By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN, 19 Nov: The Uttarakhand Chapter of Venture Catalysts was launched on 16 November in partnership with Innovate Angels Pvt Ltd and in association with PHD Chamber Angels Club. The inspiration and visionary behind Innovate Angels, CA Verendra Kalra, is also the Chairman of Uttarakhand State Chapter of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Under his leadership, PHDCCI has been instrumental in creating a strong start-up eco system in the state, since 2015. In his opening remarks at the launch function, he stated that the vision for this initiative is to create a platform to enable the state’s eco system to plug into the national and global start up ecosystem. The engagement of national and global leaders with the start- up ecosystem on this platform could induce the right kind of environment to create opportunities for local investors and also for local start-ups to grow at a faster pace. The Regional Director of PHD Chamber, Anil Taneja, informed the gathering about eminent HNIs that the PHD Angels Club, chaired by Verendra Kalra (CA), is eagerly looking forward to engage with Innovate Angels for the technical support. This initiative, he stated, was coming at the right time when the State Government is highly focused on the promotion of the start-up ecosystem. Anuj Golecha, who is one of the top ten Angel Investors in India as rated by VC circle, was present as co-founder of Venture Catalysts for the launch of the Dehradun Chapter of VCats. Along with Uday Chatterji, one of the prominent national level Angel Investors from Dehradun, he addressed the potential investors of the state. Anuj shared the growth story of VCats, which began as India’s 1st Incubation Centre to the stage. VCats has launched a Rs 300 Crore, 9 Unicorns venture capital fund of its own, backed by its founders and partners. On this occasion, four national level innovation and technology driven Start-ups pitched their investment opportunities to the large number of investor delegates from the local ecosystem which VCats has curated and which have potential for high value returns. VCats is also a member of PHD Chamber, Uttarakhand, and has promised to present filtered investment opportunities which are offered after due diligence of the well nurtured and most promising enterprises. According to Anuj, India is a growing ecosystem for new entrepreneurs and Uttarakhand being one of the top ranking states on literacy parameters, backed by the presence of a number of educational institutions, is a very promising state for the Start Up Eco system to flourish. He stated that VCats along with its partner, Innovate Angels P Ltd, and associate PHDCCI, will continue to create such platforms for the state, very regularly, post the successful launch.
