Startup World Cup is a competition for startups that has been organized by Pegasus Tech Ventures headquartered in Silicon Valley, US. Startup World Cup, Bangladesh regional had returned on a grand scale for its second appearance. According to Techcrunch, Startup World Cup is the largest startup competition in the world. For startup entrepreneurs, this is undoubtedly an incredible opportunity wherein they have access to a platform for gaining early exposure and the chance to win an investment prize of US $1,000,000.

In the spirit of Mujib Borsho, Startup World Cup 2020, Bangladesh regional was held in Radisson Blu Hotel, Dhaka on February 8th, 2020. The event involved a daylong international conference which was then followed by the regional finale. Startup World Cup 2020 was organized by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ICT Division, Venture Capital & Private Equity Association of Bangladesh (VCPEAB), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and was powered by eGeneration.

The event was graced by the presence of global investors from countries such as USA, Singapore, India amongst others which evidently infers to Bangladesh being globally known as an entrepreneurial nation. Foreign Minister Abdul Momen, Private Sector Industry and Investment Advisor to Prime Minister Salman F Rahman, ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, CEO and General Partner of Pegasus Tech Venture Anis Uzzaman, Executive Chairman of BIDA Md. Sirazul Islam, Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, Chairman of Janata Bank Dr. Jamaluddin Ahmed, IFC Country Manager Wendy Werner, Chairman of eGeneration and Venture Capital and Private Equity Association of Bangladesh Shameem Ahsan were also present amongst various others.

Startups are major contributors to regional economies, creating new employment opportunities. It facilitates the creation of employment for the country’s large working age population with 65% of total population aged between 15 and 65 years. Startup World Cup aspires to engage and empower new age startups. Furthermore, it promotes innovation and inspires young entrepreneurs to think beyond traditional business models and limitations along with helping them transform their ideas into concrete projects. Often, young businesses not only integrate new technologies, but also develop new innovations themselves to create value, solve problems and increase efficiency. Hence, actively supporting startups will always be highly beneficial in the long run for a country’s economic spur.

Mr. Shameem Ahsan, Chairman, Venture Capital and Private equity Association of Bangladesh (VCPEAB) and eGeneration and General Partner, Pegasus Tech Ventures introduced the vision 2025 in the session titled “Venture Capital for Double Digit Growth” during the inauguration ceremony of Startup World Cup, 2020 grand finale event day held at the Radisson Blu Water Garden, Dhaka. Along with the vision, he had given a 10-point recommendation to achieve the targets.

The proposals incorporated a policy, financing, innovation, and country branding framework. Mr. Shameem emphasized that VC fund is usually an investment fund that comes with tax rebate facilities worldwide. A similar model can be implemented in Bangladesh along with policy reforms allowing provident funds, gratuity funds, and insurance companies to invest in alternative investment instruments like Venture Capital fund. Also, it included a proposal for policy reform to enable fund of funds by banks and NBFIs.

In foreign countries, there are fund of funds created by central banks for capital investment and similar fund of funds by local banks for providing working capital to growth stage companies. Capacity Development with universities for industry collaboration, innovation led by the government sector, country branding through Global VC and PE Linkage with roadshows in Silicon Valley, London, Tokyo and Singapore, and a Startup World Cup, South Asia and Asia were proposed by Mr. Shameem in his keynote.

Foreign Minister Dr. A K Abdul Momen MP said, “We are celebrating Mujib Borsho this year and have taken a number of initiatives on this occasion including the startup sector. I think the startup sector will drive to establish Bangladesh as Sonar Bangla of Bangabandhu and help in establishing a Developed Bangladesh by 2041. We hope that by coordinating with the private sector, the goal will be achieved. To accomplish this, all necessary support will be provided to the private sector including the startups.”
Salman F Rahman, Private Industry and Investment Adviser to the Prime Minister said, “Government has been taking its own initiatives in the sector and there have been incentives given by government for the growth of this industry. We already have startups growing in the country with examples set by bKash, a billion-dollar unicorn. I welcome the vision and the objectives set here for the next 5 years for building an investment friendly startup ecosystem in Bangladesh.”

Anis Uzzaman, Chairman Startup World Cup, and General Partner, and CEO Pegasus Tech Ventures. presented the grand keynote at the Startup World Cup Grand Finale. He said, “Pegasus Tech Ventures is committed to invest in Bangladesh startup ecosystem as we have already invested in shohoj.com, ajker deal, Bagdoom, Handimama and Digicon to develop in Bangladesh. We will take the Bangladesh regional winner to Silicon Valley and mentor the team and enable them competing with the global competitors.”
Startup World Cup 2020, Bangladesh regional involved strict screening procedure which started off with more than 150 startups applying for the regional competition. The applications had been thoroughly filtered with the assistance of two rounds of judging with an online screening round and a preliminary judging round. Through this rigorous process, the top eight startups of the country were selected. The top 8 startups were as follows in alphabetical order: AlterYouth, Cookups, Gaze Technologies, Parking Koi, Poshapets, Sigmind.ai, Torun Digital and Truck Lagbe.
The top 8 startups pitched in front of international judges in the grand finale. The judges of this regional finale round were Mr. Ian Sikora, Director, Openspace Ventures; Mr. Masa Isono, Principal, DEFTA Partners; Ms. Jenni RIsku, Founder, Women in Tech – Asia; Mr. James Tan, Chairman, BANSEA (Business Angel Network of Southeast Asia).

Gaze Technologies is an artificial intelligence startup that focuses in building intelligence software for cameras. Their technology makes regular CCTV cameras smarter and more effective using state-ofthe-art artificial intelligence. Moreover, they will get the opportunity to represent Bangladesh in Annual Investment Meeting in UAE.
Previously, Startup World Cup had successful and renowned entrepreneurs as speakers in the past. Some of these influential speakers were Steve Wozniak, Co-Founder of Apple; Marc Randolph, Co-founder of Netflix; Adam Cheyer, Co-Founder of Siri; Reid Hoffman, Founding CEO of Linkedin amongst many others.
The Startup World Cup 2020, Bangladesh’s international partners are Singapore Venture Capital & Equity Association (SVCA) and Annual Investment Meeting (AIM), along with local partners including Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority, Startup Bangladesh, TiE, Entrepreneur Organization (EO), American Alumni Association (AAA), Chakri Khujbo Na, Chakri Debo. The Startup World Cup 2020, Bangladesh has Knowledge Partnership with BUET; and media partnership with RTV. Evaly as the platinum sponsor and Chaldal as the gold sponsor for Startup World Cup 2020, Bangladesh.