Chief Minister Shri Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the two-day ‘Huddle Global’, Asia’s largest tech conclave organized by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) at The Leela Raviz, Kovalam, Thiruvananthapuram on December 15. In his inaugural address, Shri Vijayan assured his government’s full support to startups which have a pivotal role to play in the state’s journey towards a knowledge economy.
He said an Emerging Technology Startup Hub will be set up in the state capital to further strengthen the incubation infrastructure and support innovation programmes. Noting that the state offered the best opportunities for a wide array of enterprises for startups in various domains like IT, VT (Virtualization Technology), and food processing, the Chief Minister said a major initiative to connect tourism industry with startup ecosystem is in the offing.
On the occasion, Shri Vijayan released the 5th Kerala Startup Ecosystem Report. In a robust proof ofrising investor confidence in Kerala-based startups, the fledgling enterprises in the state secured $551 million funding since 2015, says the Kerala Startup Ecosystem Report.
The report says that early-stage investors (angels and accelerators and incubators) for Kerala’s hardware startups command a higher share (3 per cent) in venture capital (VC) investments as compared to Mumbai at one per cent, and Delhi-NCR 0.93 per cent.
Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala, topped the list in terms of VC inflow and Kochi in number of deals. Growth capital accounts for the highest share in Kerala’s VC funding while seed stage deals make more than two-thirds of the total funding deals pegged at 551 million dollars.
Fintech and SaaS (enterprise tech) startups are at the forefront of raising venture capital in Kerala. Together, the sectors accounted for 66 per cent of the total investments bagged by Kerala-based startups since 2015. Fintech startups accounted for 39 per cent of investments, followed by healthcare (26.7 per cent), enterprise tech (23.3 per cent), deep tech (4.6 per cent) and transport tech (2.9 per cent).
It further points out that hardware startup funding is higher in Kerala than any other Indian states. Since 2014, hardware product/service-focused startups in Kerala have raised $15.2 million or 2.7 per cent of the total $551 million raised. But the total funding raised by this sector accounts for less than one per cent of the venture capital inflow at the pan-India level.
On the flip side, the report says only 11 per cent startups in Kerala have a female founder.
With 4,000+ startups registered to date, Rs 20 crore grants disbursed, Rs 1,000 crore Fund of Fund, 63+ incubators and 10 lakh sq ft office space allotted, KSUM has become as an inevitable part of not only Kerala’s but also India’s Technology Startup sector. This has helped create excellent opportunities for innovation, investment and entrepreneurship in the state.
The Chief Minister also presented the Pride of Kerala Award to Genrobotics, which developed the sewer cleaning robot Bandicoot to phase out manual scavenging. Vimal Govind MK, Co-founder, Genrobotics, received the award.
Welcoming the gathering, KSUM CEO Shri Anoop Ambika said as Kerala’s flagship startup event, Huddle Global brings a lot of value to the state’s innovation ecosystem. The event opens up immense opportunities for participating startups who embody the entrepreneurial spirit of Kerala, he added.
Grand Kerala Startup Challenge
Kochi-based cybersecurity startup Prophaze Technologies Pvt Ltd won the first edition of the Grand Kerala Startup Challenge by lapping up the first prize of Rs 50 lakh at the conclave.
Tamil Nadu IT Minister Shri T Mano Thangaraj gave away the prizes at the valedictory function in the presence of Kerala Electronics &IT Secretary Dr Rathan U Kelkar and Mission Director and CEO, Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Mission, Shri Sivarajah Ramanathan. Ms Surya Thankam, Manager, Startup Funding and Investments, KSUM, was also present.
Launched by KSUM, the Startup Challenge, which was held on the sidelines of ‘Huddle Global’, was conducted for startups whose business valuation is less than Rs 20 crore.
NyQuest Innovation Labs Pvt Ltd won the second prize of scale up seed loan of Rs 25 lakh.
More than 5,000 participants from India and abroad, seeking business, investment, and partnership opportunities, attended the meet.
A host of events
KSUM signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with DBS Bank, Singapore, T-Phoenix Angel Forum and YUNUS Social Business Fund, Bengaluru, at the conclave. The event featured keynote sessions, leadership talks, tech talks, startup demo, fireside chat, speed dating with investors, industry challenges, startup pitching and other business and investment-oriented activities.
The focus sectors at the conclave were Augmented Reality (AR) /Virtual Reality (VR), Fintech, Edutech, life sciences, space tech, health tech, Blockchain, IoT (internet of things), e-governance and Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML). The first day of the meet saw 100 startups pitching ideas.
An array of innovative products by about 70 startups were on display at the expo held on the sidelines of the conclave. Robotic manhole cleaner ‘Bandicoot’, which seeks to phase out manual scavengers, and the robot for heavy weight lifting, ‘Genbot’, both designed by Genrobotics Innovation Pvt Ltd are among the products on display.
The 2021 National Startup India Award-winning product, OralScan, an oral cancer screening device developed by Sascan Meditech in 2019, which makes possible the early and real-time detection of cancer cells, was another attention-grabbing device at the expo.
A deaf women enterprise, which focuses on the education and upskilling needs of deaf children, Daad.io - Digital Arts Academy for the Deaf, founded in 2018, was another major attraction.
KSUM, the nodal agency of the Kerala Government for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state, has been organising ‘Huddle Kerala’ since 2018. The previous editions saw the country-wide participation of more than 5,000 startups, besides investors, government officials, academia, and business community.
