1 City

2 Years Involvement
8 Months Team Work
50+ Conversations
100+ Contributors
A study of the early stage entrepreneurship
in impact ecosystem
A Sulochana Development Trust Project
2014
IMPACT
BANGALORE
INDEX
Preface ..........................................................................................................
Entrepreneurship, Impact and Ecosystem ................................................
India Story....................................................................................................

Bangalore and Beyond..............................................................................

Stakeholders and Conversations..............................................................
Funds .................................................................................................
Trusts & Foundations............................................................................
Incubators/Accelerators.......................................................................
Networks & Platforms...........................................................................
Corporate Sector............................................................................
Social Sector..................................................................................
1
4
10
24
32
34
47
53
65
79
89
Impact Bangalore Event: Entrepreneurs..............................................

Education in Entrepreneurship............................................................
Co-Working Spaces, Movements and Events......................................

Alternative Models of Development..................................................
Exploring the Role of Industry and Government................................
Impact Investing: Our Learning..........................................................
Evaluating Models..............................................................................

Way Forward..............................................................................................
Global Relevance of the Study.............................................................
Asia Relevance of the Study................................................................
Recommendations and Conclusion......................................................
104
108
112
118
126
132
136
140
141
143
146
IMPACT BANGALORE
Impact Bangalore Report is one among the
rst impact ecosystem studies of a city in India.
Bangalore is the city of our choice since it is the
unofcial startup capital of India and the IT boom
of the last decade has given Bangalore a vibrant
startup ecosystem. We felt there is a strong need
to understand and document the dynamics of this
ecosystem.

In January 2012 the idea of bringing the Hub (now
Impact Hub) to Bangalore was oated. Impact Hub
is an international network of co-working spaces
that are part innovation labs, part incubators and
part community centers. When talks of a Bangalore
Hub began, we applied and became the Hub
Bangalore Candidate Team.

We initiated a feasibility study to examine the
viability of bringing the Hub model to Bangalore.
We mapped the startup ecosystem - both the
commercial and the social ecosystems - and spoke
to key ecosystem stakeholders about the Hub
network and model. While there was widespread
acceptability of the idea, what seemed unviable
were the model and the fee structure. There was
an almost unanimous rejection of the model
prompting us to relook at the study.

During this time, our team of four had grown to
become nine people who had leveraged their
networks and initiated deep conversations with
diverse stakeholders. We concluded that while the
commercial startup ecosystem had naturally taken
PREFACE
1
centre stage, there was emergence of an impact
ecosystem which also needed due attention. We
were also curious to know whether the impact
ecosystem was mere hype or was it for real.
Thus, we began the process of investigation. Our
attempt in this project was to go beyond the fact
reporting work done in previous market studies,
and share ground realities and local stakeholder
perspective. We also wanted to understand
the players, regional as well as national, in this
ecosystem, what challenges and opportunities do
they see, and how they want to/are inuencing the
ecosystem. Interestingly, the insights in this report
are not just about what views we have shared but
also how these stakeholders think/approach their
involvement in the ecosystem reecting the current
state of the ecosystem.

