An initiative to fund startups

September 29, 2016 12:00 am | Updated November 01, 2016 09:45 pm IST - VISAKHAPATNAM:

Andhra Angels formed to encourage entrepreneurs in Vizag, Vijayawada, Tirupati

In a bid to develop startup hubs at Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, and Tirupati, a group of high networth individuals (HNI) have formed a body to fund startups to become successful entrepreneurs.

Drawing inspiration from the success story of Hyderabad Angels, Andhra Angels Private Ltd has been formed to conduct due diligence study of the claims of startups for funding by domain experts and subsequently become equity partners in the ventures.

Andhra Angels, conceived by entrepreneurs G. Sambasiva Rao, Deepak Madala, O. Naresh Kumar, and a few others found appreciation from IT Advisor and Special Chief Secretary to Chief Minister J.A. Chowdary. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is expected to launch the initiative sometime next month.

Mr. Rao, Managing Director of Sravan Shipping Services, told The Hindu that they find huge potential to encourage startups on a large scale in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati areas to generate employment opportunities to many.

The State government, which has unveiled its startup policy sometime back, has announced its intention to overhaul academic curriculum, conduct hackathons and convert projects into startups as part of a drive to develop a Silicon Valley in ‘Sunrise’ Andhra Pradesh.

The government has announced the creation of an innovation fund of Rs.100 crore to support and convert out-of-the box ideas into commercial ventures with proper mentoring.

Expert panel

Mr. Rao said before equity participation, they would form a committee of experts for due diligence study to find out the potential and seriousness of the startups and their promoters. “This will help to a large extent in ensuring a comprehensive ecosystem for growth of startups,” he said.

NASSCOM has already started a 10k startup warehouse at Sunrise Startup Village at Rushikonda here. Technology giant SAP will also open an office. University of California, Berkeley is also being roped in to start its operations for incubation of startups. A sum of Rs.80 crore has been sanctioned for construction of the Millennium Tower near Startup Village to house plug and play operators.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is expected to launch the initiative sometime next month

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