India Wants G20 Members To Scale Global Annual Startup Investments To $1 Tn

As part of its G20 presidency, India aims to reportedly pitch for raising $1 Tn in annual investments for the global startup ecosystem by 2030. 

As per news agency PTI, Startup20 India chair Chintan Vaishnav said that the Startup20 Engagement Group, under the country’s leadership, will press delegates from across the world to pump up annual investments at the upcoming Startup20 Shikhar summit scheduled later next month in Gurugram.

Citing his rationale, Vaishnav said that the move will enable startups to emerge as the true engine of economic growth globally. He also pitched for developing a common framework to define startups to attract talent and investments.

“We want to harmonise the global ecosystem while retaining the autonomy of local or national ecosystems. We have realised that having a single definition for startups is not a practical idea but having a framework for people to choose from, given their legacy and interests is the way to go,” Vaishnav said.

Meanwhile, India has already formulated its own five-legged framework for defining startups, which covers aspects such as size, scalability, age, innovation and legal status of the entities. 

At the upcoming meeting, the group will also propose ideas to create new frameworks across areas such as governance and due diligence to enable G20 members to build consensus on evaluating startups globally in a common way. 

The group will also seek to create channels to solve pain points such as finance, access to the market and talent for upcoming startups. It will also chalk out ways to ensure that startup ecosystems globally are inclusive for under-represented groups and communities. 

“To do all of these, we will discuss how there can be globally-networked institutions that can implement these ideas so that we can scout startups internationally, invest in them collectively, mentor them, and scale them globally,” Vaishnav added.

The meeting is expected to be attended by more than 700 startups from across multiple G20 countries. Besides, the summit will also play host to a conclave where startups will showcase their products, engage with investors and seek mentorship opportunities. 

Startups are a key policy framework of India’s G20 presidency plan. The country aims to use the platform to showcase its burgeoning startup ecosystem, which has grown manifold in the past few years. Be it the Startup India scheme or the fund of funds for startups, the homegrown ecosystem has spawned the rise of 108 unicorns and more than 1 Lakh DPIIT-recognised startups currently. 

Even as funding winter wreaks havoc across the industry, Indian startups have continued to tread forward, raising a total of $3 Bn in the first quarter of 2023.

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