Government of India to partner with VC firms to fund startups

By Raaghav G R

Posted on June 19, 2017

In a delightfully surprising move, Kerala’s Income Tax department’s secretary, M. Sivasankar proposed that the government of Kerala and the Central Government partner with various foreign and domestic VC firms in India to fund startups in India! He also proposed the creation of a virtual platform (mobile app) where entrepreneurs (mainly startup founders) can connect with various VC firms (which would have tie-ups with the state and central government) to raise funds or to market their products or services. This according to him would create a vibrant startup ecosystem in the state and would be a shot in the arm to the existing startup ecosystem in the state. Read more on Kerala

Addressing the crowd on the opening day of the ‘Seeding Kerala-2’ meet organised by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) at Rajagiri School of Engineering and Technology he said, “With more number of youngsters coming up with bright ideas, a virtual platform for seed funding would be ideal as finding investments to raise the business is the most challenging part. This platform can even be used for one-on-one meetings for business purposes and get more traction for the products”, Sivasankar said. KSUM CEO, Saji Gopinath said that if the state and central government funded startups along with VC firms in India, it would give a sense of financial security to the startups and would also make it easy for them to get seed funding. He also added that if this idea of partnership funding was implemented, Kerala would be the pioneer state in India to do so. Read more on Startup News

Government of India to partner with VC firms to fund startups