31 Student Startup Founders From 6 Indian States On Visit To Silicon Valley

Thirty-one student startup founders from six states are on a week-long visit to Silicon Valley at San Fransisco to pitch, network and learn from the best at the tech Mecca under a flagship #StartInCollege programme instituted by the Kochi's Startup Village Collective SV.CO in partnership with Facebook.

The students from various engineering colleges, who have built their startup products while enrolled in Startup Village's digital learning program, are on a week-long visit to showcase their prototypes, learn product development and skills, and get exposure to the world class startup ecosystem in Silicon Valley, according to a release here. SV.CO’s startup program for first-time founders is supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India,the U.S. Embassy in India and has multiple state partners giving support to their respective students.

The students are also scheduled to visit Stanford, Intel HQ, Facebook HQ, Google Launchpad, Slack HQ, Golden Gate, Muir Woods and lot more.

Startup industry leaders Paytm and Freshworks (earlier known as FreshDesk) are on board as partners providing scholarships and mentoring to students. In the U.S., the team, the largest single Indian student startup delegation to visit the Silicon Valley, were welcomed by the City Council of Menlo Park and housed at Menlo College. On Tuesday (June 20) the founders will visit the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park where they will have a pitch session and get feedback from experts at the social media giant.

Related Reading - Get To Know 5 Promising Student Startups from Lucknow Chapter of iB Hubs Startup School

"At Facebook, we believe the student community has a central role to play in helping build a world class startup ecosystem in India. We are pleased to support the Start-in-college program that cultivates a sense of purpose amongst students and enables them to build meaningful projects from their college campus,” said Satyajeet Singh, Platform Partnerships, Facebook India. During their week-long stay till June 24, the students will visit other valley landmarks,including offices of Google, Intel, Silicon Valley Bank, Freshworks, Zendesk and Bootup Ventures; and attend startup workshops at the North Eastern University and Google Launchpad.

Leading entrepreneur turned venture capitalist Rajeev Madhavan will share with the students his insights on building two multi-hundred million dollar technology startups. Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) is sponsoring 19 of the students as part of its international programme for startups. “If we are to build a world-class startup ecosystem in India, as is our goal, our entrepreneurs need to get first-hand experience of global best practices.

KSUM’s international programme is intended for promising young founders to have that experience and increase their level of confidence while in college itself so they get an early startup” said Dr Saji Gopinath, CEO, KSUM. The Startup Village Collective SV.CO, a first-of-its-kind digital platform with a mission is to build a world class learning platform for students to become startup professionals and explore their full potential in life. "The Silicon Valley visit is to give the students a world class global exposure very early in life so that they can be more confident, motivated and get the ability to dream bigger than ever before as they immerse in the startup culture in Silicon Valley” said Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman, Startup Village Collective.

[Top Image - Ajo John @Medium]

Facebook Ties-up With Kochi's Startup Village; To Take 50 Students Entrepreneurs To “Silicon Valley”

Social media giant, Facebook has joined hands with sv.co to help engineering student startups in India. Kochi based Startup Village has launched sv.co, the world’s first digital incubator for students in July 2016.

As a part of this programme, the selected 50 students will visit Facebook headquarter at Menlo Park, California for six-days to meet with world famous CEOs and founders and share their brilliant biz ideasfor their feedbacks and guidance. Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman, Startup Village says, “The purpose of the visit to Silicon Valley is to provide students with a priceless opportunity to absorb and learn from technology based companies such as Facebook. Students will get a chance to meet talented professionals from around the world and learn all about creating successful startups."

Key Features of sv.co

1. Only college students are eligible for this programme



2. A team with minimum four students can apply for this programme. Alone students are not eligible.



3. At least one programmer should be there in co-founders’ team

Also, as a part of this programme, Facebook is offering mentor-ship and guidance to aspiring Indian engineering students to become entrepreneurs through sv.co.

Startup Village has been ranked as India’s best Startup incubator. It has launched sv.co, as India’s first PPP model technology incubator as a six month entrepreneurship programme to benefit startups digitally. Besides, facebook will also contribute to make the overall framework of this programme. SV.CO also verifies results & rewards founders with a real degree by partnering with renowned Universities across the world.

