City of Joy turns into startup destination

Published on September 07, 2015 12:19:19 PM

Most of us think that startups arrive from the various metros, but on a surprising note most of the startup ideas have come from Kolkata, says NASSCOM that targets 10,000 startups by 2023 across the country.

A recent story of one of the biggest startup is momo chain, which was established by two college mates seven years ago with an investment of Rs 30,000 to set up their first shop. Now, they have 52 outlets in six cities with an investment of Rs.10 crore made by Indian Angel Network.

In the last month, a restaurant chain in Kolkata and an education app have bagged angel funding.

The co-founder of Wow! Momo said that they want to make this brand an international one and go all over the world. 

They are even planning to set up 60 more outlets in the coming years and an IPO in seven.

Another co-founder, Sagar Daryani, says that being an entrepreneur has become a cool thing and he feels the startup bug is in Kolkata to stay.

Ravi Ranjan, senior associate NASSCOM, says that within a period of eight months they have received 200 applications of which they have selected 13 world-class global product companies from Kolkata.

Padmaja Ruparel, president of Indian Angel Network, said that she is excited to see passionate entrepreneurs and their commitment which will make it happen.

A 23-year-old law student from NUIS, Kolkata, Om Agarwal, plans to launch an education app in a couple of weeks which has won investment from Ravi Agarwal.

Om Agarwal has developed an application called EazyCoach which will give students a marketplace from where they can get help with admissions and money to travel and study in colleges abroad. The service has started for students in India and would soon be extended to students in China and Brazil.

Startups with unique ideas like Anirudh Poddar and Aditya Ladsaria's 'Chai Break restaurant' that has got six outlets already and they say that there are many coffee chains in the country which is why they want to focus on tea.

The startups in Kolkata are on the rise which makes the City of Joy the country’s upcoming startup destination.