The final approval of a state-owned venture capital company “Startup Bangladesh Limited” was approved at a regular cabinet meeting on Monday, 30 December 2019. To create a sustainable startup ecosystem in Bangladesh, “Startup Bangladesh Limited” as the first state-owned venture capital company will play an important role that will be taken a step further of the Government’s vision-2021.
Prior to this, the company’s policy approval was given at a regular meeting of the Cabinet on 19 August 2019. Later, the legal issues of the company vetted by the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division. Finally, this state-owned venture capital company has been approved today in the Cabinet. Hon’ble State Minister for ICT Division, Mr. Zunaid Ahmed Palak MP and the senior Secretary of ICT Division N M Zeaul Alam presented the draft law of Startup Bangladesh Limited Company to the Cabinet today.
To create a startup ecosystem and for the development of ICT Startups, “Innovation Design and Entrepreneurship Academy (iDEA)” under the Bangladesh Computer Council of ICT Division has been working since 2016 under the supervision and direction of the honorable adviser to Prime minister of ICT Affairs Mr. Sajeeb Wazed. About 126 startups have already been funded through the Startup Bangladesh-iDEA project till now. After completing the valuation of the startups, a maximum of BDT 1 crore can be invested in seed stage and BDT 5 crore per round can be invested on growth stage of the startup by this company in future.