Google To Invest $75 Million In Women-Led Startups Though India Fund, All You Need To Know

Using its 75,000 crore India Digitisation Fund, Google would concentrate on funding startups driven by women. The company has emphasised that it will look forward to drafting plans on materialising the potential of startup culture in India through various efforts. Google CEO Sundar Pichai made the announcement at the Google for India 2022 event.

Emphasis On Women-Led Startups

"Moving forward, as part of our IDF investments, we will be targeting support for early-stage companies with a particular focus on women-led startups," Sanjay Gupta, Country Manager & VP, Google India, said at the Google for India event, as reported by NDTV. The business unveiled many AI-driven initiatives, such as voice and video search, speech recognition, and other initiatives.

Google had released $10 billion — or around 75,000 crores at the current exchange rate at the end of 2020 — as part of its IDF to invest in this programme to make internet access more affordable. Pichai added that IDF is increasingly focusing on startups from India and that one-fourth of the fund's $300 million in investments will go to companies with female leaders.

In an effort to hasten the uptake of digital services in the important international market, Google stated in July 2020 that it would invest $10 billion in India over the following five to seven years.

Materialising India's Startup Potential

"Given the scale and technology leadership it (India) will have, it's important to make sure you are balancing, putting in safeguards for people", Pichai said. "You're creating an innovative framework so that companies can innovate on top of certainty in the legal framework. I think it is an important moment in time. India will also be a big export economy. It will benefit from an open and connected internet, and getting that balance right will be important," he added.

Pichai is making his first trip to India in almost three and a half years. He also met President Droupadi Murmu to discuss Google's plans for India and its startup ecosystem. The Google CEO claimed that with each visit, he sees a measurable increase in the sophistication of the Indian startup ecosystem and the global recognition of Indian startups like Glance.

"There is no better time to do a start-up than the current moment. Even though we are working through a macroeconomic moment like this. Companies like Google were created in moments of the downturn. I think I am very bullish about it over time," Pichai stated. He claimed that India presents a chance for them to expand and apply their ideas throughout the nation.

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