Silicon Valley companies join hands to enable Bangladesh startups

The Founder Institute, an entrepreneur training and startup launch program, has partnered with Silicon Valley-based investor Fenox to fund companies from the next batch of aspiring entrepreuners in Bangladesh.

The two Silicon Valley-based organizations pledged to guide startups through the process of developing high-growth technology businesses in sectors such as mobile apps, digital health, and enterprise software. The strongest companies will be provided with an opportunity to accept a US$15,000 investment from Fenox, as well as help to attract additional investment from angels in the region.

Last year, Fenox announced they are raising a US$200 million fund to focus on Bangladeshi startups operating in technology, internet, and media domains, with the internet portal Priyo earmarked for the first investment.

“We believe in the entrepreneurial potential of the Bangladeshi people, which is why we launched a fund focused on Bangladesh. When we saw that another Silicon Valley based organization took an interest in the market, we decided that this presented a great opportunity to collaborate on helping entrepreneurs in the region,” says Anis Uzzaman, founder and general partner at Fenox.

Investor interest in Bangladesh is growing steadily. Fueling this trend are startup events and weekend mentoring workshops like Startup Weekend – Dhaka and Innovation Xtreme. Bangladeshi professionals from the Silicon Valley have also launched co-working spaces like HubDhaka. There are also successful startups stories such as NewsCred and ChalDal, which received large fundings last year.

Attempting to build a startup in an ecosystem that perennially faces political chaos and economic instability is challenging. The country loses around US$200 million everyday when workers are on strike. This adds up to be quite a number of days in a year, according to the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

However, it is hard to overlook a market potential with the sheer numbers on display. It is estimated that Bangladesh will have 33 million internet users by April 2015 with 95 percent of the users accessing the internet via a mobile device. Bangladesh has 114 million mobile phone subscribers, and with 3G connections are expected to surpass 2G by 2020,, investors have a potentially huge market to tap.

The Founder Institute has extended the admissions period for the Predictive Admissions test to February 11, 2015, with a new program start date on February 17, 2015. Interested candidates can apply here.

Disclosure: Fenox is also an investor in TechinAsia. See our ethics page for more information.

See: New documentary shows how the Bangladesh startup scene is growing