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Sankalp Forum, one of the world’s largest impact enterprise-focused platforms, has come to Dhaka for its first summit here to accelerate the ecosystem building for impact investments.

Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group, the forum initiator, in the 1st Sankalp Dhaka Summit organised at a city hotel on Sunday, has announced the “Bangladesh Green Enterprises Ecosystem Initiative” to raise $250 million for funding a thousand local impact enterprises by 2030 to create 10,000 jobs.

Impact investors back enterprises that have positive impacts against social and environmental problems, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through their business activities that leverage technology.

Aavishkaar Founder and Chairman Vineet Rai in the gathering of some 40 international impact experts, investors and around 200 local startup entrepreneurs and experts presented how the global impact investment group along with its impact advisory arm Intellecap helped create a robust ecosystem in India, Africa and some other markets.

He also spoke about how Aavishkaar Group having $1.3 billion of assets under management has delivered and facilitated impact unicorns in India and across the “Global South”.

Vineet Rai, also a member of the G20 taskforce on startups, said there is a limitless opportunity that startups and enterprises in the region can uncover.

Intellecap’s mission is to enable ecosystems by channelling capital to create and nurture a sustainable and equitable society, said its Managing Director Jayesh Bhatia while announcing the Bangladesh Green Enterprises Ecosystem Initiative.

Sankalp Forum brings its proven success across the Global South to facilitate the creation of an environment of knowledge, capital and networks for entrepreneurial minds.

Over the past 14 years, Sankalp through its 29 summits showcased and discovered more than 2,000 entrepreneurs, and connected them to over a thousand investors, he added.

Bhatia emphasised on partnerships with philanthropic institutions, development finance institutions, private sector institutions to channelize financial capital to small, medium and large enterprises to be people and planet positive as his group has got the world’s top development financial institutions and foundations as the sustainability investors.

Renewable energy, green textile and apparel manufacturing, climate smart and sustainable agriculture, engaging SMEs in the sustainability journey, innovations for a greater access to nutrition and healthcare were among the topics experts discussed in the day-long summit.

ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak in the opening session welcomed Aavishkaar Group and Sankalp initiative of Intellicap and extended his support and engagement with the Bangladesh Green Enterprise Ecosystem Initiative.

Sami Ahmed, Managing Director StartUp Bangladesh, spoke about his vision and importance of StartUps in Bangladesh economic development.

Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group founded more than two decades ago works across critical sectors like agriculture, livelihoods, climate change, clean energy, financial services, gender and inclusion, healthcare, water and sanitation and has delivered over 700 global engagements across more than 60 countries.

A large number of local and international organisations partnered with Aavishkaar-Intellecap at the summit.

Source: https://www.tbsnews.net

Startup Bangladesh Limited, the flagship venture capital company of the ICT Division, invested in OpenRefactory, an Application Security company.

An agreement was signed recently between the organizations in Dhaka to invest 1 crore BDT in Pre-Series A round.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Startup Bangladesh Chairman & Secretary of ICT division MD. Shamsul Arefin, Managing Director Sami Ahmed, Head of Portfolio Investment Hasan A. Arif and Mushfique Manzoor, Managing Director of OpenRefactory and other stakeholders.

OpenRefactory is the 1BIG Winner of Bangabandhu Innovation Grant 2021.

OpenRefactory protects companies from the security vulnerability and risks of software failure. OpenRefactory’s flagship product, Intelligent Code Repair (iCR), detects security, reliability and compliance bugs in source code with high precision and automatically synthesizes fixes that can be readily applied. It also offers a Managed Security Audit service. iCR brings in three key benefits over the other static analysis based bug detection tools in the market: (1) iCR detects bugs that other tools miss, (2) iCR detects bugs with dramatically low  (sometimes even 300X fewer) false warnings and (3) iCR is the first and only tool in this space that is able to automatically synthesize fixes for over half of all the detected bugs. Therefore, iCR allows developent teams to operate at premium velocity without compromising the quality.

Startup Bangladesh Limited is the flagship venture capital company of ICT Division. Under the visionary guidance of Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Startup Bangladesh, the first and only Venture Capital fund sponsored by the government of the people’s republic of Bangladesh, started its journey on March 2020 with an allocated capital of BDT 500 crore. In it’s effort to enable the nation to innovate faster, Startup Bangladesh has decided to invest 1 crore BDT in OpenRefactory after recognizing the potential of this Application Security startup.

On the occasion, Mr. Zunaid Ahmed Palak MP, State Minister for ICT Division said, “Bangladesh has become a fertile land for startups and innovation, which is transforming the startup ecosystem. The Government is a strong believer of innovation and technology, and we believe startups are the change-makers and Impact creators in society. To support these innovative startups, Government has established Startup Bangladesh venture capital company. Startup Bangladesh’s role in supporting startup ecosystem through investments in technology startups is vital towards building a Smart Bangladesh. I hope OpenRefactory will make remarkable impact in the industry with this investment.”

