Piyush Goyal Proposes India-Japan Shark Tank for Startups

Piyush Goyal proposes an India-Japan ‘Shark Tank’-style startup pitching series to connect young businesses with investors and partners, supporting deep-tech funding, innovation, commercial ties and cross-border business opportunities.

Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal suggests a pitching competition between start-ups from both nations following the well-known Shark Tank format. This would help to establish a direct line for communication between start-ups from both countries and investors who might be interested in their businesses, thus improving economic relations between them.

Addressing a round table of startups during his visit to Japan, Goyal stated that the proposed pitching sessions could be held online with the help of digital connectivity. With the help of such a platform, Indian startups would get an opportunity to pitch their ideas to the Japanese investors and Japanese startups could also pitch to Indian firms.

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This proposal seeks to extend the spirit of cooperation from the level of negotiations on business to establish a path for moving from pitching to implementation of the projects commercially. According to Goyal, there should be an approach that sees successful ideas go from pitching to piloting, investing, and scaling up. This type of approach could help startups get into international markets.

This is part of the push by both nations to increase their economic collaboration in new areas that are technology-intensive. Goyal’s trip to Japan will involve meeting businesspeople and the large Indian delegation of businesses. The talks will centre on enhancing ties economically between the two nations as well as collaborating in high-technology manufacturing industries.

Goyal also talks about the importance of Japan’s patient capital in helping India nurture its startup community. An India-Japan deep tech capital corridor could offer investment not only to mature unicorns but also to nascent ventures working on novel technologies. The concept aims at linking up Japan’s capital with India’s growing pool of technopreneurs.

He adds that Japan’s business community and entrepreneurs are also encouraged to look for business prospects in India owing to the fact that both economies complement each other in many ways. Japanese firms have knowledge in fields such as precision engineering and advanced manufacturing, whereas the Indian economy has a huge consumer base and a good talent pool.

Moreover, increased cooperation among startups will also help in promoting technology transfer and innovations across both nations. Collaboration across borders will help enterprises leverage their engineering expertise and financial strength along with the entrepreneurial skills of the Indian side.

The proposed pitching series is thus part of a wider strategy that aims to foster closer ties between the start-up communities in India and Japan. Bringing together all these stakeholders on a single platform would help start-ups find avenues for raising funds and commercialization.

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This proposal is also an indication of the greater interest on the part of India in getting investments from abroad in its startup sector as well as deep-tech sector. Good connections with Japanese investors would ensure that early-stage firms get access to both capital and networks from abroad.

The India-Japan startup series would serve as yet another way for both countries to further develop their economic relationship. In this case, by helping startups interact directly with investors and form such relationships which will transform into joint projects, it seeks to foster more cooperation between the two countries.