New Delhi, Sep 7 (Agency) Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Wednesday launched the US Startup SETU – Supporting Entrepreneurs in Transformation and Upskilling programme in the Bay Area of San Francisco. The initiative would connect start-ups in India to US-based investors and start-up ecosystem leaders with mentorship and assistance in various areas including funding, market access and commercialization, an official statement said. SETU is designed to break the geographical barriers between mentors based in US that are willing to invest in entrepreneurship and sunrise startups in India. The interaction will be supported through the mentorship portal under the Startup India initiative MAARG, or the Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience, and Growth program, which is a single-stop solution finder for startups in India.
The portal has been developed with the idea to be accessible from every corner of the country to connect with a mentor, the statement said. Goyal, who held discussions with venture capitalists and industry leaders in the area during several meetings, said, “One of the key takeaways is that the Bay Area is very bullish on India, very excited about the potential that India, Indians and Indian startups and Indian businesses have to offer.” “They see huge potential in the large market that India is, 1.3 billion aspirational Indians,” he said. “There were suggestions about mentorship. We’ve launched the SETU programme where we are looking at supporting entrepreneurs through transformation and upskilling intiatives. We are also looking at a programme that the startup advisory council had initiated in India in which mentorship is being initiated particularly in tier-2, tier-3 and tier-4 towns and remoter areas. Lot of good suggestions have been brought to the table,” he said.