Karnataka Government’s Elevate Chooses 101 Startups, Provides INR 25 Cr in Seed Money

The Karnataka government has funded 1,084 businesses with INR 249 crore in seed money through 21 rounds of the ELEVATE programme. Priyank Kharge, the state's Minister of Biotechnology and Information Technology, disclosed these numbers during a just-concluded event. A grant-in-aid seed-funding programme called ELEVATE was created to assist Karnataka's early-stage businesses. A total of INR 25 crore in subsidies have been given to 101 businesses under ELEVATE 2024. Of these, 36 are from outside Bengaluru, while 42 are led by women. The awards are worth between INR 21 lakh and INR 50 lakh. These businesses operate in a variety of industries, such as biotechnology, aerospace, sustainability, and rural innovation. At a fund-disbursement event on March 26, Kharge stated that many people had previously questioned the ELEVATE programme. Nonetheless, it has now provided funding to over 1,000 firms, of whom 25% are led by women and 30% are from rural regions. He went on to say that the government was dedicated to lowering regulatory barriers, increasing financing options, and guaranteeing access to international markets.

90 Days of Evaluation

According to department officials, the ELEVATE 2024 application and evaluation procedure was finished in 90 days. K-Tech Hubs and Centres of Excellence have been assigned to coach and incubate winning startups. The winners include Baeru, an ocean waste recovery startup that empowers rural women; Okulu Aerospace, which provides UAV surveillance solutions; Iniya Bioprobes, a biotech company based in Mysuru that develops microbial pigments; and Microleer Biopolymers, which makes vegan leather. According to Kharge, Bengaluru is leading the world's startup revolution. There are already 45 unicorns in India's Garden City, valued at a total of $161 billion. Through programmes like ELEVATE, the government hopes to place Karnataka in the top three worldwide startup ecosystems. The event was attended by about 300 people, including industry stakeholders and company founders. With Pocket Coach Technologies and Zebu Films among the top-funded businesses, the AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics) industry was a major focus this year. Kharge reaffirmed the government's dedication to creating a startup ecosystem that is inclusive.

Karnataka’s Deep Tech Park

The state has been taking a number of steps to become the country's startup leader. In the same line, Karnataka intends to construct a "Deep Tech" park to aid in the production of electronics, drones, electric vehicles, semiconductors, space technology, and the aerospace and defence sectors. The industrial hub would be built in the Chikballapur district of Karnataka, in Jangamakote. The area, which is expected to be called MV Deep Tech area, is roughly 60 km from Bengaluru. In addition, the state has launched the Karnataka Clean Mobility Policy 2025-30. This policy intends to draw INR 50,000 Cr in investment from the clean mobility value chain. Parallelly it will also construct a testing track and a state-of-the-art EV cluster with shared infrastructure to increase EV manufacturing. The state also plans to establish a Centre for Applied AI for Tech Solutions (CATS) with an investment of INR 50 Cr.