PHD Chamber organizes a webinar on ‘Startups Venture Capital Connect’

No.PR-57 May 7, 2020 New Delhi PHD Chamber organizes a webinar on ‘Startups Venture Capital Connect’ Funding is the one of the most challenging work for Startups for business growth. In the last few years, investment activity in Startups has been high; however, COVID-19 has made an unprecedented impact on Startups due to disruptions and lockdown. In this context, Startups Forum of PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry has organized an Interactive Webinar on ‘Startups Venture Capital Connect’ on 06th May 2020. Session was attended by 150+ participants comprising of Startups, VCs, incubators and investors. Mr. Subodh Sachan, Director, Software Technology Park of India (STPI), Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), Government of India has said that Startup and Innovation are success keys for any economy and to boost startup ecosystem in India, MeitY is working with important initiatives and offered various opportunities to startups keeping in mind the challenges of startups in COVID-19 Era. Some of the initiatives of Ministry are MeitY Startup Hub (MSH), National Policy of Software Product, and Innovation Challenges etc. He mentioned that the main objective of STPI is to create vibrant tech startup and hence STPI is offering their services with 9 Centre of Excellence with focus on AI, VFX, IoT, Blockchain etc. He also mentioned that STPI is coming with some funding schemes to support startups. Dr D.K. Aggarwal, President, PHDCCI, welcomed eminent panelist in the session. Dr Aggarwal mentioned that COVID-19 has affected Indian economy badly but Startups and MSMEs are worst affected sectors in India. They are facing issues of low cash flow and no capital. Promotional activities are the key to their success, but gathering in seminar/conferences or roadshows are banned due to lockdown. In current scenario investment development is totally stagnant and it is falling down consistently. Private equity fund comes down to 50% and only 850 Million Dollars are invested this year, which is lowest rate of investment since last three years and coming future in uncertain. He said that qualifying criteria to access funds through government schemes are very tough. SIDBI came with COVID-19 Startup Assistance Schemes (CSAS) in early April 2020 with interest rate of 10.5% per annum which is very high as per current economic crisis it should not be more than 6%/annum. Mr. Sunil K Goyal, Managing Director, YourNest Venture Capital mentioned that minimum 18-20 months is require for startups to run normal business. Mr. Goyal appreciated that even 2 Cr funding support for individual startups by SIDBI scheme is not a less amount for their survival. He said YourNest is launching a scheme which is SOAR to fund startups of IoT, AI, VFX etc. within the duration of 4 weeks and the total investment will be made by the company is quarter million (approx.) Mr. Sanjay K Randhar, Managing Director, GVFL Limited, mentioned that ‘Survival is Key and Cash is King’ for any businesses. He said that it is not common to see that technology driven startups are rising up during this pandemic situation of COVID-19. He mentioned that domestic pool of capital is very critical because financial institutions/ banks are already facing challenges in current situation. Mr. N Sridhar, Managing Director, Pegasus India Evolving Opportunities Fund, mentioned that startups should focus on liquidity and should re think their business plan and action keeping in mind that survival may require 12-18 months. Due to COVID-19 people are very prone in taking risk, hence startups should innovate and realign their business model with a focus for sustainability instead of growth, considering minimum risk involved. Mr. Ashish Aggarwal, Chair, Startup Forum, PHDCCI moderated the session and the session was concluded by Mr. Sumit Duggal, Co-Chair, Startup Forum, PHDCCI. Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Secretary General, PHDCCI presented the formal vote of thanks. Ends Media Division PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry