100 startups shortlisted by K’taka govt for grants, mentorship

Elevate 2019, the entrepreneurship programme of the state government of Karnataka has shortlisted 100 startups from a range of technology sectors to receive funding, mentorship and assistance in scaling their operations from the state government and its programme partners.

As many as 270 startups made it to the finals of the programme.

Elevate is an initiative of the Karnataka government’s department of information technology, biotechnology and science & technology (IT-BT and S&T). It is the first comprehensive entrepreneurship platform of the Karnataka government, an official statement from the department said. 

The programme is an idea-to-PoC (proof of concept) scheme for startups as per the Karnataka Startup Policy 2015-2020, the statement added. 

As many as 41 information technology (IT)-based startups made it to the top 100, followed by 15 in the biotechnology sector and 13 in the health-tech space.

Of the 100 startups shortlisted, 29 are headed by women entrepreneurs and 23 are based in tier-II and tier-III cities of India. 

“The uniqueness of this programme is that startups get recognised at the state level and are provided with access to funds to scale their ideas to the next level,” said Gaurav Gupta, principal secretary, department of IT, BT and S&T. Elevate 2019 will generate a lot of visibility for innovative startups and enable them to raise more funds from angel investors, he added.