GP Accelerator launches startups 6th batch

Grameenphone Accelerator (GPA) launched its 6th batch of startups for a 4.5-month-long program through a launching event at GP House recently. Minister of State for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Seedstars Co-founder Pierre Alain Masson, Startup Bangladesh at ICT Division Investment Advisor Tina Jabeen, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) President Syed Almas Kabir, Moar Co-Founder Nabila Nawrin and Grameenphone CEO Michael Foley were present in the event.

The program is designed with the idea of future entrepreneurs in mind and it will focus on selecting the best startups that will be able to leverage the GPA resources to accelerate their companies. On this occasion, ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak said, "Within 2021, more than one million jobs will be created and these start-ups will be one of the catalysts in achieving our goal.

The government will continue its support for these youth. I have been thrilled and inspired by witnessing the innovative GP Accelerator projects. I thank Grameenphone for creating such a platform for the youth". Grameenphone CEO Michael Foley said, "In this era of digitization, it is important for us to step up and be a part of the change that is inevitable. Through GP Accelerator, we are trying to help the developers, innovators, and startups of Bangladesh."

The selected teams will get advice from local and foreign mentors, industry experts, and professionals on critical development elements like term sheet, valuation, financial modeling, branding, etc. On top of that, the platform will also help the startups to connect with potential investors to accelerate their businesses. The total value of all the support provided to each team is approximately 6,500,000 taka.

As the operating partners of the accelerator program, Pierre Alain Masson said, "Together with the startup ecosystem in Bangladesh, we are working towards one shared vision: putting Bangladesh on the global startup map. The program is doing a really great job to help the local grow faster."

Startup Ecosystem Head Minhaz Uddin Anwar said, with the huge excitement and humility we look forward to pushing the nine incoming startups of batch-6 beyond boundaries- both in terms of what problems they are solving and where they are going with their solutions.

---Hasib Abedin, AA