The startup ecosystem gets its ACT together, sets up fund to help fight COVID-19 – Moneycontrol

Industry veterans, top VCs and prominent founders have participated in the fund, which will springboard innovators working around fighting the pandemic.

The startup industry, in yet another major initiative to help fight COVID-19 has come together to create a fund of Rs 100 crore and a pool of experts who can help the sector in this difficult times. This fund will be given out as grants to companies and innovators who can help fight the pandemic.

The initiative, which has been named ACT (Action Covid 19 Team), counts leading entrepreneurs, investors and other industry veterans among its members. They will collaborate with innovators andwill partner with startup founders as they deal with the economic carnage caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Moneycontrol was the first to report on how Indian VCs and startup founders were coming together to form a Rs 100 crore fund. What was evidence of the enthusiasm around this initiative was that more than 40% of the fund got subscribed to within the first few days of the initiative getting launched.

"It seeks platforms that have capital efficient scalable solutions which need initial seed grant to fight COVID-19. Additionally the ACT network will bring its networks, team, money and startup assets to create a force multiplier to help these initiatives make rapid meaningful progress," said the collective in a note released on social media channels.

The initiative has partnered with Bengaluru chapter of 'United Way', which is a not for profit organisation to coordinate projects and grant activities.

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Multiple prominent personalities have already taken to Twitter to voice their support for the initiative, from Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to ex-Googler and currently Sequoia Capital managing director Rajan Anandan. Top executives of the startup ecosystem have also joined the initiative and many have chipped in for the fund as well.

Besides the fund, the broader ecosystem has come together to also create a platform Startup Vs COVID-19 to aggregate startups working on innovative ideas around fighting this deadly pandemic.

The fledgling startup sector is set to face its biggest challenge ever with Covid19 holding the entire nation in its grip. The number of affected persons has crossed 1,600 with the entire country in a state of lockdown till April 14.

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First Published on Apr 1, 2020 09:31 pm