Youth queue up in Kerala for IT startup funding

Kerala's dream of becoming a hub for business startups is inching closer to reality with 527 applications received by incubator Startup Village in March from young entrepreneurs for technologies-based enterprises.

With this, the total number of applications at Startup Village touched 2,269 by March 31.

The state government has actively promoted ventures such as Startup Village, particularly through policy frameworks and infrastructure support.

A task force formed by the State Planning Board has now entrusted KSIDC, CII Kerala, Federal Bank CEO, and Startup Village chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar to come up with a roadmap to create a world-class startup ecosystem in Kerala.

When Startup Village was set up in 2012, its chief mentor Kris Gopalakrishnan, the executive vice chairman of Infosys, predicted this will change the industrial climate in Kerala and his prediction appears to be on track.

The near doubling of the number of applications over one month comes as the mobile-internet technology business incubator - set up under public-private partnership mode with strong support from the central and state governments - gears up to mark its second anniversary later this month.

In February, 286 would-be entrepreneurs expressed interest in signing up with the incubation programme at Startup Village - a milestone easily surpassed in March.

Vijayakumar says the surge in the number of applicants is reflective of a socio-cultural change taking place in Kerala, as young people are more willing to take risks and chase their dreams and build a new world with new products that drive the future of humanity.

"I think Startup Village has helped reinforce the idea that it is all right to take risks to bring an idea to life and to create an ecosystem where failure is seen a prerequisite to learning," he said.

The incubator currently supports 600 startups, of which 216 have been started by students.

The success stories of companies nurtured by incubators such as Startup Village and Technopark TBI have played a key role in driving the entrepreneurship movement in Kerala.