Maruti Suzuki and IIM Calcutta to jointly ‘Nurture’ early-stage startups

Initiative gives early-stage startups in East and North-East India an opportunity to create innovative solutions for mobility, and launch their business under the ambit of Maruti Suzuki ecosystem.

Strengthening the reach of Maruti Suzuki Innovation programs in the eastern part of the country, Maruti Suzuki India Limited partnered with the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) to launch ‘Nurture’, a Pre-Incubation Program for early-stage startups. While Maruti Suzuki will offer an enabling growth environment for the startups to reach a viable product stage, IIMCIP will extend mentorship and offer an extensive network to fortify reach in East and North-East India.

Through ‘Nurture’, the Company aims to engage with startups at the budding stage and support them to develop innovative solutions for the automobile and mobility sector. Receiving extensive mentorship by domain experts, select startups could get an opportunity to launch their solutions in Maruti Suzuki’s business ecosystem.

Mr. Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director & CEO, of Maruti Suzuki India Limited, said, “The startup ecosystem is full of innovative ideas, relevant to the industry. Maruti Suzuki has been working with startups to co-create industry-relevant solutions, aligned with the Government’s Startup India initiative. With a focus on eastern India, we have partnered with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP). Together, teams at Maruti Suzuki and IIMCIP will create a conducive environment to strengthen the startup ecosystem.”

Dr. Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO, of IIM Calcutta Innovation Park said, “We recognize the immense benefit of associating with Maruti Suzuki for both IIMCIP and the startups which get selected to the program. Through this, the startups will be able to expand the scope of their solutions and get an opportunity to test them across a range of domains, considering the scale and multiple business verticals of the Company. Simultaneously, it will give a boost to the programs run by IIMCIP. We are glad to partner with the largest passenger vehicle manufacturer in the country and look forward to making this partnership a success.”

All the shortlisted startups will get an opportunity to turn their innovative ideas into practical solutions while showcasing their entrepreneurial capabilities. These startups will be guided and mentored by industry experts in the startup ecosystem.

After a 3-month mentorship program, the participating startups could receive further mentorship under Maruti Suzuki Innovation Program like MAIL (Mobility and Automobile Innovation Lab) or MSIP (Maruti Suzuki Incubation Program). Successful startups could also be directly on-boarded as business partners with Maruti Suzuki and jointly ‘Go-to-Market’ with the solution.

Interested startups may apply here to participate in the program: http://iimcip.com/nurture/