Karnataka Government on Monday divulged a booster kit to nurture startups in the state with funding and hand-holding till they flourish.
Karnataka’s IT, BT and Tourism Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday announced that this kit will create a revolution which is expected to be a game-changer in Bengaluru’s startup ecosystem, which is the second fastest growing in the world. Bengaluru is also the only Indian city to be ranked amongst the best 15 startup ecosystems across the world. He said,
"The booster kit provides software tools, cloud credits, access to mentors, legal and consulting accountants and access to government funding and government supported incubators,"
“The government will help push it further with Startup Karnataka, which will give them access to funds and policies that nurture and incubate startups” He added.Major AnnouncementsUnder its Innovate Karnataka initiative announced financial support equivalent, of up to $60 Mn (INR 400 Cr) in the form of grant/equity through its various funds to startups; micro and small enterprises in IT, BT, and other manufacturing sectors in the next four years.
The government has set up a Startup Cell in (Karnataka Biotechnology and Information Technology Services) KBITS to spearhead the implementation of Startup Policy initiatives. The cell facilitates the sanction of incentives and concessions under the Startup policy to startups registered with it.
KBITS will also help startups with marketing and promotion; sponsorship to attend networking national and international events; administer tax incentives and provide assistance for patent filing.
A Startup Portal,
http://www.startup.karnataka.gov.in/ has also been launched to enable and educate startups on policies and to access various benefits under the policy.
During last one year, 725 seats have been created through Government of Karnataka support to incubators.
About 300 seats are currently available at subsidised rate for startups in GOK-NASSCOM 10,000 startups warehouse; GOK incubator for tech startups set up on PPP basis with 91Springboard; GOK-IAMAI mobile 10X Startup hub; the Bengaluru Bioinnovation Centre amongst others.
In order to obtain feedback periodically on the implementation of its initiatives to assist them. Therefore a monthly open house event is planned under the Chairmanship of the Minister for IT and BT to provide an opportunity to registered startups to meet with the Department officers.
The first Open House is scheduled on 16th August,2016 from 10:30 AM onwards at the GOK-NASSCOM 10,000 startups warehouse in Diamond District, Old Airport Road, Bengaluru.The GOK-Startup Cell has put together a Startup Karnataka Booster kit for the benefit of startups registered with it. The Booster Kit contains a gamut of Software tools; cloud credits; access to mentors, legal & accounting consultants; access to GoK funding and GoK supported incubators.
Partnering With Top CompaniesFor cloud services, the government has partnered with IBM, Digital Ocean, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Bizspark and KEONICS.
For providing virtual telephony and Internet services, mGage, Knowlarity, Exotel, Ozonetel, BSNL, Vodafone and Airtel have partnered the cell. For debugging, testing and other software tools, CanvasFlip, FlexingIT, Headspin and Erospike have come onboard.
Payment gateways such as Citrus, Razorpay, Instamojo and ProfitBooks have also partnered the initiative. All these services will be available as a special package and at the lowest cost to the startups here.
Kharge added, “The best part of it all is that these startups do not have to any longer sit at government-authorised incubation centres to avail and access these benefits. They can have their working spaces anywhere in the State.”
This is another first for the State as no other State government or even the Centre’s Startup India has such an open policy.
The government has unspent funds of Rs 200 crore and will also raise up to Rs 2,000 crore to sustain the ecosystem. Among the funds announced today is the Kitven fund that has an outlay of Rs 100 crore for semiconductor and allied industry; Kitven3, a bio-venture fund for biotech, life sciences and allied industry; Idea2POC (Idea to proof-of-concept) funds of Rs 10 crore for all technology; Idea2POC fund of Rs 2.5 crore for agriculture-related startups; Idea2POC fund of Rs 2.5 crore for tourism-related tech companies.
This apart, there is a Rs 200-crore fund called Karnataka fund of funds, a Rs 20 crore AVGC venture fund for animation, visual effects, gaming and comics. The government has also set aside Rs 15 crore for startups that can have a social impact.
The startup kit also provides for upto Rs 50 lakh reimbursement for VAT/CST for a three-year term and for the first time introduced patent incentives where those filing patents will be reimbursed. Priyank said those filing domestic patents will be reimbursed upto Rs 2 lakh and those filing foreign patents will be reimbursed to the tune of Rs 10 lakh, reported YourStory
"This is to encourage patents from Karnataka-based startups as we are all aware that there are many patented products that have already come out of this ecosystem.’’
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This is Chitrakshi Suneja currently pursuing graduation and diploma in journalism and mass communication. She is crazy about Writing stuff on Startups, Entrepreneurs and reading as well.
