Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Google announced a cohort of 100 Indian startups. It aims to help build global apps and games as part of the Appscale Academy. A growth and development program by MeitY Startup Hub and Google, the goal of the Appscale Academy is to support Indian startups into becoming successful businesses. The 100 startups were chosen from over 400 applications after an in-depth selection process that examined their creative ideas and innovation, product quality, product scalability, and talent diversity.

Bhuvnesh Kumar, Joint Secretary of MeitY, said, “Startups and developers are key drivers of India’s digital transformation journey. We are witnessing them push meaningful solutions for India and the world. We at MeitY value our collaboration with Google, and it gives me huge joy to further boost this spirit of innovation with the Appscale Academy Program.” The cohort’s primary sectors are Education, Health, Finance, Social, E-commerce, and Gaming. It also includes startups backing core communities in India via creative apps across agriculture, B2B, parenting, and more. Describing the talent diversity appearing among India’s startup and developer ecosystem, 35 per cent of the cohort come from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities like Surat, Vadodara, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut, etc.

Purnima Kochikar, Vice President, Play Partnerships, Google, said at the program’s launch, “Today, India is uniquely positioned to become a leading hub for global app innovation with tremendous opportunities for Indian startups across the country, regardless of size and location, to succeed in the global app ecosystem. We thank MeitY Startup Hub for their partnership and vision and taking another step towards growing a diverse app ecosystem in India.”