India's third largest private bank, Axis Bank, has partnered with Venture Catalysts (VCAT), to provide corporate banking services to the startup community. This partnership aims to provide financial support and tech-based solutions to enable startups to scale up their businesses and manage their existing processes in a more cost-efficient and tech-savvy manner.
Presently, the success rate of startups in India is low mostly due to either unavailability or improper handling of funds. Apart from incubating and providing support to upcoming startups, VCAT will also provide mentoring and expertise imperative to hone business ideation. Additionally, for startups at a bootstrapping stage, Axis Bank will be waiving off banking transaction fee for the first two years, said the company.
“Startups have become a new asset class and in order to tap this market, we are happy to partner with one of the best incubator and accelerator platforms in the country – Venture Catalyst. With VCAT's expertise in the space and Axis Bank's innovative tech-based solutions, we together aim to help these startups save cost and perform more efficiently. We continue to focus on this segment and provide emerging ventures with similar banking-related services that we offer to our big corporate clients. Axis Bank has also established an in-house innovation lab called ‘Axis Thought Factory' that houses fintech-based startups,” said SM Sundaresan, Group Executive & Head Corporate Banking, Axis Bank.
Anuj Golecha, Co-founder – Venture Catalysts, said, “As one of the most forward-looking and agile players in the Indian banking sector, Axis Bank has been driving the growth of the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem through various initiatives focusing on areas of startup development, such as mentoring and product trials etc. This common vision is what prompted our recent partnership with Axis Bank. Through this association, we aim to enable hassle-free access to customized corporate banking services for high-potential business ventures across the length and breadth of the country, giving entrepreneurship across India a big boost.”
Axis Bank and VCAT are also working towards extending this facility to entrepreneurship beyond the metropolitan cities and tier-1 hubs. “Going forward, startups from emerging tier-2 and tier-3 markets will also be included in the ambit to help in the advancement of the larger technological ecosystem,” said the company.
