Startups will receive up to INR 2 cr via the Caret Accelerator Program or up to INR 8 cr from the Caret Capital Fund, depending on their stage and scale
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, January 29, 2024: The Association of Industrial Development (AID) Nagpur, has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Caret Capital, a venture capital fund that backs category-building startups making India’s value chain efficient.
The goal is to equip SMEs in Vidarbha with futuristic technologies that will give them a defensible competitive advantage by helping them transform all three components of a value chain – goods and services supply chain, human capital supply chain and assets and infra supply chain.
Caret will also invest in and mentor startups from Vidarbha, and help them connect with potential customers. Startups will receive up to INR 2 cr via the Caret Accelerator Program or up to INR 8 cr from the Caret Capital Fund, depending on their stage and scale.
Ashish Kale, President, AID signed the MOU with Pankaj Bansal and Prajakt Raut (Managing Partners, Caret Capital) in the presence of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Devendra Phadnavis, Deputy CM of Maharashtra.
AID is a proactive organization fostering economic growth and industrial development in Nagpur through strategic initiatives and collaborative efforts.
Caret Capital is a Venture Capital fund that backs category building startups making India’s value chain efficient. Caret 360 is the CXO community initiated by Caret Capital to help tech startups and industry discover each other. Collectively, the mission is to make India’s value chain efficient.
Sandip Das, Chair -Corporate Innovation Program, Caret 360 said, “Caret is at the cusp of playing a critical role in transforming businesses across India by partnering in state initiatives, providing timely capital, aggregating and making accessible industry expertise , imparting skills through mentorship and inspiring outfits to get globally competitive.”
Prajakt Raut, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Caret Capital said, “For SMEs to benefit from the India growth story, they will need to transform their value chain by quickly adopting futuristic technologies. Our goal is to help industry discover innovations, do quick POCs and adopt technologies that will help them become a reliable partner to customers in India and across the world. We are delighted to collaborate with a proactive organisation like Association of Industrial Development to give industry in Vidarbha a competitive edge”.
Shashikant Chaudhary, Nagpur based veteran industrialist and angel investor said that, “This will be a real game changer. Unless and until we leverage Technology and back it up with the right strategy, it will be difficult to take the game to the next level. The MOU of Caret Capital with Advantage Vidarbha will help midsize industries from this region to take them to the next level. The approach is very structured, and that makes it unique.
Initiatives under Caret360 are co-chaired by three industry stalwarts - Tushar Jani (Founder Blue Dart), Sandip Das (Ex-CEO and MD of Jio and Hutch/Orange) and NS Rajan (ex-group HR head of Tata Sons).
