across the country. 

The association has already received over 1,000 applications from budding start-ups since the launch of the programme and is expected to receive 5,000 applications in the next eight weeks. 

Nasscom President Som Mittal told reporters that applicants should log on to start-up portal www.10000startups.com. Nasscom will shortlist 500 entrepreneurs who will be eligible for funding of Rs 25 lakh to Rs 2 crore through the leading angel investor networks of the country. 

Selected start-ups will be offered three to four months of incubation along with co-working space at affordable cost. 

Under the programme, for which Google, Microsoft and others have partnered with Nasscom, 10,000 technology start-ups will be funded in 10 years. 

"We expect 15 of these start-ups will be billion dollar companies," he said. 

The programme is expected to increase start-up funding by 10 times, seed funding by 20 times and start-up jobs by five times. Nasscom expects over 500,000 jobs will be created at the start-up level itself. 

The selected start-ups will be provided with a start-up kit worth Rs.10 lakh comprising free business tools from Microsoft, AWS and Google. 

Nasscom signed MoUs with Hyderabad Angels as funding partner and with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and IIIT Hyderabad as incubators to collaborate and support the creation of an ecosystem to foster technology entrepreneurship. 

"We have to create an environment where that early stage funding comes in," Mittal said, adding that such early stage funding by professionals is lacking in the country. 

Andhra Pradesh has been identified as an important start-up hub. The number of start-ups in India has risen from 162 in 2006 to 450 in 2012. 

Stating that massive markets erre emerging for start-ups in India, he said that internet users were expected to rise to 650 million by 2025 while wireless users are likely to reach one billion. 

Global opportunities are $17 billion in big data and $50 billion in enterprise mobility by 2015 and $50 billion in enterprise SaaS by 2025.