Japanese Startups, Venture Capitalists (VCs) make headway to enter India
Two of these startups came to India in April last year even amidst the Corona lockdown, and continue to be doing business today there
NEW DELHI: Undeterred by the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Japanese startups and venture capitalists (VCs) have started to move to India, and set up their operations here.
In a recent development, the Bangalore-based Japan-India Startup Hub has facilitated the entry of three Japanese startups and one venture capitalist (VC) to India.
Interestingly, two of these Startups entered India during the lockdown period last year sometime in April, disclosed Shingo Miyamoto, Minister (Economic & Development), Embassy of Japan in New Delhi.
He was participating in the International Roadshow for Prarambh: Startup India International Summit 2021- Japan organized by IFCCI recently.
“JETRO set up a Japan-India Startup Hub in Bangalore in October 2018 and it is providing matchmaking and other supporting opportunities to this hub. And this has resulted in three Japanese starts up and one VC coming to India in Bangalore. And two of these startups came to India in April last year even amidst the Corona lockdown, and continue to be doing business today there,” said Shingo Miyamoto.
Japan-India Startup Hub set up by Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) is part of the India-Japan Digital Partnership (IJDP) program.
IJDP also incorporates setting up a “Start-up Hub” between India and Japan. During the then Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry SEKO Hiroshige’s visit in May 2018 both sides signed Joint Statement on Japan-India Startup Initiative and the first “Japan-India Startup Hub” was established in Bengaluru by JETRO while from the Indian side Invest India launched a web-portal for IJDP.
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The Japan India Startup Hub (www.startupindia.gov.in/japan) is an online platform to bridge the gap between Indian & Japanese startup ecosystems and enable meaningful synergies to promote joint innovation in both economies.
The Hub aims at enabling collaborations between startups, investors, incubators, & aspiring entrepreneurs of both countries and provide the requisite resources for market entry & global expansion.
According to Shingo Miyamoto, India has one of the most aggressive startups in the world with minds on fire, and this a clear reflection of the fact that it would give rise to more unicorns in the future. In addition, some of the Japanese companies like Sojitz and Maruti Suzuki have their offices in India that support venture businesses here.
“So through these efforts, we hope we continue to see a further deepening of the relationship between two countries and also more investment coming from Japan. In order to further promote cooperation in the digital space, ensuring the free flow of data is extremely important and for this,” Shingo Miyamoto added.
“We do intend to work with all countries to ensure this goal. In 2020, we were pushed into a small box by the corona pandemic but 2021 has to be different.”
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