Maruti Suzuki commences sixth round of MAIL initiative

Maruti Suzuki India on Friday said it has commenced taking applications for the sixth round of its Mobility and Automobile Innovation Lab (MAIL) programme.

Early-stage startups working in mobility and automobile space are eligible to participate.

The winning startups will get an opportunity to undertake a paid Proof of Concept (PoC) with the company, the auto major noted.

These selected startups will be closely mentored by industry experts in the domestic and international startup ecosystem, it added.

Besides, the participating startups will be provided with an opportunity to turn their innovative ideas into practical and disruptive solutions, and showcase their entrepreneurial capabilities, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.

"As a key stakeholder, we are committed to nurture and promote a culture of innovation in this dynamic industry. In the last two years, we have had an encouraging experience through the MAIL initiative. Already 25 startups are engaged with us and 13 Proof of Concepts have been enabled. Several of these are successfully bringing value to the business of the automobile industry," MSI managing director and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa said.

The sixth cohort will help to expand the initiative further and strengthen the culture of innovation, as the company co-creates solutions for customers, business and the industry, he added.

Launched in January 2019, the objective of MAIL programme is to identify and bring together startups with innovative and cutting-edge solutions, and further collaborate to co-create technology led solutions in mobility and automobile space.

MSI has partnered with GHV Accelerator an Indo Japanese early-stage seed fund, to identify and address the early-stage startups with innovative and customer-oriented solutions.

The potential of applicants is analysed, necessary support and guidance is provided for their growth as a part of a three month acceleration period.

So far, Maruti Suzuki has engaged with 25 startups and eight of these startups are undergoing acceleration with it.

The programme has already enabled 13 PoCs.