The BSE has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IIT Alumni Council to encourage listing culture for startups and develop a ‘high investor depth’ startups platform.

The newly-formed partnership will ensure a complete end-to-end ecosystem for the proposed social stock exchange, BSE said in a statement on Monday.

It will also look at revitalising the Startup platform by attracting a wide range of VC/PE funds to act as underwriters and market makers (backed by the BSE members in the frontend), it added.

"The alliance will help reduce listing time, complexity and cost for SMEs and Startups by streamlining, automating and standardising the documentation processes," the statement said.

Besides, category 1 merchant banks will be empaneled to help automate the listing process so as to reduce time and cost of listing on the Startup Platform of the Exchange, it added.

IIT Alumni Council is the body of alumni, students and faculty across all the 23 IITs with over 100 city chapters globally.

"To enhance the efficiency of listing process and also to increase access to pool of investors for startups, IIT Alumni Council proposes to use artificial intelligence and other automation tools to reduce time, cost and efforts involved in listing process," said Ravi Sharma, President and Chief Volunteer of the IIT Alumni Council.

"Further we shall encourage our associated and volunteer managed funds to underwrite, act as anchor investors as well as market makers for these IPOs. The entry of big ticket investors like Mega Fund into the startup listing space will lead to a paradigm change in the startup ecosystem and their ability to access capital," he said.

Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD and CEO of BSE said the exchange looks forward to helping more firms get listed on the exchange as well as creating a sustainable startup ecosystem through this strategic alliance.

"This partnership will enable a complete end to end ecosystem for the proposed social stock exchange," Chauhan said.

First Published:Jul 13, 2020 2:16 PM IST