Venture Catalysts launches India’s first global incubation center in New Delhi; to help connect Indian start-ups with knowledge partners and investors from around the globe

Venture Catalysts, India’s No.1 integrated incubator and Asia’s largest early stage investment firm, has launched a new incubation center in New Delhi, the country’s first global hub for start-ups, to be known as the “Global Startup Incubation Centre”. The launch of the incubation center is aimed at further bolstering its position as a leading platform for innovative start-ups to grow and access funds. For this, Venture Catalysts has partnered with Chinaccelerator, the first start-up accelerator to launch in China. Besides this, Venture Catalysts has also joined hands with India-Israel Innovation Centre in Israel and in the UK with Relam Investments, a USD 50 million accelerator fund.

The launch of the Global Startup Incubation Center in New Delhi will be followed by the establishment of other centers in Mumbai, Bangalore, and Pune. With New Delhi and Mumbai envisioned as its key, global incubation hubs in India, Venture Catalysts seeks to provide an ecosystem to foster entrepreneurship and build a strong global community of start-ups to help boost their growth, scale up their technology and teams, along with the chance to be funded by investors from around the world.

Chinaccelerator, the world’s 4th largest, early-stage investor with 600 start-up investments will collaborate with Venture Catalysts to organize cross-border incubation programs and activities with start-ups from India and other countries. The programs will have a special focus on investing in promising Indian start-ups. There are already 21 global funds which co-invest in Venture Catalysts’ portfolio start-ups and with these partnerships, this number is likely to be bolstered further in the days to come.

Venture Catalysts has also joined hands with the India-Israel Innovation Centre. The India-Israel Innovation Centre was founded by Moshe Porat, Founder & CEO Mesh Labs, and Varad Krishna, Founding Partner, IIIC. It was launched by Ramanan Ramanathan, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission, Moshe Porat, Ariel Seidman, Deputy Consul General of Israel and Varad Krishna, Founding Partner, IIIC. The partnership with IIIC will be further leveraged to help start-ups and entrepreneurs grow their businesses, with both countries working in collaboration to share technology, entrepreneurial knowledge and resources. The India-Israel Innovation Centre is a significant step towards facilitating access to the Indian market and tech ecosystem for Israeli companies.

Commenting on the announcement, Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Co-Founder and President, Venture Catalysts said, “With major tailwinds from the global technology space, several Indian ventures are emerging, be it early or growth-stage ventures that can turn India into a hub of some of the most innovative start-ups in the world. We are delighted to collaborate with a firm like Chinaccelerator which boasts an impressive record of incubating many high-potential start-ups and propelling them to the next level of growth. Moreover, Venture Catalysts’ dedicated investor network will support these partners and start-ups. With Venture Catalysts, we have India’s largest dedicated investor networks – one of the largest in Asia – to provide support to these partners and start-ups in the form of knowledge, networking, and market-oriented opportunities, besides funding.”

Neeraj Tyagi, Managing Partner, Venture Catalysts, commented, “New Delhi/NCR is among the fastest growing start-up hubs in Indian at present, and presents a huge opportunity for innovative ventures to access a vast network of investors and knowledge providers. As India’s number one integrator, Venture Catalysts is committed to providing extensive support to growing ventures by connecting them to the best resources and help them leverage market opportunities. The creation of India’s first global incubation center will, then, certainly give a massive boost to the start-up ecosystem across the country.”

Venture Catalysts has hosted multiple start-ups across incubation centers in Dubai, London, and Hong Kong, as part of its ongoing strategy and programs aimed at creating a global ecosystem of companies and investors. Including the hubs in New Delhi and Mumbai, the firm plans to launch a total of 10 incubation centers in India by March 2019, thus connecting entrepreneurs from various regions of the country to its global network.