“The work that OpenRefactory is doing in the Application Security domain is highly commendable and the investment from Startup Bangladesh on OpenRefactory will help it to be the leader of the industry. I hope that they will be able to make a deep impact in the Smart Bangladesh implementation as a startup.” mentioned MD. Shamsul Arefin, Secretary, ICT Division and Chairman Startup Bangladesh Ltd.

“Our mission is to support and create a vibrant environment in the Bangladeshi startup ecosystem for startups to thrive. Prospective ventures such as OpenRefactory have a substantial impact on Artificial Intelligence sector. With the right approach and focus, Open Refactory will be able to set a remarkable example as a viable and profitable startup in the ecosystem.”, said Sami Ahmed, Managing Director, Startup Bangladesh Limited.

“Till date more than 95% of all fundamental innovations in computer science have been done in the first world countries. For the first time, a company with Bangladeshi talent, technology and capability is bringing an innovative solution to a fundamental problem of computer science. We are truly delighted to have Startup Bangladesh on board this exciting journey.”, said OpenRefactory Managing Director and Co-founder, Mushfique Manzoor.

Startup Bangladesh, in its effort to build a vibrant startup ecosystem that nurtures digitalization, has been investing in the most promising and impactful startups in Bangladesh and has continued that tradition by investing in OpenRefactory.

Startup Bangladesh, the flagship venture capital firm of Bangladesh’s ICT Division, has announced its investment in AmarLab, a healthcare startup dedicated to improving healthcare services in the country through innovative technology solutions. The organizations signed an agreement to invest 1 crore BDT in AmarLab’s Pre-Seed round in Dhaka recently.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Md. Shamsul Arefin, Chairman, Board of Directors, Startup Bangladesh Limited and Secretary, ICT Division. Startup Bangladesh Managing Director Sami Ahmed, Head of Portfolio Investment Hasan A. Arif, AmarLab Co-founders Tazin Shadid and Dr. Ishtique Zahid, and other stakeholders were present at the event.

Source: https://futurestartup.com/

Startup Bangladesh Limited, the country’s first venture capital fund by the government and Visa, signed a Memorandum of Understanding recently, said a press release.

The MoU signed to develop an effective and innovative financial inclusion and digital eco-system in Bangladesh.

Startup Bangladesh Limited managing director Sami Ahmed, Visa country manager of Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan Soumya Basu and senior officials from the respective organizations attended the program.

It is expected that this endeavor would provide an important platform for the startup ecosystem of Bangladesh and contribute to the Government’s Smart Bangladesh initiative.

Under this MoU both parties will collaborate with each other in bringing Visa’s Fintech Fast Track Program to Bangladesh and engaging growth stage fintechs, and the Visa Ready certification program to enable fintechs and start-ups to launch innovative payment solutions in the market.

It will also provide technical assistance and access to different workshops by Visa subject matter experts, access to Visa Development Platform APIs and the Visa Developer Sandbox that allows fintechs and start-ups to experiment and create new payment solutions.

This program with Visa will further explore partnerships and collaboration opportunities for mutually beneficial fintech and start-up initiatives and events in Bangladesh.

Startup Bangladesh and Visa will further strengthen cooperation through knowledge partnership including research and knowledge sharing in the areas of common interest.

Startup Bangladesh is the flagship venture capital company of ICT Division.

Under the visionary guidance of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Startup Bangladesh is the first and only venture capital fund sponsored by the government of Bangladesh started its journey in March 2020 with an allocated capital of Tk 500 crore.

In this effort to enable the nation to innovate faster, Startup Bangladesh has decided to partner with Visa, a world leader in digital payments and innovation present across more than 200 countries and territories in the world, to build a world class startup ecosystem in Bangladesh.

In the mission to build a ‘Smart Bangladesh’ by 2041, startups will be crucial in identifying and developing solutions that meet the market’s needs. Fintech companies will be particularly instrumental in achieving the government’s objective of a cashless society. By combining the expertise of both organizations, I believe that the partnership between Startup Bangladesh and Visa will make a remarkable impact in building a digital economy,’ said Zunaid Ahmed Palak, on the occasion.

‘Our country’s transformation will continue with the help of a strong startup ecosystem and we may eventually realize our shared vision of a Smart Bangladesh. Startup Bangladesh is devotedly working to develop a venture capital ecosystem in the nation by giving early-stage and growth-stage entrepreneurs mentorship. We align with Visa, who likewise wants to give this development all the support it needs to continue’, said Sami Ahmed

Soumya Basu said, ‘We are delighted to partner with Startup Bangladesh and bring the best of Visa programs, initiatives and expertise to the startups and fintechs in Bangladesh. We remain committed to enhancing the payments ecosystem and working with our partners to strengthen and build the potential of fintechs in the country.’

Source: https://www.newagebd.net