Indo-Japan Startup Hub Begins Operation in Bengaluru; To Launch Startup Visa Programme

Japanese External Trade Organisation (Jetro) in association with IT trade body Nasscom and Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru (IIMB) on Monday formally inaugurated Indo-Japan Startup Hub in Bengaluru.

"The decision to set up startup centre was taken during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Japan last year and it was mentioned in the joint statement of Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe," Hiroshige Seko, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) told DH.

Seko said this would serve as a platform for promotion of information exchange, business collaboration and investments between the vibrant and innovative start-up ecosystems of the two nations.

"Bengaluru convinced me that sky is the limit for India-Japan economic relationships. Japan's strength in hardware and India's strength in software will further fuel innovation. In the age of IoT, India-Japan partnership will help solve challenges like Society 5.0," he said.

The Indo-Japan Startup Hub is part of Jetro's Global Acceleration Hub Progaramme which is already present in other 12 crountries. Jetro and Nasscom will be the nodal agencies to execute this startup hub which will be located at the IIM-B.

According to an analyst, Japan is looking at Indian startups to further expand its tech prowess. "Japan is looking at a major shift in its business with digital disruption and dramatic changes in auto industry. They are looking at India to get used to various technology and access to other geographies later," the analyst said.

Besides Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Group's investment to the tune of $6 billion, Indian startups are also witnessing investments from Japanese investors like Mistletoe, Incubate Fund, Beenext and Anew Holding.

India and Japan have already started their cooperation in IT and IoT through bilateral Joint Working Group on IT and Electronics through the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Nasscom and IoT Acceleration Consortium (ITAC) of Japan.

The Japanese companies have expressed support for the initiatives such as Make in India, Digital India, Skill India, Smart City, Clean India, and Startup India.

According to sources, Japan is gearing up to launch a one-year startup visa programme soon to attract foreign entrepreneurs. The programme will be included in an economic package to be approved by the government.

Under Japan's new startup visa programme, foreign entrepreneurs will have 12 months to live and work anywhere in Japan, especially in special zones in Fukuoka City and Tokyo.

Besides entrepreneurship, India and Japan have also joined hands to launch robotics and artificial intelligence in the defense segment -- In February.

In January, Japanese investment and consulting firm Dream Incubator, which made its India debut by investing in 99Games, an Udupi-based gaming startup, in January 2017, announced that it is in the process of launching a 5 billion yen ( ~ US$44.3 million) fund to invest in Indian tech startups.

Beside Japan, the US Embassy has also launched the Nexus Startup Hub at the American Center in Delhi, aiming to support a dynamic ecosystem for innovative Indian startups through the sharing of American best business practices in entrepreneurship and incubation.

Source - Deccan Herald

Indo-Japan Startup Hub Begins Operation in Bengaluru; To Launch Startup Visa Programme

Japanese External Trade Organisation (Jetro) in association with IT trade body Nasscom and Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru (IIMB) on Monday formally inaugurated Indo-Japan Startup Hub in Bengaluru.

"The decision to set up startup centre was taken during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Japan last year and it was mentioned in the joint statement of Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe," Hiroshige Seko, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) told DH.

Seko said this would serve as a platform for promotion of information exchange, business collaboration and investments between the vibrant and innovative start-up ecosystems of the two nations.

"Bengaluru convinced me that sky is the limit for India-Japan economic relationships. Japan's strength in hardware and India's strength in software will further fuel innovation. In the age of IoT, India-Japan partnership will help solve challenges like Society 5.0," he said.

The Indo-Japan Startup Hub is part of Jetro's Global Acceleration Hub Progaramme which is already present in other 12 crountries. Jetro and Nasscom will be the nodal agencies to execute this startup hub which will be located at the IIM-B.

According to an analyst, Japan is looking at Indian startups to further expand its tech prowess. "Japan is looking at a major shift in its business with digital disruption and dramatic changes in auto industry. They are looking at India to get used to various technology and access to other geographies later," the analyst said.

Besides Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Group's investment to the tune of $6 billion, Indian startups are also witnessing investments from Japanese investors like Mistletoe, Incubate Fund, Beenext and Anew Holding.

