Kerala support scheme for startup firms soon

By Ashraf Padanna/Kochi

The Kerala government has decided to set up a seed support scheme for early stage investments to help new entrepreneurs and strengthen the state’s objective under the new information technology policy.

This was conveyed by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to the Startup Village, India’s first telecom business incubator for product startups located in this port city, which will soon celebrate the achievement of its 10-year target.

The southern state is also setting up a state-of-the-art Kerala Technology Innovation Zone at the Hi-Tech park of the Kerala Infrastructure Development Corporation (INFRA). This will have a built-up space of 500,000 sq feet with all facilities required for a world class innovation ecosystem.

Technology giant Cisco has announced the setting up of an innovation lab at Startup Village where young entrepreneurs can build applications using its platform.

The Cisco will also chip in funds for Startup Village’s new initiative, Devl000P, which aims to “create and equip an army of 1,000-plus professional student developers”.

Renowned US-based investor M R Rangaswami said his investment group, SandHill, has been providing free guidance and advice for budding entrepreneurs through their website.

Rangaswami said Indiaspora, the community of Indian Americans that he founded last year, will work with Startup Village to support incubating companies here.

“There are 3mn Indian Americans who constitute 1% of the population of the US and the country’s highest income group. They are keen to provide their mentorship and funding support for young people back home,” he said.

Rangaswami said the focus of Indian business incubators should be on building angel networks; bringing talented people together so they can share ideas and experience; shift to cloud computing; focus on the booming mobile space and provide an opportunity to develop and deliver apps on this platform; and look at global markets that no one has ventured into so far.

P H Kurien, principal secretary, information technology, Kerala government, said projects like Startup Village were the reason why the state has set ambitious targets for the IT sector in production and R&D.

He said the fund - out of which an allocation has been made for the “Startup Village to Silicon Valley” programme - will be available for aspiring entrepreneurs all across Kerala to enhance their overseas exposure.

Rentala Chandrasekhar, former IT and telecom secretary, government of India, said the $100bn Indian IT industry is aiming to grow to $300bn by 2020. “This growth is not going to happen by doing more of the same. Entrepreneurs need to do things that have never been done before and going into domains that exist only in our imaginations today. That is where ventures like Startup Village become relevant,” he said.