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Noida businessmen eye ‘start-up capital’

Noida: A day ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s launch of ‘Stand Up India Campaign’ in Noida on April 5, where he will distribute 5000 e-rickshaws via the Bharatiya Micro Credit, city based start-up companies claimed that a major focus is now needed to seal the gaps and push Noida to the top rung as the top start-up destination of the country and implement ‘start-up India’ full-spree in the city.

According to city based venture capitalists and start-up companies, Noida is posed at the tipping point of becoming the country’s top-start up destination.

“Bangalore as a start-up mecca is fast waning as an idea; Gurgaon is loaded with infrastructure problems. Noida is rich in talent pool, has low rentals and easy connectivity. All these combine to make the city a great start-up hub.

There are small gaps to be sealed and we will discuss them with the government delegation tomorrow,” Saliesh Vickram Singh, Executive Director, Seedfund Ventures, an early stage, funding company based out of Noida, told TOI.

Singh has been handpicked among the top 100 city-based entrepreneurs and businesses who will be present at the Stand Up India launch tomorrow. Some others who are expected to be present, include, Abhinav Mathur, CEO-Spice Global; Rajnish Kapur, President DMI, Ex CIO, MakeMyTrip); Gaurav Mavi, Director, BOP; Manik Anand – Executive Director – BOP; Shashank Gupta,Director – NeoBrix & Urban Axis; Bhanu Chopra – CEO & Founder – RateGain; Vadivel, CEO Exzeo.

The giants of Noida’s start-up scenario include, Naukri.com; Indiamart; PayTM, Infoedge. In more recent times, Noida houses hundreds of small scale start-ups located out of sector 60, 63, 16 and 4.“Noida needs a Cyberhub like Gurgaon; young people want to have fun after work.

Food and entertainment and a good culture hub, would be the game changers for the city’s start up business ecology. All that Noida lacks is in its fun-quotient to attract and retain the young workforce,” Sandeep Vij, Director Kulzy, a marketing startup, said.

“We are looking forward to the movie screens, the new malls. The city needs more energy, everything else is perfect for the start-up ecology,” Nasr Khan, Founder, CEO of NightStay, a one-year-old hotel booking start-up said.

“Noida is start-up friendly. It has great connectivity and has emerged as a silent start-up hub. A lot of people choose to work and live in Noida itself. The metro combined with easy local commute, makes Noida a great place to work,” Sairee Chahal,Founder & CEO, Sheroes.in, said.

“Noida strikes the right balance between infrastructural needs, connectivity and cost-effectiveness, and therefore is well suited for start-ups. Noida’s advantages outweighed the drawbacks for start-ups,” Abhinav Choudhary, co-founder of Noida based,Smartprix.com, said.

“Many of our colleagues have moved from Delhi, Gurgaon to Noida because of the convenience being offered. Paytm now has three offices in Noida, which houses a great talent pool of young associates. Together we have over 3,000 associates who travel to Noida to make it big and connect India digitally,” Sonia Dhawan, DGM, Paytm, said.

“We are going to push for all that is needed to make Noida a start-up rich city at the eventtomorrow. It looks like a good time to live and work in Noida,” Sailesh Vickram Singh, added.

“The networking opportunity between the business leaders of the city and the government representatives have been created. We hope, there are fruitful results out of the event and interaction, tomorrow,” Shantanu Gupta, Coordinator for the Stand Up India launch, and advisor to the Bharatiya Micro Credit, told TOI.