Start-up fest aims to make Bangalore an entrepreneurial destination

In an effort to give greater coherence to Bangalore’s credentials as a top start-up destination in the world,a first ever Start-up Festival got underway here on Thursday — involving visits to some 40 young companies in the city,talks by founders,breakfast with investors,meetings with venture capitalists,launches for 18 new start-ups,plus food,art,music,street sales and such like. The festival organised by the Bangalore chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE),the government of Karnataka’s IT department and a private outfit called Unstoppable India is not just focusing on tech start-ups but has pulled in other young businesses — food,physical fitness,retailing — into its ambit.

“We look at it as an opportunity to change the image of the city to re-imagine Bangalore for the decade to come and to make it an entrepreneurial destination for millions who crave to realise their ideas and dreams and come to the city and try to succeed,’’ says Vladimir Dubovskiy of Unstoppable India.

“Bangalore has one of the highest start-up rates for companies and it has one of the most robust eco systems but most of it functions in islands. We thought that the only way to stitch these things would be through a festival that brings the entire eco system together,’’ said TIE associate director Shashikiran.

“We researched some of the great start-up eco systems — San Francisco,Chicago,London,Chile and other emerging cities. What we observed is that the key for growth is the culture of entrepreneurship that exists in those cities,’’ said Dubovskiy.

The cities that have climbed the charts as start-up destinations in the last few years saw concerted efforts by the government,entrepreneurs,entrepreneur organisations,angel investors,and start-ups to create an environment for entrepreneurship,he said. Opening their doors on Thursday as the festival kicked off in the eastern,upmarket part of Indiranagar,for over 1,600 registered participants,was the one time start-up Red Bus — the online bus ticketing company.

“About six years ago an event like this of TIE helped foster us. We were a bunch of young people out of college who had a problem of not getting bus tickets and we thought we could solve the problem but we just did not know how to set up a company,how to recruit,raise capital,’’ said Red Bus founder Phanindra Sama.

While people acknowledge that Bangalore has its merits as a start-up destination,some beg to differ. “There is the Silicon Valley in California and then there is everybody else. The Valley eco system is by far the strongest for early stage tech companies …,’’ says Mukund Mohan,CEO in residence at Microsoft India’s start-up accelerator in Bangalore.