India and Japan have already started their cooperation in IT and IoT through bilateral Joint Working Group on IT and Electronics through the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Nasscom and IoT Acceleration Consortium (ITAC) of Japan.

The Japanese companies have expressed support for the initiatives such as Make in India, Digital India, Skill India, Smart City, Clean India, and Startup India.

According to sources, Japan is gearing up to launch a one-year startup visa programme soon to attract foreign entrepreneurs. The programme will be included in an economic package to be approved by the government.

Under Japan's new startup visa programme, foreign entrepreneurs will have 12 months to live and work anywhere in Japan, especially in special zones in Fukuoka City and Tokyo.

Besides entrepreneurship, India and Japan have also joined hands to launch robotics and artificial intelligence in the defense segment -- In February.

In January, Japanese investment and consulting firm Dream Incubator, which made its India debut by investing in 99Games, an Udupi-based gaming startup, in January 2017, announced that it is in the process of launching a 5 billion yen ( ~ US$44.3 million) fund to invest in Indian tech startups.

Beside Japan, the US Embassy has also launched the Nexus Startup Hub at the American Center in Delhi, aiming to support a dynamic ecosystem for innovative Indian startups through the sharing of American best business practices in entrepreneurship and incubation.

Source - Deccan Herald

How Trump's Stricter Visa Rules is Killing 'Startup Dreams' of Indian Entrepreneurs

Before the tragedy of 'Trump' happened to the US, the Obama-led government had previously created the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER) under which foreign-born entrepreneurs are allowed to remain in the US for up to 5 years if they've created a company/startup that has the potential for rapid growth and job creation, among other requirements.

The IER program was set to take effect on 17 July 2017, but on 10 July, the Trump administration postponed it until March 14, 2018, with a possible intent of demolishing it altogether. Subsequently, in September, the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) sued the US government over its opposition to a key immigration program. NVCA, which is comprised of more than 450 member firms, is the premier trade association that represents the U.S. venture capital industry.

The NVCA, which serves as the official mouthpiece for the VC community in Washington, DC, has asked a federal court to block the DHS from delaying the IER and require the department to begin accepting applications for the program.

The others who also brought this case against Trump government in a court of law include the foreign-born founders of LotusPay, Occasion and Omni Labs. LotusPay's founders, Atma and Anand Krishna, had just finished Y Combinator's Summer 2017 session when the IER was delayed.

Omni Labs -- Vikram Tiwari & Nishant Srivastava

[caption id="attachment_124005" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Alex Modon, left, and Vikram Tiwari, co-founders of Omni Labs, Inc. | Picture Credit - Eric Kayne for Yahoo News[/caption]

Omni Labs was founded in June 2015 by Alex Modon and his Indian citizen co-founders -- Vikram Tiwari and Nishant Srivastava, who had worked in the tech industry for a number of years and were well acquainted with the challenges of "startup life" but then what happened eventually is totally unprepared for them to face -- the U.S. immigration policy under President Trump.

As Omni Labs was the collaborative brainchild of its three co-founders, only the U.S.-born Alex is now allowed to live and work in the country where the business is based. In 2017, Tiwari or Srivastava, who are Indian citizens and are residing in U.S. on work Visa were unable to obtain U.S. work visas and thus the founders came up with a solution as a last resort to open a secondary office in Vancouver, Canada but then it too created an anther problem of added cost, which is not required at all otherwise, and a variety of logistical challenges too.

Notably, Omni, which is an automated ad data analysis platform for businesses, is a rising star and according to court filings, Omni Lab’s customer base grew from 5 to 140 businesses in just eight months last year, and by September 2017, the largely self-funded startup already boasted a positive cash flow. However, all of this seems to be going in vain due to Trump's "Pseudo-nationalistic" immigration law to make America great again.

In the months since Omni Lab's lawsuit was filed last September, the company’s leadership has gradually dimnished in size from three co-founders to two, with Srivastava returning home to India and pursue a more stable job opportunity in homeland. Tiwari, meanwhile, remains based in Vancouver, Canada, which is Omni's secondary office.

