Karnataka to launch two new venture funds to back young companies

Economic Times Sept 24
BANGALORE: The Karnataka government will launch two new venture funds to back young companies and set up a network of incubators in smaller cities as part of an ambitious plan to boost startup activity in the state.
The venture fund will have a corpus of 100 crore, with half the investments coming from the state and central governments. Private investors will provide the balance. “A separate fund of 20 crore will be set up to provide angel investments for very early stage companies,” said TV Mohandas, chairman of Karnataka Information and Communication Technology Group 2020 which is spearheading the initiative.
A network of incubation centres to support technology startups will also be set up across select districts by the first quarter of 2014 according to the state’s secretary for information technology and biotechnology, Srivatsa Krishna. “We are creating a comprehensive ecosystem for startups,” he said.

Read more…