Kerala Launches World's First Online Incubator for Student Startups

Till now Bangalore was the silicon valley of India, where people who set up their startups and work towards achieving their goal. But lately, another city from Kerala has been catching up in this respect. Yesterday evening, the Startup Village in Kochi has launched a digital incubator for students startups - Start In College, making it the first of its kind in the entire world. This has been the vision of the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayia and Kris Gopalakrishnan (co-founder of Infosys), who is also the mentor there.

This incubator which took almost a full year to be build has been flooded with applications from not just Kerala but from across the country as well. They have received over 1000 applications for this digital incubator.

The main motive behind this step was to ensure that people from even tier 2 and tier 3 cities get a shot at materializing their dream. It is easier to find mentors and facilities in a metropolitan comparatively. So , with this step, they hope to bridge this gap and level the playing field.

When a team gets selected for the incubator they will be trained and mentored by some of the best people. They will be given assistance right from the beginning where they need to come up with an idea for the project till the point they can launch for early customers. And all of this will be done in a short span of just 6 months. After which these teams will again the opportunity to prove themselves worthy enough to be graduated to accelerators.

Another underlying motive behind this project is to generate employment. Looking at the current scenario there has been an estimated that we would require more than one million new jobs a month in the  next 20 years and for this purpose startups seem like a pretty good bet. This is in accordance with the Startup India plan and is set to boost the startup culture that is slowly engulfing the country.

Kerala's Startup Village Has Produced 533 Startups So Far And Going

Startup Village has been giving wings to the dreams of young entrepreneurs of Kerala ever since the time it was established in the year 2012. The Kochi based incubator, which is India’s first PPP model internet-mobile incubator, is now churning out one entrepreneur a day, according to a statement given to PTI by a top official.

By the end of last year, the incubator had been successful in producing 533 startups, out of which 116 were college startups. It has also successfully created a total of 2,889 jobs since its inception.

The incubator, which completed thousand days in January, has registered a quarter to quarter growth of forty percent in applications received from new startups. The total valuation of the incubator’s startups is pegged at a whopping Rs. 292 crores.

Since the incubator’s inception in April 15, 2012 to December last year, it has received a whopping 6,491 application requests.

“37 startups have raised Rs 27 crore in funding from angel investors, private backers and seed funds and 161 have raised initial seed money from friends and family,”  said Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman, Startup Village in a statement to PTI.

He further said that the incubator has been able to build a great ecosystem focused on early stage startups.

According to him, the incubator has a huge scope for growth and if the constraints of funds and infrastructure are resolved, India might be able to get its own Silicon Coast.

According to data available, the incubator had incubated a total of 960 startups till the end of the last year. This comprised of 58 physical startups and 902 virtual startups. Out of these 960 startups, a good 533 are currently active. Of the 58 physical startups incubated till now, two failed and 56 are currently active. On the other hand, of the 902 virtual startups, 355 are inactive and 477 active, while seventy of them were aborted.

"Survival of physically incubated startups is 96.5 per cent and of virtual 53 per cent, which shows that a physical ecosystem substantially increases the chances of a startup doing well," said Vijayakumar.

Speaking about student startups, he said of the 293 student startups incubated till now, 116 are currently active, 149 inactive and some 28 fizzled out midway.

Scarcity of funds accounted for eighteen percent of the mortality of these students startups.

According to Vijayakumar, "Lack of family support (10.5 per cent), well-placed jobs (43 per cent), unviable business idea (11 per cent), competition from a better player (7 per cent) and pursuit of higher studies (3.5 per cent) were among the other major factors that aborted some of these startups.”

Kerala's Startup Village Has Produced 533 Startups So Far And Going

Startup Village has been giving wings to the dreams of young entrepreneurs of Kerala ever since the time it was established in the year 2012. The Kochi based incubator, which is India’s first PPP model internet-mobile incubator, is now churning out one entrepreneur a day, according to a statement given to PTI by a top official.

By the end of last year, the incubator had been successful in producing 533 startups, out of which 116 were college startups. It has also successfully created a total of 2,889 jobs since its inception.

The incubator, which completed thousand days in January, has registered a quarter to quarter growth of forty percent in applications received from new startups. The total valuation of the incubator’s startups is pegged at a whopping Rs. 292 crores.

