500 Startups – New Opportunity for Georgian Startupers
“500 Startups” has come to Georgia. In an interview with the Business Partner TV Program, the project’s representatives discussed the opportunities that the world’s top accelerator might offer Georgian startupers.
Georgia’s strategy for cooperating with the “500 Startups”, an American accelerator company, is to aim towards developing a so-called Unicorn, David Chechelashvili, coordinator of the innovative services department of the Georgian Innovation and Technology Agency (GITA), noted.
As noted by the TV Program guests, “500 Startups” is recorded among the world’s top three accelerators, and its entry is evidence of the huge trust they have in the country. As a result, two other members of the three great accelerators may also enter our country.
“We have a global free market, and the entrance of this company stresses the importance of this region. We expect Techstars and many other accelerators to also enter the country soon, after “500 Startups”. Their logic is the following – don’t be late. The point is that the strategy of “500 Startups” is to invest money in the company in the initial phase, and Techstars will have to put money later. It makes sense that Techstars will become the second accelerator to enter Georgia”, Chechelashvili noted.
When cooperating with the American venture fund, Georgia's strategy is to create a so-called Unicorn.
“We are still in the initial phase, and we do not know which field will become stronger in Georgia. At this stage, the country should prioritize the discovery of the first Unicorn, because historically the examples of Estonia and other countries have proven that the first Unicorn is very important. The first success always attracts many other interested companies. Having gained from this experience, they also become unicorns.
We will put money in many companies, with the aim to develop the first – this is our strategy. Many small businesses do not bring as many benefits as a unicorn, because small businesses die fast”, David Chechelashvili noted.
As noted by Vakho Vakhtangishvili, Director of the Bank of Georgia Startups Development Field, 500 Startup’s decision to enter the Georgian market means an announcement of confidence in Georgian talent; Furthermore, the operation of this company in our country will add more knowledge and experience to the Georgian market.
“The main reason why “500 Startups” entered Georgia is that this company has faith in Georgian talent. The company’s decision to enter our country means, definitely, that Georgia is ready to host “500 Startups,” and the company sees real talents and ideas, which may be transformed into a world-level product. As for infrastructure, the digital economy does not require a lot of infrastructure, and their motivation is to adapt Georgia to the global ecosystem in a way that infrastructural problems will be resolved easily. In this case, the Georgian founder is a part of a global business, not part of a Georgian business”, Vakhtangishvili noted.
Nobody guarantees that a distinguished venture company will necessarily manage to develop a so-called unicorn in Georgia; however, the American venture foundation will at least give a huge base of knowledge and experience in the country, he explained.
“When talking about unicorns, it is difficult to discover a company with a high potential for growth. The projects that will be set up here by “500 Startups” makes the discovery of such companies possible, but there are no guarantees. In the west, in the initial phase, only one company of about 20 similar American companies has this potential. This means that the probability is very low. We have hopes and plans to discover just one Georgian unicorn, which would have at least regional potential. Another key factor is related to the knowledge and experience that this organization will bring, over the long term. The people who will pass this process will start changing their companies, and the organizations and people employed by them will be replaced in a natural way; that is, knowledge and experience is the key prize that the Georgian people will get after this process”, Vakhtangishvili said.
The entrance of “500 Startups” may also attract new talents from the entire region, he added.
“This project implies not only Georgia, but the whole region. The only precondition is that a team from regional countries must establish a company and the intellectual property that is a key asset of this company, and transmit it to a Georgian company. This process will bring to light not only Georgian talent, but also talent in every country in our region”, Vakhtangishvili noted.