‘Grand Idea Day’ Initiative: With Rs. 2.65 Cr Kerala Startup Mission set to raise the spirit of budding entrepreneurs

Kochi, December 26: Start-ups in Kerala set to get boost as the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) will provide a financial assistance of Rs. 2.65 Cr to 31 startups and student teams from all over the state, who presented a range of innovative technology solutions at the 8th edition of Grand Idea Day, an KSUM initiative. 

More than 240 applications were received for the Grand Idea Day, and 49 grand ideas were selected for pitching, out of which 31 have been considered for funding. With the Grand Idea Day helping 31 more startups in their funding, KSUM certainly is fostering the spirit of entrepreneurship within the state.

KSUM Manager Ashok Panjikaran said, “The Idea Day is a solution for the startups, which were finding it hard to find a source for funding and promote their products. Forty-nine existing startups and students from colleges have presented the ideas for their projects in four categories.”

The startups that were selected for pitching were based on innovative technologies that include hardware, IoT, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), Platforms and Aggregators, Blockchain, AR/VR and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The press release stated the amount to be given to each startup will be decided according to the nature of the projects which are presented and their potential for global marketing and development. The Grand Idea Day initiative has so far provided grants to more than 25 startups and KSUM is further looking to conduct the next edition in January 2018.

In September 2017, Kerala government announced its plans of setting up a fund of funds with a corpus of 500 Cr for Kerala-based startups over the next three years. Kerala has been one of the early promoters of the Indian startup ecosystem. The KSUM currently has over 750 startups registered under its various programmes and is actively collaborating with PSUs and private companies to provide grants to these startups.