Since the incubator’s inception in April 15, 2012 to December last year, it has received a whopping 6,491 application requests.

“37 startups have raised Rs 27 crore in funding from angel investors, private backers and seed funds and 161 have raised initial seed money from friends and family,”  said Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman, Startup Village in a statement to PTI.

He further said that the incubator has been able to build a great ecosystem focused on early stage startups.

According to him, the incubator has a huge scope for growth and if the constraints of funds and infrastructure are resolved, India might be able to get its own Silicon Coast.

According to data available, the incubator had incubated a total of 960 startups till the end of the last year. This comprised of 58 physical startups and 902 virtual startups. Out of these 960 startups, a good 533 are currently active. Of the 58 physical startups incubated till now, two failed and 56 are currently active. On the other hand, of the 902 virtual startups, 355 are inactive and 477 active, while seventy of them were aborted.

"Survival of physically incubated startups is 96.5 per cent and of virtual 53 per cent, which shows that a physical ecosystem substantially increases the chances of a startup doing well," said Vijayakumar.

Speaking about student startups, he said of the 293 student startups incubated till now, 116 are currently active, 149 inactive and some 28 fizzled out midway.

Scarcity of funds accounted for eighteen percent of the mortality of these students startups.

According to Vijayakumar, "Lack of family support (10.5 per cent), well-placed jobs (43 per cent), unviable business idea (11 per cent), competition from a better player (7 per cent) and pursuit of higher studies (3.5 per cent) were among the other major factors that aborted some of these startups.”

Will Take 100 Kerala Startups To Silicon Valley, Said Menlo Park Mayor Catherine Carlton

Indian startups seem to be literally going places. According to Catherine Carlton, Mayor, Menlo Park, at least 100 startups from India’s Kerala stand a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit the Silicon Valley in the United States and learn the nitty-gritty’s of building a successful tech company from the experts themselves.

Carlton is currently leading a three member delegation to India. She even paid a visit to Startup Village in Kerala yesterday and interacted with young entrepreneurs and officials present there.

"We are extremely impressed by the talent of the youngsters here as well as by the kind of support that the government is extending. We will be very pleased to welcome selected start-ups, possibly 100 companies this year, to Silicon Valley and provide them an opportunity to expand and grow their business there," said Carlton in a statement to PTI.

According to Carlton, the entrepreneurs will also be helped in identifying potential markets in the United States for their businesses.

The three member team headed by Carlton is on a six day tour to Kerala before the signing of a twin city agreement between Menlo Park, a city in California and India’s Kerala. Menlo Park houses a number of companies including networking giant, Facebook.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be signed between Kochi Mayor Tony Chammany and Carlton in Thiruvananthapuram today. The sister-city agreement will be the first such agreement between Menlo Park and an Indian city. The signing of the MoU would initiate new partnerships in cultural, social, economic and educational sectors between the two cities.

The twin city agreement aims to promote sharing of talent and ideas in the technology sector and boost employment opportunities in both the countries.

“Through this collaboration, Kochi will be able to get the global stage and emerge as a key player in the telecom-technology sector. We aim to boost Landing Pad, a project supported by the Kerala Government at the Silicon Valley, through this new tie-up," said Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman, Startup Village in a statement to PTI.
Started in 2012, Startup Village is India’s first Public Private Partnership technology business incubator which is jointly promoted by the Government of India, MobME Wireless, Department of Science and technology and Technopark.

Will Take 100 Kerala Startups To Silicon Valley, Said Menlo Park Mayor Catherine Carlton

Indian startups seem to be literally going places. According to Catherine Carlton, Mayor, Menlo Park, at least 100 startups from India’s Kerala stand a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit the Silicon Valley in the United States and learn the nitty-gritty’s of building a successful tech company from the experts themselves.

Carlton is currently leading a three member delegation to India. She even paid a visit to Startup Village in Kerala yesterday and interacted with young entrepreneurs and officials present there.

"We are extremely impressed by the talent of the youngsters here as well as by the kind of support that the government is extending. We will be very pleased to welcome selected start-ups, possibly 100 companies this year, to Silicon Valley and provide them an opportunity to expand and grow their business there," said Carlton in a statement to PTI.

