Hyderabad: Zone Startups India’s annual Next Big Idea (NBI) contest has opened application for its 8th edition wherein technology startups can apply to get access to the North American market through a soft landing in Canada. First started in 2013, the contest has helped 49 startups expand to Canada who have all together raised $325 million with seven getting acquired and about 17 startups have set up offices in the global market.
The application process for the contest is open till May 23 and post that on June 9 the winner will be announced. Between June 10-20, the road mapping for North American expansion will take place and from June 21 to September 10 the virtual NBI and pre-landing programme will be conducted.
Speaking about the contest Andrew Smith, Minister (Commercial), High Commission of Canada said, “This contest will open up a large number of opportunities for startups from India to expand their operations to North American and Canadian regions. Canada has been the hotbed of innovation and our successful entrepreneurial ecosystem will help startups grow in this country.”
The contest, which is a joint initiative of Zone Startups India which is part of BRTSiF, Ontario Canada and Invest in Canada, has three phases – awareness wherein NBI Webtalks will give details on business opportunities, pre-landing programme which is a three-month programme to support startups to expand in Canada, local cohort programme wherein startups are taken to Canada for a two-week cohort.
Bil- Ryerson Technology Startup Incubator Foundation MD Hemant Gupta said, “Zone Startups which is part of BRTSiF has incubated 140 startups so far and along with this we have been running a women entrepreneurship vertical, BSE impact vertical for social entrepreneurs and many other initiatives to help startups.”
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