TiE Mumbai assists startups to explore and expand into new geographies: Belgium and Bahrain

Over the years, TiE Mumbai had played a significant role in promoting, mentoring, helping and funding startups in the Greater Mumbai Region.

TiE Mumbai represents over 2500 startups in this region.

It has successfully connected and mentored over 2000 entrepreneurs and startups over the last few years and over 1000 startups have been successfully connected to investors.

As a part of its ongoing endeavour to assist startups with new opportunities and help foray into different geographies, TiE Mumbai has partnered with Flanders, Belgium and Bahrain and organized separate knowledge sessions to facilitate interested startups in making an informed decision to expand into Europe and the Middle East.

"As a part of our global connect program, TiE Mumbai has partnered with Flanders Investment and Trade, Mumbai office - the official agency of the Government of Flanders, Belgium and Bahrain Economic Development Board to create an access to knowledge, markets, funds and talent in those regions. These partnerships present excellent growth opportunities for Mumbai Startups," said Atul Nishar, President, TiE Mumbai.

Flanders, Belgium Flanders, Belgium is the Hotlink to Europe, home to NATO, the EU headquarters and other major public and private international decision-making centres.

Delegates from Fiscal Department for Foreign Investments, Marc De MIL - International Tax Expert, Federal Public Service Finance - Belgium, Ralph MOREAU - Science & Technology Officer, Flanders Investment & Trade.

Embassy of Belgium, Singapore and Jurgen MAERSCHAND, Trade & Investment Commissioner, Flanders Investment & Trade, Mumbai interacted with startups to give them a better understanding of Flanders, Belgium's innovative and knowledge-driven economy that presents attractive prospects for Indian startups to set up their business there.

They also discussed how Belgium hosts a robust ecosystem supporting startups not only with the Incubators, Accelerators, Research Centers, and Technology Clusters, but also gives the organisation access to markets, funds, and talent.

"Flanders is a pole of attraction for foreign companies: thanks to its central location in Europe, our strongly developed infrastructure, our innovative clusters and numerous other strengths. We adopt a tailored approach towards potential investors and inform them of the opportunities for their company in Flanders. Innovative clusters are of key importance to Flanders as a knowledge region. We help these clusters in their internationalization process and try to attract foreign investors capable of strengthening the cluster to grow into a major international player," said Jurgen Maerschand, Trade & Investment Commissioner - Flanders Investment & Trade, Mumbai.

Bahrain is a fast-growing hub and test-bed market for India startups looking to leverage the Kingdom's pro-business environment and access to opportunities across the GCC.

It was recently mentioned in Startup Genome's 2018 Report as a high potential ecosystem for fintech, cloud computing and gaming innovation.

Delegates from the Economic Development Board of Bahrain (EDB), Dr Simon Galpin - Managing Director and Dharmi Magdani - Country Director India shared insights on the opportunities for Indian technology startups in Bahrain, particularly fintech startups, leveraging Bahrain's status as a regional financial centre with a world-class ITC infrastructure.

Bahrain's startup ecosystem benefits from a pro-business regulatory environment, low tax and operating costs, and a central, connected location with ease of access to India, the GCC and Europe.

Simon Galpin, Managing Director, Economic Development Board of Bahrain (EDB), commented, "We are pleased to collaborate with TiE once again on an engaging and informative event that will help bring the startup ecosystems in India and Bahrain even closer together.

Bahrain and India have deeply embedded commercial, trade and cultural ties, which date back centuries, and today this relationship goes from strength to strength.

At EDB, we work with many Indian-founded startups who are successfully testing and scaling up from their bases in Bahrain and we look forward to seeing even more collaboration between startups in India and Bahrain in the future.