Skyline of India’s hot startup hub Powai. Photo Credit: Wikimedia
Sitting in a cafe in suburban Powai, I overhear two young people at the table next to me discussing a startup idea to tackle India’s urban transport problems. Names like Sequoia Capital and Seedfund are thrown around.
Powai, a suburb of India’s financial capital Mumbai, has become a hot startup hub in the last three to four years. Entrepreneurship has become the talk of the town with startups like real estate portal Housing, skill development startup PurpleSquirrel, food delivery app TinyOwl, and test prep website Toppr calling it home, and money flowing in from investors like Matrix Partners, SoftBank, and Nexus Venture Partners.
I have seen a shift in inclination from going after ‘fat salary’ jobs to entrepreneurship.
The attractions of Powai
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, one of India’s top tech universities, is located in Powai. It has had a series of entrepreneurial alumni, including the founders of ride hailing app Ola, Housing, Toppr, and TinyOwl. The inspiration has convinced others to startup in the town, which is relatively better organized compared to adjacent Mumbai.
With decent office complexes, abundant talent from nearby colleges, and relatively good roads compared to India’s other cities, IIT Bombay graduates turning entrepreneurs have been making it their base, at least until their startups begin to scale.
“I have seen a shift in inclination of my class from going after ‘fat salary’ jobs to entrepreneurship,” says Prof Milind Atrey, professor-in-charge of SINE (Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship), IIT Bombay, which has incubated 78 companies till now.
IIT Bombay will also become the first amongst its ilk to offer a course in entrepreneurship along with an undergraduate degree in engineering.
“After graduation, students don’t wish to move out of this town which has led to its becoming a startup hub,” says Milind.
The SoftBank-funded real estate classifieds portal Housing was founded by a group of 12 IIT Bombay graduates, most of whom were living and working out of the same flat.
Amit Golani, an IIT Bombay graduate and director of TVF Pitchers, a web play inspired by American TV series Silicon Valley, explains the lengths to which young entrepreneurs go to remain in Powai.
“Two of my college mates deliberately flunked a year, just because they did not wish to move out of the college and its hostel,” says Amit.
Everything is more expensive here
Powai is expensive. That’s one of the reasons why so many young entrepreneurs would share a small flat or even try to stick on in college.
The average rent of residency is almost three times that of India’s two other big startup cities, Bangalore and Gurgaon. This has a cascading effect.
High burn rates of Powai startups
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