Dubai offers a global launchpad for startups from India – Mona Singh, co-founder of India Accelerators

Dubai: India Accelerators, adjudged the best accelerator of 2021 by India’s National Startups Awards, is branching out to mentor startups wanting to operate in the UAE space.

There are more than 200 startups from India at Gitex Global, which is ongoing at the Dubai World Trade Centre. North Star Dubai, across Zabeel Halls 4 and beyond, is showcasing mostly the startups as a mini-event of its own on the sidelines.

Mona Singh, co-founder of India Accelerators, and her team talked with The Brew, about some of the startups under their fold. Prominent among them are Paymart, SustainKart, a marketplace for sustainable products and already worth 120 crore rupees in its first year of inception; RevBay or Finqy.ai, which provide marketing tools to ease access to financial products, and more.

Q1- There are more than 200 startups from India alone at Gitex. Tell us about India Accelerators and why brings you to Gitex?

There may be only 200 at Gitex but there are more than 50,000 startups in India, and massive potential in them along with opportunities for collaborations as well. Here we can try to bring the best of both worlds. Dubai offers a global launchpad for startups from India, where they can get their POCs, and potential customers and then scale it up here.

Q2- Is the launchpad for everyone or do you have any specific criteria?

There are criteria like in any other market. There must be proof of revenue, and customer base, the criteria at IA are extremely stringent. Our acceptance rate is only four to five percent; even for the Dubai region, so we will be very selective and how we can take them forward.

Q3- How confident is IA about providing inputs in the UAE?

For five years we have built a robust ecosystem back in India and now we are extremely confident of expanding just as Dubai is an extension of India in many ways. There is the proximity of distance as well. From the many trips we have made here, there is a huge pent-up demand in the ecosystem here. We can help startups from all over the world come here and benefit locally in Dubai. And the local companies here can capitalise on our network and experienced support at all levels, starting from scratch.

Related News: Over 200 Indian ICT Companies and Startups are showcasing futuristic technology to the world

Q4- What is your message to the local startups and how they can benefit from IA?

We can help startup companies from the opening stage. We have all the systems in place for them to start from scratch and provide them a soft landing when they look at expanding their setup – be it taxation experts, legal entities, dealing with government organisations, the mentor network, and everything we have in our program across four to six months.

Q5- What are the expectations from Gitex?

Gitex started just on the electronics side, but it has exploded everywhere. It is not Dubai-UAE but the whole world is participating – right from startups to big corporate giants. It is a good platform to bring different entities together and explore synergies. Gitex marries the ecosystems between corporates and startups.

Q6- How has the Gitex response been for you so far?

It has been a rewarding experience; the kind of people we have met and the kind of collaboration opportunities have been immense. EdTech, Healthcare, SaaS, etc, are some of the popular sectors among startups.

Q7- How can local startups from the UAE benefit from IA?

UAE startups get to benefit from the local IQ about doing business in India from us. That is where our competency programs come in. Secondly, it is not just India but they join our network where mentors from across the globe chip in. Third, once they have laid the foundation in the UAE, we can help them expand globally. India is a massive market but they don’t understand that market as much as we Indians understand the UAE. We are part of the Global Accelerator Network so there are global associations we are part of; And it is not restricted to any one industry sector but across the board.