• 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.

• It is the national mentorship platform by Startup India.

• 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 objectives of the MAARG portal are:

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

ii) To establish a formalised and structured platform that facilitates intelligent matchmaking between the mentors and their respective mentees

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

The MAARG portal is being operationalised in three phases.

1) Phase I: Mentor Onboarding

Successfully launched and executed, over 400 expert mentors are onboarded across sectors.

2) Phase II: Startup Onboarding

The onboarding of startups on the MAARG Portal with effect from  November 14, 2022.

3) Phase III: MAARG Portal Launch and Mentor Matchmaking

Final launch where the mentors will be matched to the startups DPIIT has initiated onboarding process of startups under Phase II.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store