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Empowering Women! Maharashtra To Launch Rs 200 Crore Fund To Invest In Female-Led Startups
Writer: Tashafi Nazir
For most people, journalism sounds hectic and chaotic. For her, it's a passion she has been chasing for years. With an extensive media background, Tashafi believes in putting efforts on presenting a simple incident in the most interesting way.
Maharashtra, 11 Jun 2022 4:40 AM GMT
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A post-graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication with relevant skills, specialising in content editing & writing. I believe in the precise dissemination of information based on facts to the public.
Creatives : Tashafi Nazir
For most people, journalism sounds hectic and chaotic. For her, it's a passion she has been chasing for years. With an extensive media background, Tashafi believes in putting efforts on presenting a simple incident in the most interesting way.
Manisha Verma, the principal secretary for the skills, employment, entrepreneurship and innovation department, said that the fund will have a special focus on deep/tech, women-led businesses and socially relevant startups.
Maharashtra will launch a ₹200 crore fund to invest in deep tech startups from the state, which women and socially relevant preferably lead. As per the senior officials, the "Maharashtra Innovation and Technological Development Fund" will be a ₹200 crore corpus for early-stage startups in the state.
While addressing a Tiecon event, Manisha Verma, the principal secretary for the skills, employment, entrepreneurship and innovation department, said that the fund will have a special focus on deep/tech, women-led businesses and socially relevant startups.
Seed Fund For Startups
Verma stated that Maharashtra is also mulling launching a seed fund for startups but did not share details of the same. She added that the state already has a slew of vehicles to make equity investments in startups, launched in association with finance players with domain expertise, Business Standard reported.
These include the ₹120-crore Maharashtra Social Venture Fund, managed by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi), ₹330 crores Maharashtra State Defence and Aerospace Fund and ₹80 crore fund for entrepreneurs hailing from marginalised communities, managed by IDBI Capital.
The official, who looks after the Maharashtra State Innovation Society, said the annual "Maharashtra Startup week" is on currently and urged businesses to apply with entries for the same.
In the last four editions of the event, she said that 96 startups had received orders of more than ₹14 crores through their participation.
Verma also explained that a bulk of startups have come up in clusters like Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Aurangabad and Nagpur, encouraging entrepreneurs to go deeper into other parts of the state. She said the state is paying special attention on skilling to ensure that the right talent is available for companies where they need it.
Women Participation In STEM
According to The Economic Times, in India, nearly 43 per cent of the total graduates in STEM are women. It is one of the highest in the world, albeit there is only 14 per cent of scientists, engineers, and technologists in research development institutions and universities.
In addition, India is one of the countries to produce the highest number of scientists and engineers, growth in the field of STEM having picked up considerably over the last few years.
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