GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY), the company that empowers everyday entrepreneurs, announced a partnership with Ketto, India’s leading crowdfunding platform, to help financially strengthen India’s local business ecosystem. The partnership is designed to support local Indian businesses recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by enabling them to start crowdfunding campaigns on Ketto and raise funds to support their essential business expenses.

As a part of this initiative, a small business based in India, with a website holding an active .in, .co.in, org.in, net.in or IND.in domain name, can apply to start a crowdfunding campaign on Ketto to support their business. GoDaddy will work with Ketto to evaluate the applications based on a set of eligibility criteria. With this partnership, the selected small businesses will get the opportunity to host a fundraiser campaign on Ketto for free, without having to pay the Ketto platform usage fees. GoDaddy will incur these fee expenses, on behalf of the selected small businesses, with one fundraiser per business owner permitted, for combined funds raised up to ₹2 crore.

"Ketto is extremely happy to partner with GoDaddy to help local small businesses in India raise funds in a safe and simple way. We at Ketto have always believed in creating meaningful and sustainable impact by aiding different communities in the country through our initiatives and partnerships. With this partnership, we wish to aid and enable small businesses to grow by helping them gain back their business strength in these difficult times," says Varun Sheth, Co-Founder & CEO of Ketto.

Kunal Kapoor, Bollywood actor and Co-Founder of Ketto said, "Ketto has already raised over ₹100 crore to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. Having GoDaddy onboard will allow us to reach out to many local businesses in India and enable them to raise funds to help ensure sustainability in the mid to long term. Today, local businesses stand impacted by this global pandemic, and it is essential to assist them to the best of our capacity, helping them rebuild and re-establish their business identity.”

Enabling easier access for GoDaddy customers, Ketto's landing page will be highlighted on GoDaddy's #OpenWeStand India website. #OpenWeStand is GoDaddy's global initiative which supports small business owners across the world navigate the challenging times presented by COVID-19, with special offers on services and tools, expert advice, and community for entrepreneurs to share insights and experiences with one another. Over 70 companies have joined in support of #OpenWeStand and pledged action to make a difference together by contributing their expert advice, services, and special offers to help ease the financial stress caused by the ongoing health crisis.

Commenting further on the partnership, Nikhil Arora, Managing Director and Vice President, GoDaddy India, said, "Our aim at GoDaddy is to help support small and micro entrepreneurs across India, keep their businesses active. In line with the central government’s vision to promote local businesses in the country to help revive our economy, we at GoDaddy are able to extend our support to local small businesses, by working with Ketto, to help them get back at pace with their business goals."

Amidst the current challenging COVID times, entrepreneurs and small business owners in India are uncertain about the future of their business. GoDaddy and Ketto’s initiative is aimed at providing easier access to fundraising opportunities. In addition, GoDaddy’s easy-to-use and affordable online tools and solutions are designed to help strengthen the online presence of these local ventures, which are considered a part of the backbone of India’s growing economy.