PM Modi reiterates importance of funding for startups; Amazon India completes 5 years

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Startup India initiative in January 2016, startups have become mainstream in the country. On Wednesday, Modi had a live interaction with startups across the country as well as with student innovators who are a part of Atal Innovation Mission’s Tinkering Labs. Modi reiterated the importance of funding for startups, and said the government had committed over Rs 1,200 crore to different Alternative Investment Funds that have been able to catalyse over Rs 7,000 crore worth of investments towards startup funding.

Amazon completes five years in India today. Since its launch in 2013, it has committed over $5.5 billion to the world’s second-most populous country and one of the fastest-growing e-retail markets. Gopal Pillai, Director and GM of Seller Services at Amazon India, speaks about the ecommerce giant’s five-year journey in India, the constraints it faced, its innovations, and bets for the future.

With China and the US announcing strategic roadmaps on Artificial Intelligence, India must have felt left out in the global technology race. Government's think-tank, NITI Aayog has now released a discussion paper on the subject of AI with the aim to guide research and development in new, emergent technologies. The government think tank said India must reskill several engineers soon, and also said the government's focus areas include healthcare, agriculture, education, Smart Cities and transportation.

UN Patron and Founder of financial services company Paytm Vijay Shekhar Sharma, along with seasoned venture capitalist Shailesh Vickram Singh of Seedfund, announced the launch of Massive Fund for India, pledging to invest close to $150 million in support of environmental protection. Massive Fund is a stage-agnostic, sector-focused and deep science fund that aims to target large problems in the areas of food, agriculture, air and water pollution, including renewable energy, as well as areas of recyclables like electronic and plastic waste, mobility, and sustainably built environment.

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