The recent announcement that Facebook has acquired Bangalore-based start-up Little Eye Labs making it the social networking giant’s first acquisition in India put Bangalore in the global map as the start-up capital of the world.
With costs of setting up start-ups becoming a challenge in the erstwhile capital of the Bay Area in California and given the barriers to immigration and cost of talent, Bangalore is all set to capture this position in the next decade.
Bangalore has a huge talent pool of technology geeks — maybe the largest concentration anywhere in the world who work for global giants like IBM, Microsoft, HP, Dell, Infosys, Cognizant and Wipro to name a few, not to mention the captive technology development centers of large corporate giants like Levers, GE, Samsung, Fidelity and others. Bangalore also plays host to many global product companies for support and research & development of their solutions.
The Bangalore ecosystem is a city chugging against all odds, totally unplanned and living in perpetual chaos with unabated construction being the norm with dust and debris and slow moving traffic.
But Bangalore scores on its climate and wonderful and hospitable locals who welcome people of any nationality with open arms — it used to be called the Garden City but today it can be called as the city of technology. Its Bangalore’s cosmopolitan outlook for more than hundred years that make it the city of choice and has transformed it as the destination for technology in the world.
Bangalore was a technology capital of India long before the advent of information technology companies, it had the first Indian Institute of Science set up here more than 100 years ago, and boasts of the first aircraft factory, the first telephone factory, the first transformer factory, the first modern earth moving equipment factory, the first soap factory, the first electronics factory for defence, the first aeronautical laboratory, first battery powered car and the central power research institute and has many more firsts to its credit.
Given this pedigree Bangalore has the credentials to be the global capital of technology start-up companies of the world and the gold rush has already started. On any Friday evening you can find at least people from a score of different countries putting their plans and thoughts to test at the numerous pubs of Bangalore.
More business and entrepreneurial ideas emanate in the pubs of Bangalore being the capital of Kingfisher India’s largest selling beer. There used to the Beer Drinker’s Association of Information Technology (BAIT ) kicked off by Pradeep Kar, the early poster boy of the technology industry in Bangalore in the mid-90s and the person who brought Bill Gates to Bangalore in another formative era.
If you are not a beer drinker, the locals say you can throw a stone and will hit a Cafe Coffee Day locally known as CCD. The area of Koramangala the residential capital of technology entrepreneurs in Bangalore has a CCD within a 500 meter radius. CCD is another hot place when you want to have a sober meeting and exchange of ideas at a low cost and global ambience. Many companies have taken birth on a tissue paper provided by CCD when they serve your cup of coffee.
All the venture capitalist companies have their operations in Bangalore, even NASDAQ has its Asia office in Bangalore. So realizing funding and value for the start-ups in Bangalore is a breeze whether you want to list at the NASDAQ or exit by selling to another larger player — you can choose the option of cashing in on your efforts.
The local Government provides incubators along with Nasscom, Microsoft provides incubation and number of other companies encourage start-ups within their campus.
So if you have an idea there is not dearth of fructifying your dreams to reality. There there is TIE which is active and not to mention the Open Coffee Club (http://occbangalore.org/).
Bangalore will have one of the best Metro links in Asia and it is a pleasure to travel above street level and reach your destination quickly while the traffic snarls under your feet.
If you have the entrepreneurial urge and the courage and grit to make a difference to the world technology landscape it is time for you to pack your bags and head to Bangalore.
Remember the locals like it to be called as Namma Bengaluru and if you learn a few words of Kannada before you land, your ability to blend will be easier.
Welcome to Bangalore – the Technology Start-up Capital of the World!
source: http://www.informationweek.in / Information Week / Home> News Analysis> Software / by LS Subramanian / Information Week – January 09th, 2014
