Centre to Plan More Seed Funds & Incubation Centres: Startup India head
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The central government is ramping up efforts to strengthen seed funding and expand incubation centres to foster the startup ecosystem across the country, said Mamatha Venkatesh, Head of Startup India, during an event in Kochi on Friday.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Kerala Innovation Festival (KIF) organised by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) in Kalamassery, Venkatesh noted that these efforts go beyond the financial support provided by the IT Ministry. She added that startups from various sectors could also access assistance from other government departments.
Describing Kerala's startup ecosystem as the "most vibrant" in India, she pointed out that the state achieved 100 per cent registration under the Startup India programme. She urged entrepreneurs to leverage central government initiatives such as the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), the INR 1 lakh crore Fund of Funds, and the Credit Guarantee Scheme. She also highlighted the encouraging statistic that 48 per cent of startups in the country are founded or co-founded by women.
State Planning Board member Mini Sukumaran acknowledged that women's participation in the workforce remains low, despite increasing enrolment of girls in higher education across Kerala. She stressed the need to bridge this gap and said the state government is working urgently on it. The Planning Board has proposed several recommendations to make the gender budget more impactful, she added.
KSUM CEO Anoop Ambika said the agency is introducing more initiatives to support angel funding for early-stage startups. "Kerala currently has four angel networks, and the success of more startup ecosystems will attract further interest from angel investors," he said.
The Kerala Innovation Festival features over 100 participants from sectors such as film, music, technology, fintech, and social entrepreneurship.
This two-day event celebrated a decade of the Kerala Startup Mission, which was launched with the Technology Startup Policy in 2015.
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