A day-long congregation (kumbh) – the first of its kind – of startup stakeholders gets underway on January 16 in the Indian capital, New Delhi. Here’s a preview.
Who is organising?
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Government of India, in association with Invest India (the country’s official agency dedicated to investment promotion), iSpirt (Indian Software Product Industry Round Table), YourStory, NASSCOM, SheThePeople.tv and Kairos Society along with the youth wings of industry bodies FICCI and CII.
Who is attending?
Around 2000 persons from the world of startups and venture capital investors, angel investors and CEOs.
Any big names?
Yes, many. Among them would be Uber Technologies founder Travis Kalanick, Soft-Bank founder Masayoshi Son and president Nikesh Arora and WeWork founder Adam Nuemann. Union Minister of Finance, Arun Jaitley, his deputy, Jayant Sinha and many Secretary level officials from Government of India besides senior officials from SEBI and SIDBI would also be there in various sessions. To top it all, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would unveil the Government’s action plan for the sector.
What are the themes?
The event will feature panel discussions on
- Unleashing Entrepreneurship and Innovation: What do Indian Startups Need to Grow and Prosper
- Celebrating Women: Stories of Innovative Women Entrepreneurs
- How digitisation will change India’s future
- Making Indian Healthcare Leapfrog
- Financial inclusion is within reach
- Show me the money: How do we capitalise entrepreneurhip
Besides, there would be a unique question and answer session titled ‘Face-to-Face with Policy makers’ wherein secretaries of key Government ministries and departments will answer questions on how government will be creating an enabling ecosystem for startups.
Internet giant Google would hold a session titled “Launchpad Accelerator” involving live pitches to potential investors from early stage startups.
What if you cannot make it?
Don’t worry. The event would be telecast live in Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management, National Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Information Technology and central universities, and to youth groups in over 350 districts all over the country.