Mumbai-Based Entrepreneurs ‘TEAM’ Up To Boost City’s Startup Ecosystem

About 35 Mumbai-based startup founders have come together to set up a non-profit organisation, Tech Entrepreneurs Association of Mumbai (TEAM), to boost the startup ecosystem in the country’s financial capital. 

LogiNext founder Dhruvil Sanghvi, Dream11 founder Harsh Jain, and Haptik’s Aakrit Vaish are among the founding members of TEAM.

“TEAM will primarily help early-stage startups scale in Mumbai city. It aims to highlight sustainable business practices that are carried out in the city,” Sanghvi told Inc42.

TEAM will partner the Maharashtra government to roll out new initiatives for startups in the city. It also plans to partner venture capital firms in the city to further help startups.

“We (TEAM) will mainly help emerging startups as they are the ones who are keen on learning scalability. Besides that, we will also help employees of these startups know what Mumbai has to offer,” Sanghvi said. 

TEAM’s founding members aim to make Mumbai a dominant startup hub of the country, helping it surpass Delhi and Bengaluru. They also want the city to produce more unicorns. 

To help startups have a strong footing in Mumbai, TEAM will organise events and roundtable meetings that help them build a revenue-oriented mindset as against a valuation-oriented mindset, Sanghvi informed. 

TEAM also plans to collaborate with job portals and sponsor hackathons to attract talent, including engineers and sales professionals, to the city and facilitate tech-enabled startups operating in the city. 

Besides, it will also partner tech-focused associations, angel networks and companies like TiE, AWS, Microsoft, Reliance Industries, Marico, Mumbai Angels, Indian Angel Network (IAN) to help budding startups, Sanghvi said. 

TEAM does not have any plans to offer financial assistance to startups, but aims to work with the government to create a conducive environment for the city-based startups to grow.

“TEAM’s members are originally startup founders as well as investors…with the sheer network of these 35 influential founders, we will be able to invest in emerging startups in personal capacity,” Sanghvi said.

A Wave Of Unicorns Coming From Mumbai 

According to Sanghvi, about 50 Mumbai-based startups are currently valued between $300 Mn and close to $1 Bn, and he expects a large number of these startups to turn unicorns in the next 12 months. 

“Most of these startups are valued at a conservative multiple, which means they are not overvalued companies but revenue-centric startups. Thus, the probability of these startups turning into unicorns is very high,” Sanghvi said. 

According to a report by StartupBlink, Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai are among the prominent startup hubs in the country.

Mumbai is currently home to 17 unicorns, including UpGrad, MyGlamm and Rebel Foods. 

In recent years, the Maharashtra government has also introduced various initiatives like SIDBI-led Maharashtra Social Venture Fund, Maharashtra State Defence and Aerospace Fund and INR 200 Cr women-focused fund for deeptech startups, to attract startups in the capital and the state.