According to Carlton, the entrepreneurs will also be helped in identifying potential markets in the United States for their businesses.

The three member team headed by Carlton is on a six day tour to Kerala before the signing of a twin city agreement between Menlo Park, a city in California and India’s Kerala. Menlo Park houses a number of companies including networking giant, Facebook.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be signed between Kochi Mayor Tony Chammany and Carlton in Thiruvananthapuram today. The sister-city agreement will be the first such agreement between Menlo Park and an Indian city. The signing of the MoU would initiate new partnerships in cultural, social, economic and educational sectors between the two cities.

The twin city agreement aims to promote sharing of talent and ideas in the technology sector and boost employment opportunities in both the countries.

“Through this collaboration, Kochi will be able to get the global stage and emerge as a key player in the telecom-technology sector. We aim to boost Landing Pad, a project supported by the Kerala Government at the Silicon Valley, through this new tie-up," said Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman, Startup Village in a statement to PTI.
Started in 2012, Startup Village is India’s first Public Private Partnership technology business incubator which is jointly promoted by the Government of India, MobME Wireless, Department of Science and technology and Technopark.

Madhya Pradesh Wants Startup Village Like Incubator

Seems like Kochi-based Startup Village in Kerala state has become a role model for all other states in India to follow. Earlier in July Andhra Pradesh announced that the state will replicate the 'Startup Village' model to bring similar incubator in the state. Now, Madhya Pradesh another such state which initiated has initiated discussions with the Kochi-based Startup Village, seeking its support and expertise in setting up a similar incubation facility in their state.

A high-level delegation led by Shri M Selvendran IAS, Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation (MPSEDC) Ltd, held talks with Startup Village Chief Executive Officer Pranav Kumar Suresh and the management team at Startup Village in this regard on Thursday last week.

The delegation members checked the facilities being offered to start-ups. They also discussed the Kerala government's student entrepreneurship policy which is aimed at promoting entrepreneurship culture among youths.

"We are very impressed by Startup Village's functioning and are exploring the possibility of setting up a similar facility in Madhya Pradesh. We plan to seek support from the management and the technical team of Startup Village to devise a strategy to build a similar incubator in Madhya Pradesh," Shri Selvendran said after the visit.

Startup Village Chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar said - "It is truly a recognition for Startup Village's efforts over the last 30 months in creating an ecosystem which supports young entrepreneurs. We are in the process of bringing out a blueprint on creation of innovative ecosystems that can be adopted by states across India".

Startup Village as an incubator was founded in year 2012 with aim to to launch 1,000 technology startup in next 10 years. As of October 2013, Startup Village has incubated 450 startups.

Startup Village in talks to offer tech support to UK healthcare industry

Finally Indian startups have a reason to rejoice. Recently, Kochi based Startup Village, which is famous for being India's first PPP model technology business incubator, was involved in detailed discussions with a delegation from UK on possibilities of Indian startups helping British healthcare industry by providing them with technological support. The discussions were initiated by the United Kingdom delegation.

The United Kingdom delegation was a team of 18 members and comprised of healthcare industry leaders and specialists. The 18 member team held discussions with the representatives from Startup Village regarding establishing business partnerships with young Indian entrepreneurs who can find innovative and unique solution to solve the challenges and problems being faced by the British healthcare sector.

Once the delegation is done identifying and finalizing the partner companies, they will make them available with financial assistance so that they can develop innovative customized technology solutions without any hurdle.

The 18 member delegation was also accompanied by Bharat Joshi, who is the British Deputy High Commissioner. Bharat was fully impressed with Startup Village and lauded the incubator’s effort in creating an ecosystem for encouraging entrepreneurial culture among the youngsters of the country.

The delegation team included Dean Frederick Bernard Francois-Smith, Medical Emergency Head, Advatech Health Care Europe Ltd; Professor Charles Kingsland, Professor of Reproductive Medicine and a consultant Gynecologist at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, UK and Chief clinical Officer for the Hewitt Fertility Centre, Samit Kumar Biswas, CEO and Director, Advatech Health Care Europe Ltd. and Chris Born and Mike Nithavrianakis, Healthcare Specialists, Healthcare UK.

