NASSCOM, MassChallenge Israel sign deal to support Indian start-ups

Industry body NASSCOM on Monday inked an agreement with start-up accelerator MassChallenge Israel, committing scholarship support of USD 5,000 each for up to 10 Indian start-ups.
Besides, a trilateral fund of USD 50 million has been created by Israel-India Technology Group (I-ITG) to promote entrepreneurship and trilateral business opportunities between the US, India and Israel.
The relationships and collaboration between the three countries, ranging from economic to socio-cultural exchanges, have nurtured mutual ties over several decades, NASSCOM president R Chandrasekhar in New Delhi said.
“By streamlining intellectual and economic exchange, as well as forging new alliances that foster collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship, we can create an osmosis of ideas within this tech triangle unlocking the joint potential of the three allies,” he added.
NASSCOM, along with the Deshpande Foundation, will support a scholarship of USD 5,000 each for up to 10 Indian start-ups to help them access MassChallenge’s resources and focus on growing their businesses.
Selected Indian start-ups will join other finalists of MassChallenge Israel 2018 for a four-month equity-free accelerator programme in Jerusalem.
The announcement coincides with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to India.
“With MassChallenge Israel’s resources and role as a leader in start-up nation, Indian start-ups will be able to take their businesses to the international stage,” Israel Ganot, managing director of MassChallenge said.
The trilateral fund will invest in Israeli start-ups, working in areas like clean water and drones and bring these technologies to the Indian market.
“India is a large market with a high growth rate, while Israel has the best technology in the world. US companies and investors have the capital and are looking at investing in high growth regions. I-ITG is bringing market-technology-capital together,” I-ITG CEO and chairman Dennis Mehta said.
According to a report by Zinnov, Israel and India have over 5,000 start-ups each that have raised up to USD 5 billion and USD 4 billion, respectively.
However, in terms of global innovation index ranking, Israel is 17th while India is at 60th spot.
The report titled USA-India-Israel: An Ocean of Opportunities highlighted that the trilateral collaboration can unlock significant potential, especially in areas like healthcare and agriculture.