NASSCOM shortlists around 300 startups for '10,000 Startups' programme

IT industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has shortlisted around 300 startups or close to 8 per cent of the 4,000 applications it received for its second round of the '10,000 Startups' initiative.

As part of the initiative, NASSCOM will select around 20-25 startups for angel funding and incubation while another 150 will be chosen for mentoring by its members, programme partners and other industry partners. The selected startups will get support with funding, co-working infrastructure, as well as startup kits, including hosting credits and other technology and business tools valued at more than $25,000.

Of the startups who made the first cut, nine are from Kochi-based Startup Village, according to a statement. While there is no official word from NASSCOM, a top executive of Startup Village said the startups selected have received a communication that they are part of around 8 per cent of those selected for the second round.

Ventures associated with Startup Village which have been selected include DecideQuick, iTraveller, Finahub, tagNpin, Tuttifrutti Interactive, 4th Ambit, Smacon Technologies, Cenact and Losinters Labs.

"The startups will meet NASSCOM representatives next week; so we are assuming that the meeting would give more clarity on the further steps," according to Gautham, a platform evangelist at Startup Village, who goes by his first name.

In June, NASSCOM received 4,000 applications from startups across the country for angel funding and acceleration under its 10,000 start-ups initiative, launched in March this year with support from companies like Google, Microsoft and VeriSign.

Of the total number of applications received, about 66 per cent came for Web/Internet startups, followed by those in the mobile space (24 per cent), cloud (16 per cent) and Big Data (11 per cent). Around 25 per cent of them aim to provide solutions related to education and skill development while 18 per cent applications are from the retail vertical, followed by media (15 per cent) and healthcare (11 per cent).

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)