New Delhi, Sep 19 (KNN) Second phase of the 10,000 start-ups initiative that will focus on mentoring deep technology ventures in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and blockchain, has been unveiled by “The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom)”.

Speaking on the occasion President, NASSCOM, Debjani Ghosh said that, Nasscom, the lobby group for the IT industry, aims to tap the trillion dollar opportunity in the future demand for AI-related technology through its initiative called ‘Accelerate 10X’.

He added, “Prowess in deep tech and artificial intelligence will be one of the main drivers of economic competitiveness in the near future and deep tech startups will drive innovation and spearhead the broad structural transformation of the economy.”

100 start-ups will be mentored every year for a period of six months and will be supported on three aspects including product, technology (engineering and deep tech lab) and access to patient capital, under the Accelerate 10x programe.

The Accelerate 10X will mentor mature and advanced stage AI start-ups, unlike the flagship 10,000 start-ups programe that supported early age start-ups.

Nasscom has forged partnerships with global accelerator Tech Stars and tech giants such as Google, Facebook, IBM, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft that will help set up labs and innovation centers across the country as a part of the programe.

Nasscom will also collaborate with companies such as PwC, Xinova and CEOQuest for strategic mentoring and will work closely with venture capital and private equity firms including AXILOR, SAIF Partners and Inventus Capital Partners.

Chairman of Nasscom, Rishad Premji, said, “Over the years while India has emerged as the third largest start-up ecosystem, our readiness to ride the next wave of deep tech and AI revolution will determine whether India will be able to unlock the trillion-dollar opportunity.”

He added that, the single biggest challenge will be to develop the deep-tech talent skill.

Since the launch of the 10,000 start-ups in 2013, Nasscom claims to have closed 700 funding deals for early age start-ups worth $250 million until 2017 and aims to ride on the success of the former initiative.

According to Nasscom, artificial intelligence has the potential to add $957 billion to India’s economy by 2035 and foresees the market for tech startups growing at a rate of 25-30%.