Kolkata, | 11th January 2020: Neotec Hub, a Startup incubator and accelerator from Ambuja Neotia along with GINSEP (German Indian Startup Exchange Program) organized a day long workshop recently – STARTUP BRIDGE TO GERMANY for Indian Startups to explore opportunities in Germany and connect them to the German Startup ecosystem and vice-versa.
The German Indian Startup Exchange Program (GINSEP) is a non-monetary platform initiated by the German Startups Association and supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) to strengthen and foster exchange between India and Germany in the Startup space and support Indian and German Startups in their efforts to gain access to the respective markets.
GINSEP also has a representative office in India which is hosted by the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce in Bangalore.
The following mentors were present during the workshop:
| Julian Zix | Project Lead / Projektleitung GINSEP at Bundesverband Deutsche Startups | Berlin | Bundesverband Deutsche Startups in the national level Startup body, funded by the German govt. Julian is heading the GINSEP desk. https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianzix/ |
| Flo Oberhofer | Social Entrepreneur @ India | kisanji CleanTech & AgTech | Bharat Impact – Social Impact Investing & CSR | GINSEP | Munich & New Delhi | Flo has been working in the Indo-German social entrepreneurship space for the last few years, having founded and operating his own Agritech Startup in India. Currently his base in India is New Delhi and he keeps shuttling between India and Germany. https://www.linkedin.com/in/flooberhofer/ |
| Richard Mantosh | Attorney (India) | LL.M (Germany) | Consultant & Co-Head (India Desk) at GERMELA CORPLEGAL | Hamburg | Born and educated in Calcutta and Germany, he co-heads the India desk at an international legal firm in Hamburg. https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardmantosh/ |
| Sabina Pandey Antigona Lesi | Regional Director Head – Legal Department Indo-German Chamber of Commerce Officer – Legal Department – Indo German Chamber of Commerce, Kolkata | Kolkata Kolkata |
The project supports German and Indian Startups by offering networking opportunities through events, workshops, pitching formats and study trips, providing information and hands-on assistance in gaining access to the market by leveraging a large network of partners and stakeholder consisting of incubators, investors, Corporates, support organisations, etc. from both countries.
“I am really excited about the participants and there are high-quality Startups are here and I see a good potential for them in the German market as well. We had good individual talks already and the workshop is really useful for them as they get input about market access in Germany and also the legal aspects which are absolutely necessary for doing business with Germany” said Julian Zix, who heads the GINSEP desk. About the workshop Julian added, “I am also really grateful to Neotec Hub and the facilities over here for such a well organized workshop setup and I am really excited that this could happen. I am also looking forward to a number of milestones that we could do here.”
GINSEP seeks to facilitate access to the German market for Indian Startups and vice versa through a broad network of honorary GINSEP ambassadors and mentors in India and in Germany as contact people accessible to Startups in each country.
“I spoke about the legal aspect for the Indian companies in the German market, who are interested in market entry and in expansion. There is a misconception that in Germany they don’t speak English. In the big cities everyone speaks English there is a vibrant ecosystem in Berlin and a lot of interesting opportunities for both sides in India and in Germany and vice versa. What people need to know before entering there is what their product is, what is the demand for the product in Germany, which State they would like to be based in- like I know there are a lot of pharmaceutical companies who are interested in the state of Bavaria. There are a lot of IT companies that like to be in North Rhine-Westphalia which is West of Germany. So we have had this workshop based on different queries and I think that there are a lot of opportunities for Indian companies who can go there and explore the market” said Richard Mantosh, the legal mentor from GINSEP.
The workshop witnessed a diverse participants’ profile which could be divided into Startup and non-Startup categories. In the start-up categories there were companies attending who were into mobility, biotech a few into IT services and Industry 4.0 ( IIoT, AI etc). The non-Startup participants were other incubators, investors and facilitators like Brandshoots ,Mumbai Angels, WEBEL-BCC&I Technology Incubation Centre, Kolkata and INQube Innoventures and universities such as Jadavpur University who are developing their innovation ecosystem. The structure of the workshop was designed to give each of these groups one-on-one time with the mentors in order to identify their particular interest and how to go about it. Interested Startups can hereafter directly get in touch with these experts and find out about their respective organizations and explore possibilities to work together with the stakeholders of the German Startup ecosystem.
Startups in expansion phase got their questions regarding internationalization, legal aspects, technology collaborations etc. answered during the day long event. Dr. Goutam Kulsi, Founder CEO of ChemActiva, a pharmaceutical Startup said, “It was a very enriching experience, I met a lot of people who gave me ideas about my Startup. My Startup is into developing anti-cancer drugs I am also involved in bio-degradable plastic and waste plastic management system. I am also working to develop newer products and by coming here I learnt a lot about the procedure to support my overseas ambitions.”
Incubators also got an opportunity to explore partnerships for know-how exchange and leverage German networks to mentor Startups to meet global quality and market standards. Tridibesh Bandhyopadhyay, a partner of InQube Innoventures said, “The workshop was useful and informative especially for the Kolkata based Startup community as it is important to get exposed to the different opportunities in other countries. Sometimes the fear factor in terms of going out of your comfort zone acts as a setback. So such workshops help to think out of the box and get into a space outside India and this helps a great deal to the local community. And this will also help to understand how the overseas countries are also looking at India based solutions to keep the platform and grow globally.”
Indian investors and VCs found out how to leverage with Germany based investors and sources of funding and possibly introduce international funds into quality tech Startups of the Indian subcontinent. University Entrepreneurship cells investigated international collaborations for designing and scaling their internal Startup programs.
“I would like to thank Julian from the GINSEP team for coming here and doing this program with us. It’s a very important collaboration we are looking at in order to channel a window to Germany for not only our companies but also for companies coming in from Germany to enter the market. Neotec Hub is an incubation facility which is currently looking at working with Startups which will not only grow in terms of investment but as companies providing additional revenue opportunities and business opportunities and skill internationally” said Parthiv Neotia, Director of Neotec Hub.
