KOCHI: As many as 31 student startup founders from six states are on a week-long visit to Silicon Valley to learn from the best at the tech Mecca under a flagship #StartInCollege programme instituted by the Startup Village Collective (SV.CO) in partnership with Facebook. Students from various engineering colleges, who have built their startup products while being enrolled in SV.CO’s digital learning program, are on a week-long visit to showcase their prototypes, learn product development and skills, and get exposure to the world class startup ecosystem in Silicon Valley.
In the US, the team, the largest single Indian student startup delegation to visit Silicon Valley, were welcomed by the City Council of Menlo Park and housed at Menlo College. The team will visit the headquarters of Facebook in Menlo Park on Tuesday. Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) is sponsoring 19 of the students as part of its international programme for startups.
“If we are to build a world-class startup ecosystem in India, our entrepreneurs need to get first-hand experience of global best practices,” said Dr Saji Gopinath, CEO, KSUM. According to Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman, Startup Village Collective, the Silicon Valley visit will give a world class global exposure to the students which will motivate them. “Our aim is to take 300 students next year so that more students from across the country get an opportunity to become job creators and contribute to the growth of the nation” he added.
