Indian students get $100,000 funding for startup

A startup founded by three Indians and a German student at the Mississippi State University (MSU) has received $100,000, setting a record for private investment in a student-run startup at the university, a media report said.

CampusKnot, founded by Rahul Gopal, Hiten Patel, Perceus Mody and Katja Walter, is an online educational hub designed to increase collaboration among faculty and students, the Clarion-Ledger newspaper reported.

"We're excited, but we're scared at the same time," said Gopal, a senior aerospace engineering major at MSU. "It's funny, I guess, how I feel about it, but I'm looking forward to continuing to grow the company."

CampusKnot, which is free to users, seeks to serve as a single website for students at MSU and other colleges and universities to easily reach teachers and classmates, besides offering space for faculty to post course syllabi and related academic material.

"The faculty will be the celebrities of this site," Gopal said. "They can post access to knowledge for their 'fans'."

CampusKnot debuted in 2013. Since then, creators spent two years refining their project at MSU's Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the College of Business.

They won second-place in the centre's 2013 startup competition and, in December, earned a $2,500-startup grant.

CampusKnot has moved into its first office within the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park's business incubator in Starkville city.