Tech Entrepreneurs Association of Mumbai (TEAM) which consists of startup founders and leaders based out of Mumbai kickstarted preliminary rounds of consultations, starting with Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
In a meeting which was held on November 7 with the Deputy Chief Minister, startup founders put forth their desire to build ‘brand Mumbai’ as a conducive place for startups, in a move to establish and nurture startup and entrepreneurship culture in the country’s financial capital.
Vishwas Patel, Director of omnichannel merchant payments platform Infibeam Avenues who was a part of the meeting said, "We discussed how we can improve Mumbai's tech ecosystem, how to effectively communicate brand Mumbai, policies to put in place and how to create a happening community."
He added that the response from the Deputy Chief Minister during the meeting was encouraging.
"He said that TEAM should ideate, while the government will help execute these initiatives," Patel added.
Moneycontrol reported on November 9 that Mumbai-based startup founders have come together in a first-of-its-kind initiative to establish brand Mumbai as a startup hub and a city where founders would want to headquarter their businesses.
Members of the organisation have contributed funds to TEAM, a non-profit organisation, and will engage in activities such as lobbying the state government on policies that would foster entrepreneurship in the city.
TEAM includes founders from Mumbai-based startups, such as Nykaa, Pharmeasy, Upgrad, Upstox, Good Glamm Group, Zepto, Pepperfry, Infibeam Avenues, Pine Labs, BillDesk, Clevertap, Loginext, Rebel Foods, and Purplle, among others.
The organisation is likely to be chaired by Harsh Jain, co-founder of Dream 11, and Aakrit Vaish, co-founder of Haptik, both of whom led the efforts to bring founders together to form TEAM, at least five people familiar with the matter had told Moneycontrol on condition of anonymity.
Mumbai currently houses a sixth or about 18 of the country’s 108 unicorns, the third most after Bengaluru and Delhi/NCR (National Capital Region), but has never been recognised as a startup hub, primarily due to the high cost of living.
Bengaluru, meanwhile, has always been known as a startup hub as the first three unicorns of the country--InMobi, Flipkart, and Mu Sigma--are headquartered in Bengaluru.
For the longest time, Bengaluru has also been known as India’s startup capital, but Delhi/NCR replaced it earlier this year as more than 5,000 recognised startups were set up in Delhi/NCR between April 2019 and December 2021, against 4,514 in Bengaluru, according to the Economic Survey of 2022.
Mumbai did not feature on the list of top startup cities in the Economic Survey even as the state of Maharashtra had the highest number of recognised startups as of December 2021.
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