Koramangala

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This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.

Startup neighbourhood: Bangalore

The Times of India, Aug 09 2015

Shrabonti Bagchi

India's hottest startup neighbourhood

PVR Cinemas in Bengaluru's Forum Mall is a multiplex like any other in most ways: the same plush seats, cursory se curity checks and overpriced popcorn. But there is something unique about it: it's possibly the only cinema hall in India that shows ads for software developer tools before the screening of movies and during intermission. “Nowhere else, even in Bengaluru, have I seen ads for modelling tools such as IBM's Rational Rose, which is used extensively by startups. To my mind, this is one of the most subtle yet tangible markers of Koramangala's status as a start-up hub,“ says Sharad Sharma, an angel investor who has invested in more than two dozen startups, and co-founder of iSPIRT Foundation, a start-up thinktank based in Bengaluru. Of late, Koramangala, a quiet, elegant Bengaluru neighbourhood, has been getting quite a lot of attention ­ some of it global. While startup founders and VCs from Silicon Valley watch activities here with interest, international media has been writing about it too. Its pubs and cafés are passing into legend -one particular café, a Costa Coffee outlet on one of the neighbourhood's main arterial roads, is already known as the place where startup founders congregate every day of the week, where VCs often meet potential investees and scout for new talent, and where there are reported sightings of Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal, whose office is just a few metres down the road.Recently , Valerie Wagoner, co-founder and CEO of ZipDial, a pioneering mobile marketing and analytics company , tweeted: “Tip for Investors in India: Hang out at Costa Coffee in Koramangala in Bangalore. At least 8 companies being started!“ In a way , Flipkart's Bansals have a lot to do with this story . Although Koramangala had become attractive as many as 20 years ago when the first bunch of tech startups and smaller software companies opened offices here attracted by low rents and a better quality of life than the CBD area, it was Flipkart's choice of this area to start operations -initially , from an apartment -in the mid-2000s that really catapulted Koramangala to a startup hotspot. Today , the e-commerce Unicorn (as a tech startup valued at billion dollars or more is called), despite being in the process of consolidating its employee base in a tech park nearby , continues to have its corporate HQ in the area.

Flipkart isn't the only `born in Koramangala' startup. Recently, the area has seen the emergence of food delivery outfit Swiggy , which has received funding from Yuri Milner; Newshunt, which aims to be India's Flipboard; LocalOye, a $5mfunded professional services locator; HackerEarth, a talent search company aimed at finding programmers; payment gateway Instamojo; community-based housing search startup Grabhouse; and ZipDial, which was acquired by Twitter recently. Then there are those who have moved, like Ola which chose to shift base from Mumbai to Koramangala.

The area also has scores of sharedseat offices, VC and investor HQs, and smart co-working and networking spaces such as Tech Hub, an international chain that regularly hosts events and meet-ups, as well as Ispirt, which evangelizes In dia's software product ecosystem.