Big brother US plans to mentor Indian startups

US government interested in Indian startups...

The US government plans to set up its incubation centre in India in a move to train Indian startups.

The US State department has started Nexus, a startup incubator programme, in association with the IC Institute of Texas at Austin, in India. Nexus plans to mentor around 60 startups by the end of this year and help 12 of them raise funds to build their businesses.

With a presence in Delhi already, Nexus now plans to spread its wings across the whole of India gradually. Experts plan to provide mentorship to entrepreneurs, help them fix technical challenges and enable them to secure funds too. The incubator also plans to help some of the best startups set up base in the US.

Cliff Zintgraff from the University of Texas, who is also an advisor to Nexus intends to help them understand the sector, how to talk to potential customers and partners….and at a deeper level understand what kind of issues they are dealing with.

The move comes at a time when there is an increasing demand by Donald Trump, the US President to protect local jobs and shuffle issuing employment visas to more qualified professionals. “Entrepreneurship is never futile. It transcends any policy or politics,” adds Zintgraff.

Nexus plans to organise workshops with the Indian Angel Network, TiE and PE investors. “We are not an accelerator; there are many for-profit accelerators in India. We do not take equity or commission. Yes, we will do funding if it makes sense, but that is not our number one goal,” said Erik Azulay, director of Nexus.

India is now a leading destination for global firms planning to launch their incubators. Net App and Bosch have opened their startup incubators this week.

IC2 features such incubators in almost 25 countries partnering with the US State Department.

Azuley shared that the US government would not take Indian companies to the US directly. Something could be planned out if it’s sensible on the part of these companies to operate in the US. “On one hand we are a public organisation and cannot support private firms, but there are several US-Indian funds that do support startups and we are working with them,” added Azuley. 

Nexus has already got in touch with a host of top Indian educational institutions, including IIT Delhi and ISB, and would be working closely with them in the mentorship programme.

How will this move change the business dynamics in the Indian startup industry? Please share your views.

Source: Business Standard