263 startups funded with a total of Rs 60 crore by Karnataka govt

Karnataka is home to 45 unicorns, over 14,000 DPIIT registered startups and more than 4,000 active tech startup investors

Bengaluru stands at the forefront of India's start-up revolution and is home to 45 of the country’s 112 unicorns, according to a report unveiled by the Department of Electronics, IT, BT, and S&T, Government of Karnataka. The Bengaluru Innovation Report 2024 said that as a dynamic innovation hub, the city fosters groundbreaking advancements in fields like 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. This is driving economic growth and technological development.

“Karnataka is home to 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.

 

He said 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 Rs 50 lakh to more than 980 startups. This includes a special focus on women entrepreneurs and deep tech solutions.

Additionally, the Kitven Funds and the Beyond Bengaluru Cluster Seed Fund are tailored to 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. Also, initiatives like the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission and the Beyond Bengaluru initiative are pivotal in developing IT hubs across the state.

There are more than 80 accelerators and incubators in the state. There is support from 1,565 venture capital funds, 17,164 angel investors, and 2,256 corporate venture funds actively investing in these ventures.

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

“The city 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 per cent 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.

Healthtech, Agritech

The Department of Electronics, IT, BT, and S&T, Government of Karnataka, also organised a special felicitation ceremony for the winners of Elevate - a flagship Grant-in-Aid programme of the department. It saw participation from startup winners across four schemes (FY 2023-2024) within the programme namely: Elevate Kalyana Karnataka, supporting entrepreneurship in the Kalyana Karnataka region; Amrita Startups, supporting entrepreneurship and innovation by OBC entrepreneurs; Elevate Unnati, to identify and nurture startups promoted by SC and ST entrepreneurs. There is also the Elevate programme, which encourages entrepreneurs across the state requiring early-stage funding to develop a prototype, strategise market entry and scale up.

About 263 startups as part of these programmes were invited for the felicitation ceremony. They have been funded a total of Rs 60 crore by the Department of IT-BT of the Government of Karnataka. About 47 of these firms are led by women entrepreneurs, and 119 startups hail from Tier-II and Tier-III cities in the state.

The startup winners are building innovative technologies across various emerging sectors. These include clean-tech and smart city solutions and innovations related to healthcare, biotechnology and agriculture.

The department has supported 983 startups with a committed fund of Rs 224.06 crore as seed funding. The initiative has seen the participation of women entrepreneurs with a representation of 25 per cent. About 30 per cent of entrepreneurs come from Tier-II and Tier-III cities in Karnataka.