BauBax -- Hiral Sanghavi

[caption id="attachment_124004" align="aligncenter" width="700"]
Hiral Sanghavi with his wife Yoganshi Shah | Picture Credit - money.cnn.com[/caption]

An another Indian-citizen founded startup BauBax, which is $20 million startup (in sales), is also one of the victim of IER killing.

BauBax had earlier raised an impressive $9.2 million on Kickstarter to fund his idea to create and sell a travel jacket with a bunch of built-in features -- a neck pillow, eye mask, gloves, even a pocket to hold a soda can.

To date, the company has sold more than 200,000 BauBax jackets worldwide. For the past six months, Sanghavi and his team have been working on the next iteration of the BauBax travel jacket. This one has 25 features in it.

However, now Sanghavi may have to wind up the business and leave the United States. About four years back, BauBax CEO & founder Hiral Sanghavi immigrated to the United States and got married to Yoganshi Shah.

In 2015, Sanghavi took a sabbatical from his MBA program at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management to launch BauxBax. That's when he got an H-4 visa, which was tied to his wife Yogina's H1-B. H-4 visas are given to spouses and dependents of H-1B workers. Unlike student visas, they allow the holder to work or to launch a business.

But Sanghavi's wife Yagansi's H1-B visa expires in August and she will need to seek a renewal soon. And, is Shah's wife loses her H-1B visa for some reason, he will also lose his visa.

"If my wife for whatever reason is unable to renew her H-1B, then we are without status. I would have within 30 days of the denial to shut down my company and leave the country", said Hiral Sanghavi to a US business daily.

BauBax, which is 100% owned by Sanghavi, employs six full-time workers at its Redmond, Washington, office and 11 contractors who work remotely.

Despite of all this stricter immigration policy, U.S. is still a preferred destination for entrepreneurs worldwide especially Indians. In a study titled America's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Then & Now, nearly 25% of engineering and technology U.S. startups have at least one immigrant founder. A report by the National Foundation for American Policy titled Immigrants and Billion Startups, stated that India is the leading country of origin for immigrant founders of billion-dollar companies in the U.S.

The first generation of Indian entrepreneurs arrived in the US in the early 1980s were -- Kanwal Rekhi, Vinod Khosla, Naren Gupta, Prabhu Goel, Suhas Patil, and many more, who went on to found notable companies like Sun Microsystems (acquired by Oracle), Excelan, and Cirrus Logic.

It is to be noted that, India's IIT produces 4th most billion-dollar startups in the World. Last year, India topped a global ranking of 21 countries as the source of the most immigrant founders of billion-dollar startups in the United States.

Meanwhile, some Indian entrepreneurs and engineers are actively exploring opportunities in countries that provide attractive citizenship privileges and opportunities to expand businesses. Canada is one example, and Toronto is emerging as a popular destination. In his blog, former LinkedIn employee Vikram Rangnekar explains that he chose to give up his H1B visa due to its highly restrictive nature and the long wait for an American green card.

Notably, a lot of Indian Startups too are now choosing Canada over the US due to later's visa uncertainty trouble, cracking the US immigration system nowadays has also become a very difficult task, a feat which only a lucky few are able to achieve. Canada has emerged as a popular immigration choice among Indian entrepreneurs after the US due to the clarity the country offers under its Canadian Startup Visa or SUV programme.

Meanwhile in India, amid new regulations of the US aimed at preventing the extension of US H1B visas, predominantly used by Indian techies, the chairman of Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra in strong message to the IT professionals and entrepreneurs who want to come back to India to start afresh -

If that happens, then I say ‘Swagatam, Welcome Home.’ You’re coming back in time to help India Rise... https://t.co/HD2rhHRxJq

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) January 3, 2018

Via - Yahoo News | CNN Money

Top-most Image - DNAIndia.com

Trump To Scrap Startup Visa and International Entrepreneurship Rules

In a news that could sting the world startup ecosystem pretty hard, a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle has claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration are planning to further delay and then ultimately ditch the rule that would have allowed foreign entrepreneurs to come to the United States and build their businesses.

The International Entrepreneur Rule, which was slated to go on the floor from 17th July this year following the Department of Homeland Security’s January stamp of approval, has been on the list of the Silicon Valley demands for quite sometime now. But, according to San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chronicle, the Trump administration has now decided to dump the rule that was approved during Barack Obama’s Presidential tenure.

