Startup Dosti, an India- Pakistan business plan competition initiated by India's largest angel network, IAN or Indian Angel Network, is now inviting applications.
IAN's initiative is supported by Karachi-based Seed Ventures, an impact investment company founded by Faraz Khan and Khusro Ansari. Another partner to the event is Washington-based Atlantic Council which promotes leadership and engagement in international affairs.
As part of the Startup Dosti programme, the top five selected startups will get a chance to travel to a luxury mountain resort in Chiang Mai in Thailand.
Participants will spend a week together and pitch to an international panel of investors, get into negotiations with investors on the spot and walk away with funding for their ventures.
The major eligibility criteria for applicants to the Startup Dosti programme, which is open to startups in India and Pakistan, is that they must be early or concept stage startups. Those with an India-Pakistan element in their business idea will be preferred. The application process closes on November 30, 2013.
IAN President Padmaja Ruparel says the main idea behind Startup Dosti is to interconnect the entrepreneurial ecosystems across the two nations, accelerate exchange of ideas and assist in getting access to markets in the two countries.
"Given the similarities in the market stages in India and Pakistan, entrepreneurs from both countries can now look forward to assisted access to a significantly sized market in their neighbourhood," she said.
Startup Dosti is IAN's second international stint. Last year, the Angel Network had launched a business plan competition for startups in Sri Lanka, called Venture Engine.
This was in partnership with Blue Ocean Ventures. In a culmination of the event, 10 Sri Lankan startups raised $760,000 from both Indian Angel Network and Sri Lankan investor network, Lankan Angel Network. Some of these startups were Seedz, an online marketplace, Ace of Clubs, a music production company and Saraii Vilage, a tourism venture.
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