Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, during the recently-held Startup India Innovation Week, chaired a unicorn roundtable to celebrate the growth of the unicorns and chart a collaborative way forward to support the growth of more unicorns in India.

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The 40 participating unicorns highlighted their learnings from their experience, factors that enabled their growth, and identified areas to boost the growth of the Indian ecosystem that can help the nation emerge as a global startup leader, a press release from the commerce ministry said.

Minister Piyush Goyal urged the unicorns to come together and set up a unicorn club or association that would come up with solutions for access to capital for startups in the country.

According to the release, the conversation focused on streamlining regulatory processes to foster a more startup-friendly environment, increasing access in Tier II-III cities and learning from the best practices set up by financial institutions in the private sector.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) celebrated the coming together of the country's key startups, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers and other stakeholders on innovation and entrepreneurship across the country during January 10-18, 2024.

Marquee announcements and launches included 'StartupShala' - Startup India's Accelerator Program, a three-month-long accelerator program for early-stage startups to provide them access to knowledge, network, funds, and guidance required to scale up.

Each cohort of the programme will be focused on a particular sector, the first one being CleanTech and 20 startups per cohort will be handpicked by experts through an open call for application.
The applications were opened on Startup India Hub on January 10, 2024.

To inspire students and aspiring entrepreneurs, five dedicated webinars focused on 'How to Start Up' were organised, titled 'MAARG Mentorship Series for Budding Entrepreneurs'. Industry leaders and mentors shared insights and key lessons about the basics of starting a startup.

To create further awareness about innovation and sustainability, a virtual panel discussion was conducted with global partners of Startup India. The panel focused on the five key pillars of Innovation including Incubation, Funding and Financial Assistance, Public Private Partnership Model, Market Access and Government Infrastructure.

A dedicated workshop was conducted in Mumbai to sensitise startups to the benefits available to them on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM). A successful Workshop on Public Procurement was also conducted at the University of Hyderabad, Telangana, on January 9, 2024, which saw participation from over 70 entrepreneurs.