According to the report, while they won't do away with the rule right away, a soon to be released circular will push back the start date of the rule from July 2017 and March 2018. During this period, the administration will work out a strategy to dump the rule forever. The notice is most likely be published in the Federal Register in the coming days.

If the proposed International Entrepreneur Rule would have come into action, then it would have given entrepreneurs all across the world who have big dreams and passion but do not somehow qualify for the existing visa programs in the U.S., such as the H-1B and L-1 programs which are routinely availed by Indians wanting to work in the U.S., an opportunity to legally stay in the U.S. and build their businesses in one of the most progressive economies of the world.

In addition to the new rule, the Trump administration is also facing flak for toying with the existing visa programs such as the H-1B and L-1 visas, as a part of Trump's “Buy American, Hire American” executive order.

The San Francisco Chronicle report also reported how in the light of the current environment in the U.S. regarding foreign businesses and entrepreneurs, Indian American entrepreneur Sharoon Thomas decided to move his e-commerce software startup from Mountain View, California, to Canada.

Interestingly, the news about the notice of delaying the International Entrepreneur Rule came in a week when the U.S. President Trump met with Silicon Valley giants like Microsoft and Apple to build smoother relations between the Silicon Valley and Washington.

The Startup Visa rule allows an entrepreneur to stay in the U.S. for 30 months, with the possibility of a 30-month extension. In order to qualify for the rule, an entrepreneur needs to demonstrate that he/she will be contributing to economic growth or job creation in the country and give a legit proof that a reputable investor has invested at least $250,000 into their business.

Soon A Startup Visa For Indian Entrepreneurs, By Portugal

Every country in the world seems to be wanting to get a piece of the startup scene. While we already know about the US, UK and Indian startup scene, the country of Portugal also seems to be wanting to catch on. Last year, the much talked about Web Summit in Lisbon attracted the attendance of more than 50,000 people. Seeing such high number of people flocking the event encouraged the government to start thinking about the startup industry in the country and set up a number of partnerships around the world, with a special interest in Asia and the Far East.

During a recent meeting with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa and Secretary of State of Industry João Vasconcelos said that they are considering speeding up the visa application process for Indian entrepreneurs who are looking to start their businesses in Portugal, with the creation of a special kind of visa category called the ”Startup Visa". The Portugal Prime Minister and Secretary of State of Industry were recently on a visit to the Indian subcontinent to meet the Indian PM and attend the "India X Portugal" startup event in Bengaluru.

Talking about the reason to introduce a special ”Startup Visa" category for India, Vasconcelos said that the Web Summit held in Lisbon, Portugal last November saw more than 700 entrepreneurs arriving from India to Portugal. This made them realise that Lisbon has also emerged as competitive as San Francisco or London, when it comes to narrowing down a place to start a company.

According to industry experts, fresh graduates in the field of engineering and ICT-related disciplines could emerge as real winners of this new Visa category move by the Portuguese government. Since, a lot of details haven’t been given out yet, nothing much can be said about other sectors and disciplines. The experts also feel that the Visa move is just a small part of the Portuguese government efforts to transform the country into a gateway to Europe for Indian entrepreneurs and startups, while still allowing the native entrepreneurs to start their joint ventures and enter into commercial partnerships in the subcontinent.

Apart from ICT and startups, both the countries are hopeful of finding and establishing mutually beneficially collaboration opportunities in diverse fields like agriculture, infrastructure, food processing and security, renewable energies, water and waste management, defence and automotive.

The startup visa project isn’t the first step taken by the Portuguese government to attract foreign entrepreneurs to set up their bases in Portugal.

Eight years ago, in the year 2009, the country launched a non-habitual residents' taxation regime with an aim of attracting foreign capital into the country. The taxation regime enables people who become a tax resident in the country become eligible to pay only 20 percent of taxes for the first five years. Three years later, in the year 2012, the country also launched a Golden Visa scheme that fast-tracks the process of enabling entrepreneurs from outside Schengen area to stay in the country and set up their bases there.

While it is not yet clear when will the “Startup Visa” project see the light of day, but whenever it does, we will keep you updated.

[Top Image: Shutterstock]