Karnataka Govt Funds 263 Startups with ₹60 Crore.

Bengaluru is at the forefront of India's start-up revolution, home to 45 of the country's 112 unicorns, according to the Bengaluru Innovation Report 2024 by the Department of Electronics, IT, BT, and S&T, Government of Karnataka. The report highlights the city's dynamic innovation hub, driving advancements in artificial intelligence, biotech, and fintech.

Supported by premier IT companies, research institutes, and capital allocators, Bengaluru's start-up ecosystem thrives on collaboration and competition, fueling economic growth and technological development.

"Karnataka hosts over 14,000 DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) registered startups and more than 4,000 active tech startup investors. The presence of 45 tech unicorns further cements its reputation as a premier hub for technology and innovation," said Priyank Kharge, Minister for the Department of Electronics, IT, BT, and Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Karnataka government, in the report.

The state government has introduced several initiatives to support startups at various stages of their journey. The Elevate programme, an idea-to-proof-of-concept scheme, has provided grants of up to ₹50 lakh to over 980 startups, with a special focus on women entrepreneurs and deep tech solutions.

Additionally, the Kitven Funds and the Beyond Bengaluru Cluster Seed Fund meet the diverse financial needs of startups across the state. The NAIN initiative, which establishes 50 innovation centres in tech institutions outside Bengaluru, aims to nurture student-led projects. Initiatives like the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission and the Beyond Bengaluru initiative are pivotal in developing IT hubs across the state.

The state boasts over 80 accelerators and incubators, supported by 1,565 venture capital funds, 17,164 angel investors, and 2,256 corporate venture funds actively investing in these ventures.

Prashanth Prakash, chairperson of the Startup Vision Group for the Government of Karnataka and partner at venture capital firm Accel, noted that Bengaluru hosts R&D centres of major tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Google. The city has produced successful unicorns such as Zerodha, Cred, PhonePe, Flipkart, and Razorpay.

"Bengaluru is the GCC (global capability centre) capital of the world, with the highest concentration of GCCs in India, over 2.1 million software engineers, and contributing to more than 38% of the nation’s IT exports," said Prakash.

"If one wants to test their product at scale, there is no better place than Bengaluru. It’s a great test market for any technology," said Bhavish Aggarwal, founder of mobility firm Ola, in the report.

BS