We started with primary research, organized a
few events and participated in events organized
by other communities. We mobilized peers and
friends, and met and spoke with over 50 key
players in Bangalore - startups, social enterprises,
NGOs, incubators, accelerators, impact investors,
funds, foundations, mentors, online communities,
support organizations, academic institutions, co-
working spaces, industry bodies, philanthropists,
and corporates.
In the following pages, we will prole some of
the key stakeholders and our conversations with
them. We will also cover our research ndings, our
candid observations of people and trends, and of
the way conversations shaped up to the lessons
we derived from them. We have shared a few ideas
of approaching a collaborative platform, top 10
recommendations to solve some of the challenges
and leverage existing opportunities. We are also
aware of the fact that the relevance of this report
is limited for a period of time and the learning will
go on beyond the study. We do hope that you nd
this report relevant to your own respective journey
of getting involved with Bangalore or any other
startup ecosystem in India or globally. The Impact
Bangalore team is also available as consultants to
help organizations/individuals explore ecosystem
ideas further based on this study.
2
IMPACT BANGALORE WAY FORWARD
ENTREPRENEURSHIP,
IMPACT
AND ECOSYSTEM
IMPACT BANGALORE WAY FORWARD
INDIA
STORY
IMPACT BANGALORE WAY FORWARD
BANGALORE
AND BEYOND
IMPACT BANGALORE WAY FORWARD
STAKEHOLDERS
AND CONVERSATIONS
IMPACT BANGALORE STAKEHOLDERS AND CONVERSATIONS 34
In conversation with
REPRESENTATIVE NAME
Organization Prole
Conversation highlights
Position within the organization
Sector
Website
Organization
Quote by representative
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM
SECTOR
TEAM OBSERVATIONS
In the months from February to September 2013, we met and spoke with over 50 key players in Bangalore
startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem to understand from them the specic gaps and challenges they cope
or identify with and the probable solutions they offer to help make this ecosystem, a robust one.
Following pages cover the synopsis of our conservations with each category of ecosystem players and the
key learnings derived.
Stakeholders and Conversations
Entrepreneurial
Ecosystem
(Bangalore)
Funds
Incubators/Accelerators Networks and Platforms
Corporate Sector Social Sector
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IMPACT BANGALORE WAY FORWARD
IMPACT
EVENT FOR
BANGALORE
AND ENTERPRISES
ENTREPRENEURS
IMPACT BANGALORE WAY FORWARD
EDUCATION
IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP
IMPACT BANGALORE WAY FORWARD
COWORKING
MOVEMENTS
SPACES
AND EVENTS
IMPACT BANGALORE WAY FORWARD
ALTERNATIVE
OF DEVELOPMENT
MODELS
IMPACT BANGALORE WAY FORWARD
EXPLORING
OF INDUSTRY
THE ROLE
AND GOVERNMENT
IMPACT BANGALORE WAY FORWARD
IMPACT
OUR LEARNING
INVESTING:
IMPACT BANGALORE WAY FORWARD
EVALUATING
MODELS
IMPACT BANGALORE WAY FORWARD
WAY
FORWARD
IMPACT BANGALORE WAY FORWARD 143
Global relevance of the study
The study of Bangalore ecosystem would be
relevant to organizations/ecosystem players in
other countries:
A broader view of Bangalore as a city, the
kind of organizations and ecosystem players
that currently exist in India. A better insight
towards the current gaps/challenges in the
city and impact sector, mindset of individuals/
organizations and potential opportunities.
Organizations that want to get involved with
the Bangalore ecosystem, in startup culture,
social sector and enterprises. The potential
engagement could be for impact investments,
project opportunities, collaboration with local
players and market understanding.
This study format/approach can be applied to
ecosystem study of cities across the world to
understand their local market better for new
opportunities. The impact criteria of social,
economic, ecological and cultural context can
be applied to any city/region for a more holistic
view of opportunities and challenges in the
local ecosystem.
It is a challenge for the outsider view or
approach to understand Bangalore, or any
particular ecosystem from the local perspective
of the city or country. Many organizations/
individuals nd it confusing/unclear of how to
bring positive intervention to local communities
without creating imbalances. In its current
state, it can be complex to navigate through
ecosystems in India with such diversity to nd
relevant opportunities or collaborate with
aligned organizations. Study of this nature
helps to understand how the organizations/
individuals involved in this sector view their
own ecosystems challenges and opportunities
as survey, statistics or market research give
limited view about the local perspective. The
role of facilitation can be great/relevant to play
for international organizations in Bangalore
ecosystem that can push Bangalore towards
positive impact and development path.
To build long-term strategic partnerships
between two ecosystems, we need active local
government or country level exchange program
between sectoral leaders to build collaborative
platforms. Content, knowledge exchange, and
project collaboration between two ecosystems
from different sectors can demonstrate how
in pilot entrepreneurship, impact can be
accelerated. Example: Australia India Youth
Dialogue is an impactful initiative to promote
collaboration between the two countries by
bringing young leaders from diverse sectors to
connect and explore opportunities between the
two countries.
Potential soft landing into Bangalore ecosystem
for business has immense opportunities.
Collaboration and project pilots can help
international organizations to navigate and nd
their comfort footing in the ecosystem.
Source: www.aiyd.org/
141
Asian relevance of the study
We wanted to highlight the potential regional
role the Asian continent can play by engaging
the entrepreneurial capital of India. The Asian
region we will refer below would include SAARC
countries, Middle Eastern countries, South East
Asia and East Asia. The highlights are:
This study could be replicated to other
ecosystems in Asian cities to understand the
market better before strategic and business
decisions are taken. The impact criteria of
social, economic, ecological and cultural
context can be applied more easily in many
Asian countries as some of these countries
share historical, social or cultural values and
practices with India.
The Bangalore ecosystem study can be applied
to spawn models of collaboration with another
city in Asia. Interestingly, the context and
scope of collaboration between Bangalore and
mature ecosystems such as Singapore and Tel
Aviv would be different from that with evolving
ecosystems such as Dubai, Bangkok, Jakarta
and Manila.
Bangalore impact ecosystem has the potential
to share its learnings, experiences and models
with smaller countries in the SAARC region.
Due to geography proximity and common
socio-cultural ties, we can pilot ideas and
models in countries such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The ideas can be in the form of co-working
spaces, incubators, workshops, peer exchange
programs and we have few examples already in
countries like Bangladesh and Nepal. Extending
the tech startup culture to these ecosystems is
also a possibility.
Interesting collaboration corridor example is
one between Bangalore/India and cities in
Middle-east. Evolved ecosystem in Tel Aviv
can look at high-level exchange of programs,
knowledge and innovation. Organizations
in the Middle East could exchange notes
with Bangalore ecosystem players on how
to engage HNI network in their respective
cities and countries to give grants or make
impact investment to solve local challenges.
For example, The Social Enterprise week*
organized in Dubai in March 2014 gathered a
strong presence of speakers from Bangalore
and India.
Source: http://socentweek.me/
IMPACT BANGALORE WAY FORWARD
153
Recommendations
We have previously covered key takeaway and
observations in each section of the ecosystem
study that can be relevant as per the interest of
the reader. As part of the way forward, the team
has compiled the top 10 recommendations
for Bangalore ecosystem amongst many other
suggestions mentioned previously. These
recommendations are not in any order/ ranking
of priority.
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IMPACT
BANGALORE