US-based startup incubator Techstars to launch in India

Techstar’s India debut is a joint venture with ANSR, a leader in Global In-House Centers

The Colorado-based startup incubator network Techstars on Thursday announced its launch in India. The company is also starting new startup programs across the country.

Techstar’s India debut is a joint venture with ANSR, a leader in Global In-House Centers, the company said in a statement.

Formally named Techstars India, the fully aligned partnership aims to connect India’s entrepreneurs and corporate leaders with the Techstars network. It will also explore numerous entrepreneurial opportunities in India such as Techstars Mentorship-Driven Accelerator Programs and Techstars Corporate Innovation Partnerships.

“There are so many great enterprises (in India). We haven’t had a presence here. Now we are doing it with ANSR. It provides an opportunity to tap into great talent and connect India with the rest of the world and connect the rest of the world to India so that there can be an exchange of talent,” Techstars co-founder David Brown said in an interview with the Economic Times.

ALSO READ: Smart water bottle HidrateMe lights up when it’s time for a drink

“We wanted to build products here like in the other places (we operate in) – accelerator, venture capital, corporate innovation activiey,” the newspaper quoted David Cohen, another co-founder of Techstars.

Techstars has had a long and productive presence in India, beginning with Techstars Startup digest in 2010 and quickly expanding to Techstars Startup Weekend in 2011. Techstars has run 133 Techstars Startup Weekends throughout India, building startup entrepreneurial networks in tier-one metro cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Techstars has 10,000 Techstars Startup Digest India subscribers, with Techstars Startup Digests covering Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and Visakhapatnam. Techstars India will be scaling and adding local staff to support the Indian expansion.

“It’s no joke when Techstars says that they like to do more faster,” Lalit Ahuja, CEO of ANSR said in the statement. “Once we struck on the idea of a joint venture with Techstars, David Brown and David Cohen moved at the speed of light to dig in, form plans and we are excited to partner with them.”

Dallas-based ANSR, which is backed by Accel Partners and Infosys, is a global leader in establishing, operating and optimizing Global In-House Centers (GICs) and provides end-to-end solutions to enterprises across the GIC life-cycle. It partnered with more than 20 companies to advance their transformation agenda by establishing GICs, research and analytics centers, and startup engagement programs.

ALSO READ: Dogstar – device to measure dog happiness among Cornell Tech’s inaugural startup awardees

The Techstars Worldwide Network helps entrepreneurs make the connections and access the resources they need to succeed. Techstars accelerator portfolio includes more than 1,000 companies with a market cap of $9.9 billion.