KOCHI: Emerging businesses in the state received a funding of Rs 273 crore in the 2017-18 fiscal, according to the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), which released its ecosystem report the other day. It is a marked increment considering that the institutional funding to startups were around Rs 70 crore in 2014. The total disclosed funding observed in 2018 (till September) stood at Rs 271 crore.
KSUM CEO Saji Gopinath said startups from other parts of the country have begun showing interest in Kerala, where the government has created an infrastructure base as the first fully digital state in India.
“Being the first state in the country to formulate a policy for the startup ecosystem’s development way back in 2014, Kerala today has over 1,500 startups developing innovative products and services leveraging on Industry 4.0,” said Gopinath in the report that showed the 2017-18 number of funded startups as 59 and funding deals as 50.
‘Rebuild Kerala’ has called for more startups along with a stronger ecosystem even as an increased number of technology-based solutions are helping the flood-affected state, the government’s nodal agency for entrepreneurship development noted in the report.The report attributed the increase mainly to the change in institutional funding, which is being encouraging and supporting the startups to progress.