Bengaluru: The startup ecosystem in Bengaluru is upbeat despite the challenges of layoffs and shortage of investment owing to global recession and other related factors.
Industries source attributes the buoyancy to reports that the engineers, who form the key drivers of startups, will remain untouched by the layoffs. There were more than 9,000 layoffs in past two weeks in the Silicon City.
Business analysts said that investors are reluctant to push more capital in fresh startups on long-term basis. “They are looking to capitalise on the existing startup ecosystem and hence there was little chance that the IT professionals, who are working in the core sector shall worry about being kicked out of jobs market,” they said.
They said that major IT firms are therefore consolidating their investments on the existing projects to tide over the fear of attrition. Talent hunt also remains on the top of their priority.
The Karnataka Government has also announced to host the Global Investors Meet (GIM) in Bengaluru, after break due to Covid pandemic. Large and Medium Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani has announced that the government is aiming to get around Rs 5 lakh crore investments in the state through the meet, which is scheduled to be held between November 2 and 4.
The Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had extended his Davos trip by a day at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meet to hold talks with key investors at the global level. The meet will also help the industries in Bengaluru to assess the investors’ sentiments owing to global trends and likely recession in the US in the coming year.
“The upsetting trends at the global level don’t seem to have impacted the job market. The startups are making offers on par with giants in the IT industry and youngsters are taking the risk,” an industry insider says.
Able Joseph, Founder and CEO, Aisle had suggested that the investors and promoters should spend more at the workplace during the initial years of a business on a regular basis and engage their teams in talks to solve problems on a day-to-day basis. “It is important for business owners to present with team and their managers and teams instead of focusing on on raising funds or dictating their vision from a pedestal,” he added.
He further stated that all startups don’t need venture capital funding to put together a team or build a meaningful business innovate and monetize with global brands. “At Aisle, we have managed to achieve all of this without VCs, although one could say we’re not the most qualified as compared to our peers,” Josheph explained.
The industry, though, seems to be more worried about the infrastructure of Bengaluru.
Many industry giants, however, fear that the Bengaluru would not be able to make the best of the global slowdown sentiments owing to pathetic condition of road infrastructure in the city. The said that communal related issues were also spoiling the investment’s prospects.
But industry observers here believe that the gloom in the startup sector is entirely of its own making.
