Just a day after the National Startup Day, as many as 54 founders of Indian unicorns met with Piyush Goyal, Commerce and Industry Minister on January 17 to discuss the growth of the startup ecosystem.
The meeting was attended by founders of popular unicorns, like Zomato, Paytm, Flipkart, OYO, Swiggy, and others.
What was discussed during this meeting? Let’s find out!
Founders Of 54 Unicorn Startups Meet With Piyush Goyal
In the meeting, Goyal put forth a plan to create an association of startups of unicorns, the ‘Unicorn Club of India.’ The main goal of the platform would be to raise issues faced by unicorns.
The meeting was attended by Rikant Pitti (co-founder of EaseMyTrip), Sandeep Aggarwal (founder of Droom), Vijay Sekhar Sharma (founder of Paytm), Deepinder Goyal (founder of Zomato), Aman Gupta, (co-founder of BoAt). representatives from other unicorns like Flipkart, Phonepe, Swiggy, OYO, and Zerodha were also present..
As per Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the association would help provide solutions. He stated, “With the association of startups, we can also come up with many solutions like connecting with bankers and investors to get access to capital,”
Additionally, Droom founder Sandeep Aggarwal talked about his request to the minister, which was to address tax issues, and an increased access to capital.
DPIIT Reports: India Home To 1.14 Lakh Startups
Sanjiv Singh, joint secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) stated that the suggestions given by the founders were taken in by the government, along with the deliberation of the roles of unicorn startups in guiding upcoming startups. Singh also stated that some pertinent issues were discussed in the meeting as well.
As per reports by DPIIT, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Himachal Pradesh were the best performers in the state startup rankings for 2022. The report also stated that India is home to 1.14 lakh startups as of October 2023.
The winners of the National Startup Awards 2023 were also announced by the government during the same meeting.
