CHENNAI:Two fledgling Chennai firms have a very real chance to grow their businesses big in the United Kingdom as both were announced winners of the ‘Great Tech Rocketships’ initiative on Monday.
Organised as a competition for Indian technology and ICT firms that have witnessed exponential growth during the last few years, the GTR initiative is organised by a consortium of entities - UK Trade and Investment, iSPIRIT and tech hub.
Of the five companies which won out of the 289 that applied, two — Congruent Solutions Pvt Ltd and FRILIP.com — are Chennai’s own.
“This is an initiative that gives these firms an opportunity to learn about the business ecosystem, provide the kind of assistance they need to get basic market research done, etc,” said Bharat Joshi, British Deputy High Commissioner, British High Commission.
The initiative, the first of what is set to be an annual programme gives all five companies an opportunity to leverage the benefits that winning the competition gives, to enter the UK and eventually the European Market. “We got to understand in detail the support system, investment options and infrastructure available for Indian startups to expand globally through the UK. We also got a chance to explore synergies with other business players there,” said Senthil Kandaswamy, founder and COO of FRILIP.com.
One of the most important of these benefits, which included a trip to the UK last month as part of a UKTI delegation, is a year-long Tech Hub membership. “They can meet clients there, use it as a base for market research, etc,” said an organiser.