Two years back, only about 100 technology start-ups were funded a year, despite the fact that the information technology (IT) services sector had a workforce of three million. But after Nasscom launched the 10,000 Start-ups programme, that number had doubled to 200 start-ups through last year, Rajan Anandan, Google’s India chief, told Business Standard in an interview. The buzz around start-ups in India is unmistakable. Various corporate houses, white-collar executives and governments are contributing towards building an exciting entrepreneurship environment in the country, and Nasscom’s year-old initiative is a significant stakeholder in this. The programme, in which both Google and Microsoft are partners, has completed a year and has entered its third phase. This comes on the heels of the IT industry body receiving flak for being too “IT” driven, and not taking up the cause of products and start-ups enough.This programme, however, has proved to be a sort of course correction for Nasscom.
In the first two phases, the initiative received about 7,000 applications, of which about 4,000 were received in the first phase. Now, Nasscom has decided to run the project in four batches a year. Rajat Tandon, senior director of Nasscom, says the first month will be spent collecting applications, the second in due diligence and the third in pitch sessions with partners. Of the 7,000 applications, 529 were short-listed. Of these, 130 were impacted, pitching to angel investors, incubation partners, accelerators, mentors, etc. A further breakdown reveals 30-35 firms received funding directly through the project. Around 30 companies were selected by accelerators to groom them for the next level and qualify for funding. Another 40 secured mentorship and executive connects by the chief experience officers of companies such as Target and Walmart. 
