BENGALURU: Over the years, Bengaluru has seen a unprecedented growth in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The government is committed to scaling up this ecosystem even further, said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
After inaugurating the second GoK-Nasscom start-up warehouse in the city on Wednesday, he said “Traditionally, Karnataka has had an entrepreneurially rich ecosystem. Over the years, the city has seen an unprecedented growth in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. We are committed to scaling this even further and are pleased to co-opt with NASSCOM to make this dream a reality. The government is happy to cooperate and support such programmes in order to boost the entrepreneurial culture of the city,” said Siddaramaiah.
He also delved into the Karnataka Start-up Policy for 2015-2020. “The objective of the policy is to stimulate the growth of 20,000 tech start-ups by 2020, in turn, creating six lakh direct and 12 lakh indirect jobs. In this regard, a ‘Start-up Cell’ will be established to act as one-stop shop to assist start-ups,” he added.
The first start-up warehouse set up by the government along with NASSCOM, has been a successful experiment, resulting in over 64 start-ups being incubated. These early stage companies have been successful in drawing the attention of angel investors and venture capitalists. “As many as 16 start-ups raised capital of over Rs 600 crore,” added the CM.
the warehouse
The warehouse will be equipped with Internet of Things (IoT) labs, design labs and mobile experience labs, which will help entrepreneurs in their endeavours.
There will be 5 seats allotted to each start-up, which will be allowed to operate for six months.
A selection committee will choose the start-ups
Siddaramaiah elaborated on the type of start-ups that are most likely to be incubated at the warehouse. “Start-ups are most likely to innovate in electronics for education, healthcare and energy sectors, offering smart solutions particularly for the remote and rural areas. For the urban areas, smart cities, smart grids, smart houses and smart streets, offer a great potential in resolving the challenges of urbanisation.”