RBL Bank Partners with 'Start-Up India' To Mentor and Fund Indian Startups

India's private sector RBL Bank has joined hands with government’s Startup India initiative and Invest India to launch a unique initiative -- InFinIT20, reported Economic Times.

InFinIT20 is a three month intensive programme where RBL Bank will provide funding and mentorship opportunity to 20 promising startups to overcome hurdles in the early stages of their journey.

RBL Bank highlighted that as per recent statistics, 55 percent of failed start-ups last year had received funding. This indicates that investment is not the primary factor contributing to a successful business – mentorship and good strategy play a critical role as well. Experienced mentors can help the founding startup team address the unique challenges of each stage of growth.

InFinIT20 will go a long way not only in empowering and educating companies, but also in driving sustainable economic growth and generating large scale employment opportunities across diverse sectors including insurance tech, wealth management, agri-finance, financial inclusion, digital payments, digital contracts, digital lending, artificial intelligence, block chain among others.

Interested Startups & innovators can apply for the program at Startup India Hub by visiting - https://www.startupindiahub.org.in/content/sih/en/infinit20-rbl-fintech-mentorship.html. Last date for application is 28 February.

RBL Bank Executive Director Rajeev Ahuja said, “We are a young bank and a lot of our own growth and scaling up has been because of our own start-up mentality. We have partnered with almost 1000 plus start-ups across the spectrum providing them with variety of services. India is a young country where many dream to start a new business. With InFinIT20, RBL Bank will provide its domain expertise through seven years of engagement with start-ups and help them in achieving their goals by employing the best financial tools, resources and technology.

Commenting on the tie-up, Anil Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, said, “Corporates are one of the most important stakeholders in the startup ecosystem, and have the potential to create the most impact. This program will assist startups in receiving full-fledged guidance from experienced professionals in the fintech space. The goal is to help the startups create meaningful strategies and successful businesses.”

Notably, RBL Bank has been closely working with the Indian Startup ecosystem over the last few years. The Bank was amongst the first to launch a dedicated branch in Bangalore that facilitates opportunities for startups to field-test their services and get recognized for their strengths.

The bank has also recently invested in Omnivore Fund, an impact venture fund that invests in Indian startups developing breakthrough technologies for food, agriculture, and the rural economy.

In 2016, RBL launched a banking platform - India Startup Club (ISC), which exclusively provides startups with end-to-end banking services.

Under its ISC, RBL Bank had also organised incubation and funding contests like ‘The Big Pitch’ and ‘Hackathon’ to provide dynamic exposure to early-stage startups.

RBL Bank Partners with 'Start-Up India' To Mentor and Fund Indian Startups

India's private sector RBL Bank has joined hands with government’s Startup India initiative and Invest India to launch a unique initiative -- InFinIT20, reported Economic Times.

InFinIT20 is a three month intensive programme where RBL Bank will provide funding and mentorship opportunity to 20 promising startups to overcome hurdles in the early stages of their journey.

RBL Bank highlighted that as per recent statistics, 55 percent of failed start-ups last year had received funding. This indicates that investment is not the primary factor contributing to a successful business – mentorship and good strategy play a critical role as well. Experienced mentors can help the founding startup team address the unique challenges of each stage of growth.

InFinIT20 will go a long way not only in empowering and educating companies, but also in driving sustainable economic growth and generating large scale employment opportunities across diverse sectors including insurance tech, wealth management, agri-finance, financial inclusion, digital payments, digital contracts, digital lending, artificial intelligence, block chain among others.

Interested Startups & innovators can apply for the program at Startup India Hub by visiting - https://www.startupindiahub.org.in/content/sih/en/infinit20-rbl-fintech-mentorship.html. Last date for application is 28 February.

RBL Bank Executive Director Rajeev Ahuja said, “We are a young bank and a lot of our own growth and scaling up has been because of our own start-up mentality. We have partnered with almost 1000 plus start-ups across the spectrum providing them with variety of services. India is a young country where many dream to start a new business. With InFinIT20, RBL Bank will provide its domain expertise through seven years of engagement with start-ups and help them in achieving their goals by employing the best financial tools, resources and technology.

Commenting on the tie-up, Anil Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, said, “Corporates are one of the most important stakeholders in the startup ecosystem, and have the potential to create the most impact. This program will assist startups in receiving full-fledged guidance from experienced professionals in the fintech space. The goal is to help the startups create meaningful strategies and successful businesses.”

Notably, RBL Bank has been closely working with the Indian Startup ecosystem over the last few years. The Bank was amongst the first to launch a dedicated branch in Bangalore that facilitates opportunities for startups to field-test their services and get recognized for their strengths.

The bank has also recently invested in Omnivore Fund, an impact venture fund that invests in Indian startups developing breakthrough technologies for food, agriculture, and the rural economy.

