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Global cab aggregator Uber plans to invest close to $50,000 in three Indian start-ups as a part of its UberPITCH programme, a competition to find the country’s brightest start-ups.
The winners — SeekSherpa (e-commerce), LeanAgri (agri-tech) and Ambee (health-tech) — will also get a chance to visit Uber’s headquarters in San Francisco, where they will get advice and guidance from top Uber executives and other venture capitalists, according to the company.
The three start-ups are among the 100 ideas that Uber shortlisted from over 5,000 ideas it received for the UberPITCH initiative.
Amit Jain, President, Uber India, said: “We were overwhelmed by the response to UberPITCH, which underscored the depth and breadth of the smart ideas that Indian entrepreneurs are generating. All the companies showed a commitment to tackling some really hard problems”
Developing the ecosystem With a focus on developing the Indian start-up ecosystem, the company has started two initiatives — UberEXCHANGE and UberPITCH, which was developed for the Indian market in January 2016 after Uberfounder Travis Kalanick met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“This is in line with the Startup India and Digital India movements, and we are committed to promoting the growth of a vibrant start-up ecosystem by bringing in global knowledge-sharing to India through our initiatives, and vice-versa,” an Uber spokesperson told BusinessLine .
Investments Uber, which has locked horns with domestic cab-sharing app Ola in a fierce competition, plans to invest heavily not only in expanding its operations in the Indian market, but also pumping in investments in several start-ups across different categories. The company has also tied up with Invest India, a government vehicle to promote investments.
“Such partnerships will help create a culture that celebrates risk-taking and views failure as an opportunity to learn. It will also help build India as a global start-up hub,” the spokesperson said.
He added that the objective is to provide them with inputs on operations, strategy, funding and scaling up for sustainable growth, along with a chance to meet important VCs and people from the domain that is required during a growth phase.
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