Startups, investors discuss Covid-19 impact on business with Piyush Goyal

Over 70 individuals and representative bodies from the startup and investor community discussed with minister of commerce Piyush Goyal the issues plaguing companies in the sector during the 21-day lockdown.  

In a video conference with the minister, the representatives spoke about government support for startups and entrepreneurs during the period, as well as capital availability in the aftermath of the lockdown.

They discussed the maintenance of supply chain of essential goods during the lockdown, as consumer internet companies in the essential services space, including grocery, food delivery and e-pharmacy, had to temporarily halt operations due to restrictions on last-mile delivery and inter-state transportation.

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The video conference included Saurabh Srivastava, chairman of Indian Angel Network; Rajan Anandan, managing director of Sequoia Capital and its early-stage programme Surge; Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Zomato; Avnish Bajaj, founder of Matrix Partners; Mukesh Bansal, CEO of Curefit; and Karthik Reddy, founder of Blume Ventures. 

On March 31, TV Mohandas Pai, chairman of venture fund Aarin Capital, had asked the minister for time with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to discuss these issues.

On March 27, Goyal held a video discussion with representatives from the ecommerce and retail firms to assure them of complete cooperation in operations under the essential services clause.