Karnataka government’s vision group to boost startups in tier-2 cities

The Karnataka state government is launching a vision group to accelerate entrepreneurship, strengthen incubation support and foster innovation, deputy chief minister CN Ashwath Narayan reportedly told The Times of India.  

The vision group was announced in September. At the time, Karnataka's chief minister BS Yediyurappa had urged stakeholders to invest in tier 2 and 3 cities like Mysuru, Mangaluru, Shivamogga and Belagavi.

Prashanth Prakash has been named as the chairman of the group. He is a partner in venture capital firm Accel and has led investments in BookMyShow, Clevertap, Agrostar, BlueStone, Prop-Tiger, QwikCilver (acquired by Pine Labs), Rentomojo, TeaBox, and other early stage companies.

The other members of the group include Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Swiggy co-founder Nandan Reddy, Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal, Prime Venture Partners managing partner Sanjay Swamy, and Ideaspring managing partner Naganand Doraswamy. Prime Venture Partners and Ideaspring are also venture capital firms.

The group will drive global alliance and entrepreneurship in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, and help implement a modern legal framework. “The vision group will meet once in six months and will be in force for two years,” the government said.

Karnataka has become the go-to destination for technology companies. Recently Apple’s supplier Wistron was looking to set up a research and development centre in the state and was granted land in Narasapura in Kolar district for a new manufacturing facility. Apple also recently started assembling the low-cost iPhone SE at the Taiwanese supplier’s Peenya facility.

Taiwan-based company Wistron reportedly plans to invest Rs 1,947 crore, and employ 5,000 people.