Numa shortlists 11 startups; joins hands with Airbus

 Paris-based Numa, which started its operations in Bengaluru earlier this year, announced on Tuesday that it has shortlisted 11 startups for its six-month accelerator programme.

Naresh Narasimhan, CEO of Numa in Bengaluru said, “We have selected startups across sectors and disciplines. And we are very eager to see what this mix creates. We are focused on developing the human capital in India.”

The Numa office on the centrally located Church street will be home to these 11 startups for the next six months. They will be given operational, legal, and marketing support and guidance by Numa’s mentors. The sector-agnostic accelerator has selected startups from fin-tech, edu-tech, etc. from over 200 applicants.

Frederic Oru, COO — International Director, Numa, said, “What we do is is bring corporates, communities and startups together.” With more than 15 years of experience in the field, Numa runs accelerator programmes in Paris, Moscow, Casablanca, and now in Bengaluru. “What we have done in 15 years in Paris, we think we can achieve here in two years, because of Bengaluru’s thriving startup ecosystem.”

The company plans to soon expand its operations, and is looking at Central America or the Middle East as its new destination.  Numa currently has over 200 startups in its network in Paris, around 10 startups in Moscow, and 11 startups in India.

In its outreach programme, it has collaborated with Airbus Bizlabs, an aerospace business accelerator. Airbus BizLabs inaugurated its third accelerator programme in Bengaluru on Tuesday in collaboration with Numa.

It is a sector-specific accelerator programme which works with Airbus entrepreneurs. “We want the startup ecosystem in India to surprise us, disrupt us, and provoke us,”  said Brunio Gutierres, Head of Airbus BizLab and Partnerships.

“We are very excited to see what raw entrepreneurial energy combined with the corporate intrapreneurial system can do,” said Narasimhan.

Airbus will soon start sorting through applicants to shortlist around 10 startups for its programme, said Gutierres. Numa will participate in the shortlisting. The company plans to run through this process by the end of this year to launch the programme by mid-January.