Nasscom launches next phase of 10,000 Startups programme

The software services industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) on September 18 introduced the second phase of its 10,000 Startups initiative, Accelerate 10X.

The Accelerate 10X programme, that aims to catapult the nation's deep tech startup ecosystem onto the next level, will focus on emerging technologies that will catalyse business and economic growth in the future.

The artificial intelligence (AI) startup sector saw an increase in funding of over 70 percent in 2017 with natural language processing being one of the major focus areas for investors. Estimates suggest 50 percent of firms in India are implementing AI in their products, Nasscom said.

Artificial intelligence has the potential to add $957 billion, or 15 percent of current gross value added to India’s economy in 2035 and deep tech startups will drive this transformation and the broad structural transformation of the economy, it said.

In the last five years since its inception, 10,000 Startups has worked with early-stage startups by incubating them in startup warehouses in ten cities with the support of the State Governments and sponsors.

These technologies, including advanced deep tech and AI-related technologies, have seen enormous growth, creating an opportunity for startups and tech players to provide innovative products and services.

"Over the years while India has emerged as the third largest start-up ecosystem, our readiness to ride the next wave of deep tech and AI revolution will determine whether India will be able to unlock the trillion-dollar opportunity," said Rishad Premji, Chairman, Nasscom.

He added that policymakers and business leaders must prepare for, and work towards the AI revolution as we are endowed with one of most vibrant markets when it comes to innovation and we have all the entrepreneurial foundation to build these deep tech startups and achieve quality and scale.

The programme will focus on key startup sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, education, smart cities and infrastructure and development of AI across sectors.

Providing a platform for promising Deep Tech startups to explore, innovate, scale and solve for challenges of the future, the programme will form strategic partnerships with global leader in startup acceleration and mentoring, TechStars, technology majors such as Facebook, Google, IBM, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS) in setting up engineering and deep tech labs and set up innovation centres across the country.

“As the AI revolution sets in, the ecosystem needs to adapt, and more so in our role as an enabler. The Accelerate 10X program further reaffirms 10,000 start-ups efforts in evangelizing and mentoring India’s latent, untapped talent in emerging technologies.  We will continue its drive towards catalysing deep tech start-ups, build category leaders and support start-ups to create not only for India but also scale up and solve for the world,” said Debjani Ghosh, President, Nasscom.