The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has launched a call for startup applications for registration on the MAARG portal, the national mentorship platform by Startup India, an official release said on Wednesday (23 November).

To further boost the Indian startup ecosystem, currently ranked third largest globally, Startup India is focused on catalysing the startup culture and building a strong and inclusive ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship in India, the Ministry of Commerce said in a release.

In this context, MAARG portal - Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience and Growth, is a one stop platform to facilitate mentorship for startups across diverse sectors, functions, stages, geographies, and backgrounds, the ministry said.

The objectives of the MAARG portal are – 

• To provide sector focused guidance, handholding, and support to startups throughout their lifecycle

• To establish a formalized and structured platform that facilitates intelligent matchmaking between the mentors and their respective mentees

• To facilitate efficient and expert mentorship for startups and build an outcome-oriented mechanism that allows timely tracking of the mentor-mentee engagements

 Startups can now effectively connect with academicians, industry experts, successful founders, seasoned investors, and other experts from across the globe, through Artificial Intelligence (AI) based matchmaking, to get personalised guidance on growth and strategy, the ministry said

The key features of the MAARG portal include customisable mentorship programmes for ecosystem enablers, mobile-friendly user interface, recognition for contributing mentors, video and audio call options, etc., it added.