Adityanath govt to launch 'angel network' for mentoring, funding startups

Vice president Venkaiah Naidu to attend startup conclave in Lucknow

Yogi Adityanath government is planning to launch an angel network for mentoring and funding of startups in Uttar Pradesh. The move is aimed at making UP a $1 trillion economy by 2024.

The incubator ‘UP Angel Network’ will be unveiled at a startup conclave being organised by the state IT and electronics department and likely to be inaugurated by vice president Venkaiah Naidu in the presence of chief minister Adityanath here on Saturday (Sep 14).

The incubator is touted to be one of the largest of its kind in India for handholding, financing and scaling up of new ventures in order to boost entrepreneurship and create jobs opportunities.

A member of the proposed angel network told Business Standard the incubator will have representation from industry, government, incubators and angel investors for creating a holistic ecosystem for mentoring startups.

Meanwhile, Lucknow Management Association (LMA), an affiliate of All India Management Association (AIMA), is also part of the organising committee of the startup conclave.

LMA executive director Anant Jauhari said the day-long conclave would comprise panel discussions, networking sessions and awards ceremony to encourage startups and facilitate early stage funding to such ventures. “The objective of the event is to strengthen the startup eco-system and provide them with an opportunity to develop an interface with various stakeholders, who can help in developing the desired incubation environment,” he said.

In fact, the Adityanath government recently decided to set up a Rs 200 crore venture capital fund to promote micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) startups, especially pertaining to indigenous industries in the state.

The state will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) in this regard. The fund would give preference to MSMEs which are involved in the manufacturing of traditional products and crafts under the aegis of state’s flagship One District, One Product (ODOP) scheme.

While, 25% or Rs 50 crore would be provided by the Yogi Adityanath government, the larger share of 75% or Rs 150 crore would be contributed by SIDBI for creating the venture capital fund to handhold and finance startups and enterprises.

SIDBI would also function as the venture capital fund manager and facilitate credit flow to the MSMEs, startups and artisans by coordinating with different microfinance institutions, non banking financial companies (NBFC) and other such integrators.

The central refinance bank will also share the database of state ODOP enterprises and artisans for chalking out future roadmap pertaining to their training, capacity building, credit requirement and growth.

Launched in January 2018, ODOP is aimed at scaling up traditional industries associated with each of the 75 districts in UP. For example, the Adityanath government had already tied up with ecommerce major Amazon to market ‘UP Khadi’ products over its online platform apart from handholding artisans.