IIT Madras launches ‘Startups for All’ for easy data accessibility

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras launched an initiative called ‘Startups for All’ aimed at making critical information on India's startup ecosystem accessible. Led by its Centre for Research on Startups and Risk Financing (CREST), the initiative offers free and affordable access to startups, offering verified and comprehensive data to all stakeholders – be it founders, investors, students, job seekers, corporates, or policymakers.

The initiative was launched by Palanivel Thiagarajan, Tamil Nadu minister for information technology and digital services during the ‘TN global startup summit.’

‘Startups for All’ has been developed in collaboration with YNOS, an IIT Madras-incubated startup, and aims to bridge the “information gap that has long tortured the startup environment of India”, the official press note said.

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The platform presently hosts more than 275,000 startups, 15,000 angel investors, 5,500 venture capital firms, 1,400 incubators, 800 banks, and 110 government support schemes, thus making it India's largest and most comprehensive database on startups, investors, incubators, and funding support agencies.

“The ‘Startups for All’ initiative is built on the idea that access to information should not be a privilege. We are proud to partner with IIT Madras CREST in enabling every aspiring founder to explore the start-up ecosystem with clarity, confidence, and affordability”, said Thillai Rajan A., faculty in the Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras.

IIT Madras ‘Startups for All’: Key features

'Startups for All' offers free initial access to verified data on startups, investors, and ecosystem enablers. Registered users are given free credits to explore the database of the platform, which includes:

• Investor and incubator profiles
• Comparative analytics for startup funding and growth
• Personalized investor recommendations
• Downloadable investor and startup reports
• Customized outreach message development tools

This flexibility makes the platform very useful for students, researchers, first-time entrepreneurs, and innovators from smaller towns and institutions to gain insight and access data that usually remains the domain of larger players, the press release said.

As India has become the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world, the country is on the verge of playing a critical role in achieving the nation's 'Viksit Bharat 2047' vision and its $5 trillion economy goal.