Singapore startups can now gain faster entry to India’s vibrant startup ecosystem to form partnerships and co-innovate with Indian startups.
Enterprise Singapore (ESG) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) on May 30, ahead of Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi’s visit to Singapore.
The MOU kickstarts the “Singapore–India Incubation Programme” by Startup SG, led by Enterprise Singapore. This programme is supported by Trade Associations and Chambers and startup partners. It aims to foster collaboration between Singapore and Indian startups through jointly organised networking events, workshops and sessions with in-market mentors.
As a start, TiE will be running a startup mission in July. Ten Singapore startups will meet with Indian startups, corporates, mentors and investors to partner and co-innovate solutions in fintech, e-services and deeptech.
“India is an up-and-coming hotspot for global startups and businesses. The growth of India’s startup landscape has been remarkable,” said Mr Tan Soon Kim, Assistant Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Singapore. ”The Singapore–India Incubation Programme aims to introduce ideas and concepts between the ecosystems of both countries and foster collaboration between companies in each other’s markets and in Southeast Asia. Over time, we aim to establish a series of key innovation nodes within India to form an innovation network for Singapore companies to tap on.”
“The strategic collaboration between TiE and Enterprise Singapore would strengthen the bridge between India and Singapore’s startup ecosystem, which today are amongst the most vibrant in the world,” added Mr Puneet Pushkarna, Chairman of TiE Singapore. “We are confident that the platform would further proliferate networking amongst innovators and allow for the development and adoption of ideas, flow of capital and implementation of technically challenging solutions for the betterment of the society at large.”
Enterprise Singapore will be signing an MOU with the National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) India today, May 31.
The signing will be witnessed by Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations and Minister for Communications and Information, Mr S. Iswaran.
The MOU will facilitate the entry of Singapore vocational training companies into India to support the skills needs of the beauty and wellness, F&B, and construction and facilities management sectors.
As a start, Singapore vocational training companies can tap into several of NSDC’s financing schemes, such as soft loan for equipment and equity injection for joint venture projects with Indian training companies.