It is a well-known fact that nine out of ten startups fail within one year in the country and Nagpur is no exception. Observers told ‘The Hitavada’ that the survival rate in the region was marginally lesser than that for the country. However, more and more entrepreneurs are coming up with innovative ideas and venturing into industries such as IT, finance, and manufacturing. Start-ups like MyCaptain, Plus, Accelo, YourPhysio, Konverge, Fireblaze, ekatra, and Licksters among others are making headlines, and the founders of these companies are paving the way for younger start-ups to find opportunities on the larger canvas. Abheejit Khandagale, Founder of Nagpur Startups community, said, “Nagpur gives a unique opportunity to youth and aspiring entrepreneurs to test and build their ideas.

The city is a growing place for start-ups. You cannot compare it with cities like Mumbai or Bengaluru where many start-ups have worked wonders. Irrespective of other locations, Nagpur’s rising number of start-ups is praiseworthy.” The Nagpur Startups community has been the hub of all collaborative efforts in the city and there are several communities working in sync with each other like Headstart, EChai, TiE Nagpur, Global Shapers that are supporting start-ups in their unique ways. Institutional efforts by Indian Institute of Management, Nagpur (IIM–Nagpur), Infed, G H Raisoni Technology Business Incubator Foundation, Ramdeobaba College of Engineering and Management Nagpur (RCOEM), and incubation center of Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU) also are supporting students and early-stage entrepreneurship. All this was missing earlier.

Networks like TiE and Headstart provide a massive exposure to local start-ups on a national and global stage. TiE has taken several start-ups to International stage. In addition, the investor community in the city is also mushrooming and many impressive deals have happened in the recent past. R Ramakrishnan, serial entrepreneur and Past-President of TiE Nagpur, too, observed that Nagpur has been steadily building its start-up ecosystem. But, he pointed out, there are many key factors missing in the ‘jig-saw puzzle’ to make Nagpur a robust start-up ecosystem like deep mentoring capabilities, venture capitalists (VCs) with domain knowledge and global connections. “Many of the start-ups founded in the last few years are still at 0-1 stage and have not gone beyond that. These start-ups are not able to scale up their ventures,” Ramakrishnan said.

Licksters, a city-based start-up making popsicles and ice-cream started four years ago, has now expanded its operations to five different States. Its founders Parimal Kalikar and Dhivya Subburaju said, “With a cosmopolitan culture and well-developed infrastructure, Nagpur is an ideal city for food and beverage brands. Being in a small city you have advantages and challenges as well. Getting noticed nationally is a challenge but getting noticed is easier within the city when you provide quality,” Dhivya told ‘The Hitavada’. “At the same time, Nagpur offers better support for business owners in terms of timing restrictions and regulations,” she added. Overall, Nagpur is witnessing a positive sentiment for start-ups. At the same time, there are certain challenges that need to be overcome through collective stakeholder engagement to make the evolving ecosystem a strong and sustainable one, say the observers.