31 start-ups in Kerala to get funds under KSUM

A total of 31 start-ups and student teams from all over the state, who presented a range of innovative technology solutions at the 8th Grand Idea Day, conducted by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), will get a financial assistance of Rs 2.64 crore.

The Grand Idea Day was held today to select technology relevant and scalable ideas across various domains.

From the 49 grand ideas from startups/students which were selected from around 241 applications, 31 startups were considered for funding.

"The Idea Day is a solution for the startups, which were finding it hard to find a source for funding and promote their products," KSUM manager Ashok Panjikaran said in a release here.

"Forty-nine existing startups and students from colleges have presented the ideas for their projects in four categories," he added.

Startups from Kerala, presented solutions across different sectors, including hardware, IoT, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), Platforms and Aggregators, Blockchain, AR/VR and Artificial Intelligence (AI), he said.

These are startups and innovators working on their ideas, and those trying to productise their concept or scale up their existing products.

Experts from each field evaluated the projects and selected the best ideas for the financial assistance.

The amount to be given to each startup will be decided according to the nature of the projects which are presented and their potential for global marketing and development, the release said.

The Kerala government has successfully implemented the "Idea Day" programme to promote innovation in the state and to make starting up ventures easier than before.

The next "Idea Day" is scheduled to be held in January 2018.

"Idea Day" has so far released grants to more than 25 start-ups, students and individuals.