US invites top 30 Indian startups to form links with Fortune 500 companies

With India witnessing immense startup growth, the Silicon Valley has invited a group of top 30 Indian startups providing Software as a Service (SaaS) products at a global scale to establish links with Fortune 500 companies in the US.

The event, StartupBridge India, aims to raise awareness among senior executives of large US companies about India's growing presence as a hub for B2B technology companies, organisers said.

It is designed to be a symbolic and relationship-building bridge between top Indian SaaS and deep tech startups and US companies, to forge long-term relationships.

"StartupBridge India seeks to directly foster dealmaking between top software product companies from India and Fortune 500 companies in the US," said Manu Rekhi, managing director at Inventus Capital Partners on the eve of the day-long conference in Silicon Valley.

"Our success will be measured in the number of partnerships struck in the months following the event," Rekhi said as 30 top Indian startups gathered in the Silicon Valley for an interaction with the top executives of Fortune 500 companies.

The event is organised by TiE Silicon Valley, iSPIRT, and Stanford Center for International Development (SCID). It aims to foster cross-border partnership and potential strategic opportunities that includes corporates like GE, Salesforce, Citrix, VMWare, Dropbox, CA, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, and Samsung.

Rekhi said each company has received expert coaching from over 40 TiE and iSPIRT mentors on how to present to strategic partners in the US.

M Thiyagarajan of iSPIRT said because of improved policies, it's now getting easier for US companies to do business in India.

"India is rapidly emerging as the second largest Internet market, presenting enormous possibilities for top US companies to partner with the very best of India's startups," said Raju Reddy of Hitachi.

StartupBridge India is a much-needed industry initiative for fostering these types of dealmaking opportunities, he added.

"We're excited to facilitate conversations amongst top Indian entrepreneurs and American executives. We hope to share insights and strategies from successful cross-border partnerships, acquisitions and investments," he added.

"With India's B2B market projected to hit USD 10 billion annually by 2025, it's thrilling to be at the forefront in bringing Fortune 500 companies access to India's leading technology players," said Sharad Sharma of iSpirit.

"Our mentorship in this conference is about paying it forward, and helping to shape and build long-term relationships between SaaS and deep tech Indian startups and US companies, with an eye towards lasting partnerships," said Venktesh Shukla, president and chairman of TiE Global.