DPIIT calls for startup applications for registration on MAARG portal

To boost the Indian startup ecosystem, currently ranked third largest globally, Startup India is focused on catalysing the startup culture and building a strong and inclusive ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship in India.

In this context, MAARG portal – Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience and Growth, is a one stop platform to facilitate mentorship for startups across diverse sectors, functions, stages, geographies, and backgrounds.

The objectives of the MAARG portal is to provide sector focused guidance, hand-holding, and support to startups throughout their lifecycle, as well as to establish a formalized and structured platform that facilitates intelligent matchmaking between the mentors and their respective mentees.

It also helps to facilitate efficient and expert mentorship for startups and build an outcome-oriented mechanism that allows timely tracking of the mentor-mentee engagements.

Startups can now effectively connect with academicians, industry experts, successful founders, seasoned investors, and other experts from across the globe, through Artificial Intelligence (AI) based matchmaking, to get personalised guidance on growth and strategy, the ministry said

The key features of the MAARG portal include customisable mentorship programmes for ecosystem enablers, mobile-friendly user interface, recognition for contributing mentors, video and audio call options, etc., it added.

In a statement, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said, “Innovations are the inevitable engines of growth for a nation, and India alone is home to more than 82,000+ DPIIT recognised startups and over 107 Unicorns. Entrepreneurship is the foundation of our great nation’s economic wealth and prosperity, and we are quickly transforming from a nation of job seekers to a nation of job creators.”