IIT-Bombay has the highest number of successful startups: Haptik CEO Aakrit Vaish

The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay has been the starting block for the highest number of successful startup entrepreneurs emerging from the IITs, said Haptik CEO Aakrit Vaish, highlighting the role of India's financial capital in nurturing the country's flourishing startup ecosystem.

A number of founders of unicorn startups, including Ola Cabs and Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Agarwal, NoBroker's Co-founder and CTO Akhil Gupta, and Groww CEO Lalit Keshre are alumni of IIT-Bombay, Vaish, a member of the Tech Entrepreneur Association of Mumbai (TEAM), said in a conversation at TechSparks Mumbai.

"The pain point in Mumbai is a perception challenge," he said. "Everyone thinks Mumbai does not have great startups. There are 23 unicorns headquartered in Mumbai. (There are also) about 30 more companies which are highly profitable and soonicorns, but no one knows about it," said Vaish, Co-founder of Jio-backed Haptik, an enterprise conversational AI platform.

TEAM is a non-profit association that supports tech entrepreneurs across Mumbai.

Mumbai-based startups including BookMyShow, LogiNext, Pine Labs, Dream11, Faasos (owned by Rebel Foods),Zepto, CleverTap, Loco, Games 24x7, Zeta, Leap School, and GOQii have a huge presence across India. KukuFM, which offers regional language podcasts, began operations in Mumbai before moving to Bengaluru.

While Mumbai has faced criticism for not having adequate tech talent and being an expensive city to establish businesses, Vaish says it is still a conducive environment for entrepreneurs.

"Mumbai is the finance hub with all the banks and even the RBI (Reserve Bank of India)," he said.

Highlighting other advantages, he said Mumbai offers high capital density, is home to major corporate headquarters, and offers talent of different kinds—including in media and entertainment.

Vaish also emphasised on the safety of women in the city.

"Unlike other cities, we stay open till 2'o clock at night. Many female founders have told us that they chose Mumbai because the city feels safe to them," said Vaish. "There should be no good reason why this city cannot be the tech capital. Mumbai is the city of dreams and passion and it has a lot to offer to tech founders."

TEAM is also working on setting up a jobs website where tech developers, among others, can find jobs and hunt talent for team building.