“It is really encouraging to see that our startups here are getting recognition from overseas market. Technology products are accepted faster in developed markets and access to those markets are what we are trying to build for creating success stories at home”, said Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman, Startup Village in a statement to Economic Times.

According to Pranav Kumar Suresh, Chief Executive Officer, Startup Village, this visit by the UK delegation itself stands testimony to innovative and unique services and products provided by the young startups and entrepreneurs here in India. These discussions might clear the way for Indian startups to enter the Global market.

Startup Village in talks to offer tech support to UK healthcare industry

Finally Indian startups have a reason to rejoice. Recently, Kochi based Startup Village, which is famous for being India's first PPP model technology business incubator, was involved in detailed discussions with a delegation from UK on possibilities of Indian startups helping British healthcare industry by providing them with technological support. The discussions were initiated by the United Kingdom delegation.

The United Kingdom delegation was a team of 18 members and comprised of healthcare industry leaders and specialists. The 18 member team held discussions with the representatives from Startup Village regarding establishing business partnerships with young Indian entrepreneurs who can find innovative and unique solution to solve the challenges and problems being faced by the British healthcare sector.

Once the delegation is done identifying and finalizing the partner companies, they will make them available with financial assistance so that they can develop innovative customized technology solutions without any hurdle.

The 18 member delegation was also accompanied by Bharat Joshi, who is the British Deputy High Commissioner. Bharat was fully impressed with Startup Village and lauded the incubator’s effort in creating an ecosystem for encouraging entrepreneurial culture among the youngsters of the country.

The delegation team included Dean Frederick Bernard Francois-Smith, Medical Emergency Head, Advatech Health Care Europe Ltd; Professor Charles Kingsland, Professor of Reproductive Medicine and a consultant Gynecologist at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, UK and Chief clinical Officer for the Hewitt Fertility Centre, Samit Kumar Biswas, CEO and Director, Advatech Health Care Europe Ltd. and Chris Born and Mike Nithavrianakis, Healthcare Specialists, Healthcare UK.

“It is really encouraging to see that our startups here are getting recognition from overseas market. Technology products are accepted faster in developed markets and access to those markets are what we are trying to build for creating success stories at home”, said Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman, Startup Village in a statement to Economic Times.

According to Pranav Kumar Suresh, Chief Executive Officer, Startup Village, this visit by the UK delegation itself stands testimony to innovative and unique services and products provided by the young startups and entrepreneurs here in India. These discussions might clear the way for Indian startups to enter the Global market.

College Startup 'FindAuto' lets you find an auto rickshaw via SMS

Finding an auto has always been a tough task. Whether you're getting late for the college or office, you always have to take an extra bracket for finding an auto. But, not anymore, because a bunch of engineers from the College of Engineering, Trivandrum have understood this problem and have come up with a unique app which will make commuting by autos worry and hassle free.

The app is aptly called FindAuto.in. It helps you by connecting to your nearest auto-rickshaw drivers. The service is also available on the Web and through SMS. The Dindauto Android app can be downloaded free of cost from the Google Play Store.  The current version 1.3 requires Android 2.1 and up to function properly. FindAuto currently operating in Trivandrum, Kerala only and the startup will soon be expanding its reach in other Indian cities.

The team includes Venkiteswaran R, Vinayak  Radhakrishnan, Rahul R, Kiran Rajmohan, Rejin Jose, Jiffin Tony Thottan, Naamin Phaisal, Nithin David Thomas and Mathew Dominic. All of them are proud students of College of Engineering, Trivandrum.

The Kerala based start-up initially started off as a simple project but is now financially and technically backed by IEEE Communication Society Kerala Section and Startup Village.

The service is very easy to use. Whenever you feel stranded at the middle of the road and want an auto urgently to get out of the area, just send a SMS as FAUTO source TO destination to 9266680802.The auto drivers in areas nearby your location will be immediately alerted and if any auto driver is available and ready to offer his services, an automated system will call you and connect your call to the concerned auto-rickshaw driver. FindAuto.in only deals with connecting people to auto-rickshaw drivers and has no say in the matters of fare dealing or collection process.

The service is currently available free of cost but your network provider will charge you at regular rates if you're making use of the SMS request pickup service.

