Karnataka govt to fund tech startups across the country
Good news for Entrepreneurs planning their tech startups across the country. IT minister Priyank Kharge told ET that starting this year, the state government is set to start funding. Technology startups based across the country by calling them to register in Karnataka.
Entrepreneurs can register their companies under the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 1961. The minister for information technology, biotechnology and tourism said. “We want to take our policy to the national level this year. We will support startups from across the country provided they pay taxes here,” Kharge said.
The startup policy launched by Karnataka government in 2015. Has set up several funds with a corpus of over Rs 300 crore. To back these upcoming startups across different sectors such as biotechnology, tourism and animation.
Though the clarity on when the new phase will start is yet to be given. Till now approximately 5000 startups have registered under this policy. Last year the number the funding number was 250.
Future Vision
In the five-year startup policy plan, the state government had set a vision of boosting 20,000 technology-based startups by 2020 in Karnataka and creating 6 lakh direct and 12 lakh indirect new jobs in the sector.The move to attract entrepreneurs from across the country has its own advantages and challenges, some startup ecosystem members said.
“There is a good side to this and a bad side. The good part is it will attract great talent and businesses here, and will boost employment,” said Naganand Doraswamy, founder of VC fund Ideaspring Capital and former president of TiE’s Bangalore chapter. “However, Bengaluru is already congested, and the government will need to find the right place, maybe outside the city,” he added. Many of the unicorns (startups valued over $1billion) in the country, including Flipkart, Ola, Mu Sigma, InMobi and Quikr are based in the state.
