Global CEOs will be at ‘Start-Up India’ launch

“Start-Up India”, to be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 16, will see at least 40 top CEOs and founders of start-ups, venture capitalists and angel investors from Silicon Valley attending.

Global leaders and venture capitalists including billionaire Japanese businessman Masayoshi Son, SoftBank’s CEO and founder, Uber founder Travis Kalanick and WeWork founder Adam Nuemann will be there. Around 2,000 CEOs and start-up founders from across the country will also participate.

Google will conduct an innovative session on “Launchpad Accelerator”, that will involve live pitches made by early stage start-ups to potential investors. “Whosoever is able to get into the ‘Launchpad Accelerator’ will get a $50,000 cheque from Google... equity funding into start-ups,” said DIPP secretary Amitabh Kant.

Mr Modi will formally launch the initiative and unveil the “start-up action plan”, which will highlight initiatives and schemes undertaken by the government to address various aspects on developing a condu-cive start-up ecosystem.