National Startup Advisory Council nominates 28 members from the startup ecosystem
The National Startup Advisory Council includes members from diverse segments of the startup ecosystem such as unicorn founders, leading venture capitalists, industry body representatives, and academics.
The National Startup Advisory Council, the body formed by the government to seek advice from key individuals representing the ecosystem, has nominated 28 non-official members on this committee.
The members of this council include founders of startups like BYJU'S, Ola, Zoho, and Snapdeal, as well as members of the venture capital community from firms such Aarin Capital, Accel, Sequoia Capital India, Kalaari Capital, and Softbank India to name a few, according to a statement issued by the government.
The term of the non-official members will be two years and they will advise the government on measures needed to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country.
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The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had constituted the National Startup Advisory Council in January 2020.
Among the key responsibilities of the body includes providing suggestions on the promotion of innovation in all sectors of the economy, which includes semi-urban and rural areas, supporting creative ideas which can lead to valuable products, making it easier for startups for operate by reducing regulatory compliance and costs, etc.
The members of this council who are founders of startups include: Byju Raveendran — BYJU'S, Shradha Sharma — YourStory, Lizzie Chapman — ZestMoney, Abhiraj Singh — Urban Company, Kunal Bahl — Snapdeal, Deepak Garg — Rivigo, Bhavish Aggarwal — Ola Cabs, Krishna Kumar — Cropln, Sanjeev Bhikchandani — Info Edge India, and Sridhar Vembu — Zoho Corp.
The members who represent the venture capital industry include: Kris Gopalakrishnan — Axilor Ventures, Mohandas Pai — Aarin Capital Partners, Gopal Srinivasan — TVS Capital Funds, Ramesh Byrapaneni — Endiya Partners, Prashant Prakash — Accel, Vani Kola — Kalaari Capital, Manoj Kohli — Softbank India, and Rajan Anandan — Sequoia Capital India.
The other non-official members nominated by the government are: Amitabha Bandyopadhyay — IIT Kanpur, Kunal Upadhayaya, — IIM Ahmedabad, Renuka Ramnath, Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, Venkatesh Shukla — The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE), Sharad Sharma — iSpirit, Debjani Ghosh — Nasscom, Uday Kotak — CII, Vineet Agarwal — Assocham, Uday Shankar — FICCI, and Subba Rao Pavuluri — Anath Technologies.
Disclaimer: Shradha Sharma is Founder and CEO of YourStory. Mohandas Pai of Aarin Capital and Vani Kola of Kalaari Capital are investors in the company.
Edited by Kanishk Singh