Kolkata could be India’s next tech hub as NASSCOM opens new Startup Warehouse

Indian IT industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has partnered with the government of West Bengal to open its second warehouse in Kolkata as part of the 10,000 Startups Program initiative.

The setup will provide early stage technology startups with opportunities to set up base in Salt Lake, Kolkata’s corporate hub. The West Bengal Government has provided 10,000 square feet of space to house the program.

“NASSCOM aims to replicate this initiative in multiple cities going forward and support the startup ecosystem in the best possible way,” said NASSCOM president, R Chandrashekhar.

The 10,000 Startups program with support from Google, Microsoft, Intel, Verisign, and Kotak, aims to enable 10,000 startups in India by 2023. The first warehouse was set up in Bangalore in 2013.

Cheatsheet on the current Indian startup ecosystem

According to a recent NASSCOM report, India is the fourth largest base for young businesses in the world with more than 3,100 tech startups. The number is expected to increase to 11,500 by 2020 and the industry is expected to create about 250,000 jobs in the next five years.

The report notes that around 800 startups were established in 2014. The large domestic market, access to capital, whitespace opportunities and increased M&A (merger and acquisition) activity are accelerating the growth of the nation’s startups.

Young entrepreneurs dominate the startup landscape with more than 73 percent of the founders under the age of 36 years, while 48 percent of the founders have had Multi National Company work experience and 36 percent were engineers.

The startups have access to multiple sources of funding like venture capital/private equity, angel investors, banks and financial institutions as well as incubators. Around US$2.9 billion has been invested in Indian startups conceived between 2010 and 2014.

In 2014, more than 70 venture capitalists and private equity firms sealed around 100 deals, with the majority of the funding made in companies which are in the expansion stage. Ola and Snapdeal accounted for the lion’s share, with a funding of US$210 million and US$627 million respectively.

Cloud computing fastest growing tech

Indian startups are witnessing increased traction in areas like cloud computing, big data and analytics, and internet of things while also focusing on niche technology solutions like adtech, edutech, and healthtech. Bangalore and the Delhi/NCR (National Capital Region) account for more than 50 percent of startups.