U.S. fintech leaders see a bright future for Vizag
Fintech leaders mostly from the U.S. hailing from undivided Andhra Pradesh have come together to form Global Fintech Core Team and joint hands with the State government to make Visakhapatnam a prominent fintech destination.
The team was formed a month ago as a prelude to ‘$1 Million Startup Challenge’ roadshows organised by the State in New York, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, London and Hong Kong. The members feel that because of the initiative to popularise new technologies in a disruptive era by the State government, they wanted to rope in like-minded domain experts in mobilising funds, mentors, technological support and facilitate startup exchange programmes from AP in general and Visakhapatnam in particular to promote the fintech sector.
C-level executives from various ‘Fortune 500’ have joined the mission. “We are impressed with the proactive policies of promoting new-age technologies. The potential of Visakhapatnam as a fintech hub has impressed us a lot,” said Sri Atluri, CTO of Wall Street-based firm.
Mr. Atluri, the chief coordinator of the team, told The Hindu that at present, 22 NRIs had joined the group. Some not hailing from the State and the country have also shown interest to give momentum to the campaign.
‘Ideal eco-system’
Asked why Visakhapatnam, he said the city had excellent scenic beauty, infrastructure at IT SEZ at Madhurawada, availability of good talent pool with the location of educational institutions and enthusiastic startup community. DuguTran founder and CEO Rao Tadepalli said startups in the U.S. and other countries would also look at market opportunities in this part to expand.
One of the fintech experts from America, Anita Vadavata said this was her maiden visit to Visakhapatnam and she found the city very clean. “I heard a lot in the United States on development of Fintech Valley Vizag as a sustainable ecosystem being created by AP Electronics and IT Agency (APEITA), an autonomous body formed by the government,” she added.
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