SBI Launches First Branch For Start-ups In Bengaluru

In order to prevent small start-ups from selling their equity for funds, the State Bank of India has launched a branch dedicated to these businesses in Bengaluru, also known as start-up capital of India. This Branch will cater to the entire gamut of the Start-ups’ needs, at every stage of their evolution.

According to the information released by the bank, apart from providing funding and regular Banking Services, the Bank will also support the Start-ups with associated services such as investment banking, treasury operations, advisory and other ancillary financial services, through its diverse subsidiaries.

Speaking on the launch, Dinesh Khara, Chairman, SBI said, “In the years ahead, among others, the Start-ups are expected to anchor the growth of MSMEs by providing cutting edge technology which in turn will help in employment generation and in realising the vision of transforming the economy into a developed one by 2047. The initiative is just a first step in this direction, with more such branches expected to come up to lend support to Start-ups across the country, in the years ahead.”

“Opening of a Branch for Start-ups demonstrates the seriousness and intent of the Bank in lending all possible support to the flourishing Start-up ecosystem which is immensely contributing to the economic development of the country”, he added.

A need was felt by the Bank to have a special setup of branches to handhold the start-ups. Accordingly, SBI has launched a state-of-the-art dedicated branch for start-ups in Bengaluru to facilitate and support the start-ups. It is the first such branch by the Bank in India.

The government of India through its flagship ‘Startup India’ movement aims to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and start-ups in the country for driving sustainable economic growth, supporting the entrepreneurial skills of the Indian youth and generating large scale employment opportunities.

The Start-up Branch, launched by SBI is located in Koramangala, which alongside neighbouring HSR Layout and Indiranagar are the biggest start-up hubs in the city. The Branch would act as a hub with various stakeholders assisting in providing solutions acting as spokes and supporting the hub Branch in enabling the start-ups to avail end-to-end financial and advisory services through the Branch. This hub will leverage the large presence of SBI in the market by bringing the synergy among all the entities and various departments of the state bank group to offer one stop solution to these corporates and start-ups.

Starting from the formation of the entity till IPOs and FPOs of the companies. The Branch will serve as the vital ‘go-to-place’ for meeting any business need emanating from the start-up ecosystem. Besides the banking services, the Branch would also have specialist teams for capital markets assisting in equity raise and registration facilities. The Branch will also house specialist officers for the forex, treasury solutions, wealth management and credit needs of the start-ups. The Bank’s subsidiaries like mutual funds and custodial services would also be partnering in the initiative. Branch would support the needs of the entire start-up ecosystem. Besides the start-ups themselves, the Branch would also be catering to all the requirements of the PE, VC funds and the AIFs. Branch has also entered into MOUs with the Govt. of Karnataka initiatives like KITS and KDEM to support the entire start-up ecosystem in the state of Karnataka. With the growth in start-ups in the country and also the support and encouragement of start-ups by the government of India similar branches are planned to be opened in more cities in the months to come.