The governments of India and Canada have signed a bilateral agreement to support entrepreneurs from both countries through a market access programme. The development comes in the backdrop of the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's visit to India.
The programme will be rolled out in India by Zone Startups, a global brand of technology accelerators. It operates multiple own-branded and corporate accelerators in India and Canada.
Zone Startups India is a joint venture set up with the BSE Institute, Vancouver, Canada-based Simon Frazer University and is partly funded by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.
“We believe that the potential of startups, in today's day and age, tends to be global markets. However, not many have the opportunities and support required to launch their product and services outside their home market. Through this programme, we are hoping to open newer markets for startups on both sides of the border in terms of new clients, talent and capital access,” said Matt Saunders, president, Zone Startups.
The Canadian and Indian governments have jointly funded the programme, to identify 20 startups each year over the next two years and to support them with a market access programme.
The programme will have special focus on women entrepreneurs of both the countries, said Anita Gupta, scientist and advisor, DST, government of India.
Zone Startups India already runs an initiative empoWer to accelerate startups founded by women entrepreneurs. The programme, which was started in 2016, as India's first tech accelerator for women entrepreneurs, has already accelerated 35 women-led tech startups so far, the company claimed.