In 2016, RBL launched a banking platform - India Startup Club (ISC), which exclusively provides startups with end-to-end banking services.

Under its ISC, RBL Bank had also organised incubation and funding contests like ‘The Big Pitch’ and ‘Hackathon’ to provide dynamic exposure to early-stage startups.

​​​1Crowd and RBL Bank Host ‘The Big Pitch’ Competition for Startups in Bangalore

1Crowd and RBL Bank hosted the finals of ‘The Big Pitch’ competition at Christ University’s sprawling campus in Bangalore. Ten selected start-ups were called on stage to pitch to a panel of judges for admission to ‘Inspire!’, 1Crowd’s first incubation Centre, and for priority consideration to be funded via 1Crowd’s equity crowdfunding platform.

Anil Gudibande, co-founder and Director at 1Crowd said “At 1Crowd, we are determined to identify and nurture startups with potential for large scale disruption in sectors where they operate. ‘The Big Pitch’ served as a platform to identify such startups and we are determined to provide winners with the right resources, mentorship and support to realize their true potential. These startups will benefit from 1Crowd’s unique ethos of working as partners in growth rather than being merely financial investors”.

The three winners of the incubation contest were offered admission to ‘Inspire!’, a state of the art incubation centre hosted at Christ University’s Faculty of Engineering, which is powered by 1Crowd. The incubation program will leverage 1Crowd’s strong linkages with industry to provide startups unprecedented access to a wide range of corporates across India. This program is designed to help startups scale up rapidly by providing focused mentorship, running pilot projects, enhancing market reach and also providing seed funding.

This maiden competition generated significant interest in the startup community across the country. A digital campaign for ‘The Big Pitch’ spanning barely four weeks yielded a deluge of applications from early stage startups from across industry verticals. Winners included a range of startups from the domains of fintech, bio-tech, artificial intelligence based systems to community platforms.

RBL Bank Launches Banking Platform For Startups In India

In order to help the young entrepreneurial blood out there, RBL Bank, a private sector bank, has launched a banking platform, India Startup Club (ISC), which will exclusively provide them with end-to-end banking services.

The platform will allow entrepreneurs to invest their precious time in developing their core products and services, rather than standing in numerous, long queues in the banks. According to the bank, using the platform, the users will be able to avail personalized banking services, financial tools as well as resources and planning solutions.

A similar announcement was made earlier this year by SBI when if launched SBI InCube, India's very first specialised branch, exclusively meant for start-ups, in Bengaluru’s St. Mark’s Road. The branch is a specialised branch set up in order to address and understand entrepreneurs banking needs for setting up a startup.

RBL's ISC's banking services will include services like business account, transaction banking solutions, and trade and foreign exchange services.

RBL has further gone ahead and partnered with various referral service providers and forums, which will prove to be of a great help to startups in building their brands and growing their business as they would be offering multiple options under one roof that too at
special prices.

In addition to all this, the ISC also provides various other non-banking solutions such as office space services, enterprise registration services, social media marketing and branding, customer relationship management and human resource management system.

According to Rana Vikram Anand, Head-Segments and Products, Business and Branch Banking, RBL Bank, "Through the ISC programme, RBL Bank is committed to actively engage and widen India's entrepreneurial base by offering a unique service proposition that will enable the emerging startup community build and grow their business."

RBL Bank Launches Banking Platform For Startups In India

In order to help the young entrepreneurial blood out there, RBL Bank, a private sector bank, has launched a banking platform, India Startup Club (ISC), which will exclusively provide them with end-to-end banking services.

The platform will allow entrepreneurs to invest their precious time in developing their core products and services, rather than standing in numerous, long queues in the banks. According to the bank, using the platform, the users will be able to avail personalized banking services, financial tools as well as resources and planning solutions.

A similar announcement was made earlier this year by SBI when if launched SBI InCube, India's very first specialised branch, exclusively meant for start-ups, in Bengaluru’s St. Mark’s Road. The branch is a specialised branch set up in order to address and understand entrepreneurs banking needs for setting up a startup.

RBL's ISC's banking services will include services like business account, transaction banking solutions, and trade and foreign exchange services.

RBL has further gone ahead and partnered with various referral service providers and forums, which will prove to be of a great help to startups in building their brands and growing their business as they would be offering multiple options under one roof that too at
special prices.

In addition to all this, the ISC also provides various other non-banking solutions such as office space services, enterprise registration services, social media marketing and branding, customer relationship management and human resource management system.

According to Rana Vikram Anand, Head-Segments and Products, Business and Branch Banking, RBL Bank, "Through the ISC programme, RBL Bank is committed to actively engage and widen India's entrepreneurial base by offering a unique service proposition that will enable the emerging startup community build and grow their business."