Coronavirus: 91springboard Comes Up With Platform To Support Start-Up Ecosystem It is meant to act as a consolidator for all efforts being taken by investors, government authorities and other stakeholders to tackle the pandemic.
By Debroop Roy
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Co-working space provider 91springboard has come up with an online platform (www.startupsvscovid.com), that will act as a consolidator for all efforts being taken by investors, government authorities and other stakeholders of the start-up ecosystem to tackle the outbreak of the coronavirus disease.
From funding opportunities for those trying to solve challenges pertaining to the pandemic to start-ups that are developing solutions for the same, the platform brings together all relevant information under a single umbrella. The aim is to make it easier for everyone involved to get information in one place.
Additionally, it also provides information about hackathons focused on the outbreak as well as other support available for start-ups including access to organisations & individuals who can help with logistics, permissions among other things.
Related: Indian Corporates Earmark Funds to Fight Coronavirus
"The COVID-19 crisis brings with itself a strong economic impact, especially for the Indian startup ecosystem. As an Atal Innovation Mission incubator, we have always supported Indian startups and given the situation, we want to try our best to safeguard the interest of the startup community at large," said 91springboard co-founder Pranay Gupta.
So far, 9 funding opportunities are listed on the platform while the start-up list has crossed 25 and is steadily going up, according to Gupta.
Speaking to Entrepreneur India, Gupta said his team was working to collect as much information as possible for various sources, while the folks at Atal Innovation Mission, a flagship initiative set up by NITI Aayog, had also been pitching in. Apart from those listed, he said there have been 4-5 other investors who have made contact but do not want to have their names listed yet. In such cases, they are facilitating conversations between the relevant parties.
As the outbreak has disrupted the entirety of the ecosystem, several stakeholders have come up with initiatives to help. Before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the 21-day nationwide lockdown on Tuesday, a collective of over 50 start-up founders as well as investors had petitioned with the government on immediate measures that needed to be taken.
Related: Coronavirus: India Under Unprecedented 21-Day Lockdown
Related: Over 50 Start-Up Founders, VCs Urge Govt To Impose Strict Lockdown
Utsav Somani, an angel investor and the head of AngelList India, is among the few to have announced a commitment to start-ups with a credible path to a solution for the virus, through their venture fund The Collective.
Calling the Indian VC industry for action: I & @AngelListIndia's The Collective are committing a ₹50L investment to startups with a credible path to a solution for the CoVID-19 virus. Reach out here - https://t.co/P2o3Coaj5U
— Utsav Somani (@somani_utsav) March 22, 2020
List of folks in the pledge: https://t.co/IvdCWtu76x
This funding opportunity is one among the nine currently available on the 91springboard-run platform.
Gupta, while acknowledging that the response had been encouraging so far, urged anyone doing anything for start-ups during these testing times to provide the relevant information for the repository. "We will try our best to ensure the start-ups get to know that your support is available," he said.
