The country has received over $750 million foreign investment in the startup sector in a decade, state minister for information and communication technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said on Wednesday.

He said this at the BCC auditorium of ICT tower in Dhaka while participating in the second phase of investment assistance for startups under the ‘Shotoborshe Shoto Alo’ campaign organised by ICT department’s Startup Bangladesh Limited.

He said that the government was providing financial assistance to the country’s nearly 22,500 startups through Bangabandhu Innovation Grand, the idea project of Startup Bangladesh Limited.

Palak said ‘Shotoborshe Shoto Alo’, an initiative by the department to commemorate the birth centenary of country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the golden jubilee of Bangladesh, aims to invest Tk 100 crore in 50 startups and create entrepreneurial culture and employment in the country.

As part of this, an investment agreement was signed today to provide capital assistance of Tk 17 crore to eight startups in the second phase.

As an investor, Sami Ahmed, managing director of Startup Bangladesh Ltd. and CEOs of the eight companies signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations. The eight startups are- Hello Task, 10 Minutes School, iFarmer, Frontier Nutrition, Loop, Zantrik, Shuttle and Truck Lagbe. In the first phase, seven startups were given Tk 17 crore.

Palak said that the initiative would create a national entrepreneurial platform in the country and accelerate the implementation of new innovations.

Specialized labs in 53 universities, Fourth Industrial Revolution Centers, Joy Digital Service Centers in 494 upazilas, 300 Schools of Future, Sheikh Hasina Institute of Frontier Technology are being set up to cope with the fourth industrial revolution, he added.

Executive director of Bangladesh Computer Council Md Abdul Mannan, ambassador of Turkey to Bangladesh Mustafa Osman Turan and president of Bangladesh Association of Call Centers and Outsourcing Wahid Sharif spoke at the event among others.

SK