Technopark TBI gets seed fund

Thiruvananthapuram Technopark Technology Business Incubation (T-TBI) will get a seed fund of Rs 1 crore over a period of three years from the Technology Development Board (TDB), Ministry of Science and Technology.

An agreement to this effect was signed between HK Mittal, secretary-TDB, and  KC Chandrashekharan Nair, secretary and registrar, Technopark –TBI.

Technopark TBI has been selected for this seed capital grant assistance by TDB  for the first time. The grant will enable T-TBI to provide seed fund in a year to at least 10 incubation companies, who lack funding support from elsewhere, a press release said.

“This is a very important and necessary support for student startups in the state to get startup risk capital assistance in their early stage of company formation,” said Mervin Alexander, CEO, Technopark.

Fifty companies that have already graduated from the TBI have scaled up their operation in Technopark Phase I campus. They have generated about 3,000 employment and an investment of about Rs 130 crore. The  turnover of these  companies is around Rs 150 crore and their contribution to the government exchequer around Rs 30 crore.