Though the service tries its level best to connect you to an auto but it doesn't guarantees it. If there are no auto-rickshaws available in your locality, then you’re notified about this through an SMS.

College Startup 'FindAuto' lets you find an auto rickshaw via SMS

Finding an auto has always been a tough task. Whether you're getting late for the college or office, you always have to take an extra bracket for finding an auto. But, not anymore, because a bunch of engineers from the College of Engineering, Trivandrum have understood this problem and have come up with a unique app which will make commuting by autos worry and hassle free.

The app is aptly called FindAuto.in. It helps you by connecting to your nearest auto-rickshaw drivers. The service is also available on the Web and through SMS. The Dindauto Android app can be downloaded free of cost from the Google Play Store.  The current version 1.3 requires Android 2.1 and up to function properly. FindAuto currently operating in Trivandrum, Kerala only and the startup will soon be expanding its reach in other Indian cities.

The team includes Venkiteswaran R, Vinayak  Radhakrishnan, Rahul R, Kiran Rajmohan, Rejin Jose, Jiffin Tony Thottan, Naamin Phaisal, Nithin David Thomas and Mathew Dominic. All of them are proud students of College of Engineering, Trivandrum.

The Kerala based start-up initially started off as a simple project but is now financially and technically backed by IEEE Communication Society Kerala Section and Startup Village.

The service is very easy to use. Whenever you feel stranded at the middle of the road and want an auto urgently to get out of the area, just send a SMS as FAUTO source TO destination to 9266680802.The auto drivers in areas nearby your location will be immediately alerted and if any auto driver is available and ready to offer his services, an automated system will call you and connect your call to the concerned auto-rickshaw driver. FindAuto.in only deals with connecting people to auto-rickshaw drivers and has no say in the matters of fare dealing or collection process.

The service is currently available free of cost but your network provider will charge you at regular rates if you're making use of the SMS request pickup service.

Though the service tries its level best to connect you to an auto but it doesn't guarantees it. If there are no auto-rickshaws available in your locality, then you’re notified about this through an SMS.

Kerala’s first Startup Bootcamp set up by Kerala Govt.

In order to promote entrepreneurial culture among the youth of Kerala, the state government has come up with a first-of-its-kind initiative called the Kerala Startup Bootcamp. The initiative was inaugurated on 21^st August, the eve of World Entrepreneurship, at TKM College of Engineering.

The startup Bootcamps will work towards creating a grassroot level student network in order to encourage entrepreneurship and making the students aware about the process of running a successful company. The college will aim to instill positive encouragement among the students through this initiative regarding becoming job creators and innovators rather than the lot seeking jobs and opportunities.  The government wants to give flight to the wings of the people with entrepreneurial skills through this initiative.

Oommen Chandy, Chief Minister of Kerala addressed the students via a video link at the launch and said, “I am happy that Kerala’s youth are taking up the responsibility of building an entrepreneurial society to create more employment, knowledge and wealth for our people”. He further congratulated the college authorities and students on the successful setting up of the first Bootcamp and even offered government’s full support for its functioning. For 2014, the state government has already earmarked Rs. 4 Crore for the Startup Bootcamp programme.

After the successful launch of the Startup Bootcamp programme, Startup Village Chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar said “The Startup Bootcamps will help students give shape to their dreams and improve industry exposure”. He further added that more such initiatives would be set up in the state’s institutions and engineering colleges in light of the upcoming September 12 Youth Entrepreneurship Summit.

The colleges can set up Entrepreneurship Development Cells (EDC) under this initiative by the Kerala government. These EDC established by the college would function as not for profit societies and will be managed and run entirely by the students, which is similar to functioning of societies at Harvard or Stanford Universities.

Sharing his views on the inauguration, Prof S Parameshwaran, HOD, Department of Mechanical Engineering of the college said “Ethics, values, and the ability to overcome failures are the biggest virtues for student entrepreneurs”. He also encouraged the students to contribute to the growth of the country by taking up entrepreneurship and creating more opportunities and jobs.

Kerala’s first Startup Bootcamp set up by Kerala Govt.

In order to promote entrepreneurial culture among the youth of Kerala, the state government has come up with a first-of-its-kind initiative called the Kerala Startup Bootcamp. The initiative was inaugurated on 21^st August, the eve of World Entrepreneurship, at TKM College of Engineering.

