Uber Joins The Startup India Initiative, Set To Launch Startup Mentorship Program – UberEXCHANGE

Uber has announced that it is partnering with Invest India to launch UberEXCHANGE incubation program. The program is aimed at providing mentorship to Indian entrepreneurs. The formal announcement will be made during the Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s ambitious Startup India Initiative on January 16.

“Invest India” is an official agency dedicated to investment promotion and facilitation. It is a joint venture between the Department of Industrial policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the State Governments of India, and the Federation of Indian Industry. The agency aims to provide comprehensive facilitation support for the global investment community.

The aim of this public-private initiative is to enable students, entrepreneurs and industry leaders to learn from each other and to support the Prime Minister’s vision to make India a global startup hub.

According to a company’s spokesperson, “Over the next year, the company will host a series of six leadership talks by senior Uber executives. These session will address different challenge that entrepreneurs face when founding their own company like fundraising, product design, engineering etc. At the end of the program, the company will fly 10 startups to San Francisco, where they will be introduced to global investors, fellow entrepreneurs and the team at Uber.”

Travis Kalanick, co-founder & CEO at Uber, said,  “Today more and more people aspire to be entrepreneurs and build something themselves.  It’s why Prime Minister Modi’s start-up India initiative is so important,– and why we’re excited to share our experience with hundreds of startups and entrepreneurs as they begin their journey.”

Prior to Uber, Travis Kalanick had founded Scour, the first peer-to-peer search engine, and later on founded Red Swoosh, an enterprise content delivery platform, which was acquired by Akamai Technologies in 2007.

The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) is spearheading the Start Up India event. Amitabh Kant, secretary at DIPP said, “This unique mentorship program will be immensely valuable to Indian entrepreneurs, and I am excited about the exchange of knowledge and ideas between the startup cultures in India and the Silicon Valley. This is just one step towards stronger ties with the international startup community, and the possibilities are limitless.”

If you are a startup and would like to attend this series, you can fill in the form here.

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