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p to ten Indian-Australian founders from Victoria will travel to Mumbai and Bangalore later this year under a new Victorian Government-backed program designed to help businesses expand into the Indian market.
The Victoria-India Market Makers program, led by Catalysr in partnership with Vaurora Social Impact, will support entrepreneurs who have already established a product or service in Australia and are ready to explore business opportunities in India.
Twenty founders will first take part in a preparatory program in September. From that group, up to ten will be selected to join a week-long business delegation to Mumbai and Bangalore in November and early December.
During the visit, participants will meet investors, potential customers, government representatives and startup founders, with the aim of building commercial partnerships and creating pathways into the Indian market.
The program comes as economic ties between Australia and India continue to strengthen. Two-way trade between the two countries reached about $50 billion in 2025, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Melbourne in July for the India-Australia Summit. India is now Australia’s fifth-largest trading partner.
The delegation will focus on businesses in digital technology, food and agribusiness, health and life sciences, beauty and personal care, sport and education. Organisers are also encouraging women founders to apply and hope to select a gender-diverse cohort.
Usman Iftikhar, founder and chief executive of Catalysr, said the program was designed to help migrant entrepreneurs who understand both countries.
“Over the past decade, Catalysr has supported more than 1,300 migrant and refugee founders from 87 countries, and Indian-diaspora founders are the largest group among them,” he said.
“These are the founders this program is built for. They understand both markets and are ready to scale into Mumbai and Bangalore.”
Aruna Venkatachalam, founder of Vaurora Social Impact and initiative lead for Victoria-India Market Makers, said Victoria’s Indian community had both the skills and networks to strengthen business links between the two countries.
“Victoria’s Indian community is the state’s fastest-growing diaspora, now around 250,000 people,” she said.
“The connections and skills in this community can do far more when they are backed to build across both countries. That is what this program is for.”
The program supports the Victorian Government’s India Strategy 2030 and aligns with the Australian Government’s Australia-India Economic Strategy to 2035.
Catalysr has previously supported a number of Indian-Australian entrepreneurs, including Sakshi Thakur OAM, founder of Sewing the Seeds; Sandeep Varma, founder of SAARI Collective; impact investing entrepreneur Arjun Agarwal; Anushka Phal, founder of Umeed Psychology; and AgTech entrepreneur Animesh Ghimiray.
Applications for the September preparatory program are now open through Catalysr.
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