The startup Bootcamps will work towards creating a grassroot level student network in order to encourage entrepreneurship and making the students aware about the process of running a successful company. The college will aim to instill positive encouragement among the students through this initiative regarding becoming job creators and innovators rather than the lot seeking jobs and opportunities.  The government wants to give flight to the wings of the people with entrepreneurial skills through this initiative.

Oommen Chandy, Chief Minister of Kerala addressed the students via a video link at the launch and said, “I am happy that Kerala’s youth are taking up the responsibility of building an entrepreneurial society to create more employment, knowledge and wealth for our people”. He further congratulated the college authorities and students on the successful setting up of the first Bootcamp and even offered government’s full support for its functioning. For 2014, the state government has already earmarked Rs. 4 Crore for the Startup Bootcamp programme.

After the successful launch of the Startup Bootcamp programme, Startup Village Chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar said “The Startup Bootcamps will help students give shape to their dreams and improve industry exposure”. He further added that more such initiatives would be set up in the state’s institutions and engineering colleges in light of the upcoming September 12 Youth Entrepreneurship Summit.

The colleges can set up Entrepreneurship Development Cells (EDC) under this initiative by the Kerala government. These EDC established by the college would function as not for profit societies and will be managed and run entirely by the students, which is similar to functioning of societies at Harvard or Stanford Universities.

Sharing his views on the inauguration, Prof S Parameshwaran, HOD, Department of Mechanical Engineering of the college said “Ethics, values, and the ability to overcome failures are the biggest virtues for student entrepreneurs”. He also encouraged the students to contribute to the growth of the country by taking up entrepreneurship and creating more opportunities and jobs.

Andhra Pradesh to replicate Kerala's Startup Village model

Andhra Pradesh is contemplating on cloning Kerala's much famous Startup Village. The village is credited with being the country’s first telecom business incubator where hundreds and technology enthusiasts and students head to with their bag of innovative and fresh ideas.

A team of officials headed by J Satyanarayana, the information and technology advisor to the Andhra Pradesh government made a visit to the Silicon Valley styled village in the previous week in order to get firsthand knowledge and understanding about the functioning of the exclusive zone of innovators.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is planning on setting up the startup zone in the city of Vishakhapatnam. He is also thinking of forming an innovation fund in order to create an innovative ecosystem.

The government aims at achieving IT investments worth $2 billion in the time period of three years and electronics investments worth $5 billion. It even has plans of offering gigabit broadband connectivity to every village by 2020. The government further has goals of setting up IT parks in Vijayawada, Kakinada, Chittoor and Anantapur.

Meanwhile, people at Startup Village are proud and happy that the country’s first public-private technology business incubator is gaining popularity and encouraging other states to have such an ecosystem for themselves too.

The team from Andhra had a detailed discussion with the Startup Village’s chief executive officer Pranav Kumar Suresh and Hrishikesh Nair, head at Infopark, which is a state run IT industry destination in the city. In the meeting, the team from Andhra asked for their help and support for setting up a similar facility in Andhra Pradesh.

According to J Satyanarayana, the Andhra government is thoroughly impressed by the Kerala Startup Village and aims at setting up an incubation facility of similar kind. The government is in touch with the team from Startup village for the same.  This step taken by the government is a part of the process of gearing up its IT policy in order to attract more entrepreneurs, investors and startups.

Ajay Sawhney, principal secretary to the chief minister; Sanjay Jaju, the information technology and communications secretary and experts from the consultancy firm Ernst & Young ,were also the part of the Andhra Pradesh delegation that visited Kerala.

Andhra Pradesh to replicate Kerala's Startup Village model

Andhra Pradesh is contemplating on cloning Kerala's much famous Startup Village. The village is credited with being the country’s first telecom business incubator where hundreds and technology enthusiasts and students head to with their bag of innovative and fresh ideas.

A team of officials headed by J Satyanarayana, the information and technology advisor to the Andhra Pradesh government made a visit to the Silicon Valley styled village in the previous week in order to get firsthand knowledge and understanding about the functioning of the exclusive zone of innovators.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is planning on setting up the startup zone in the city of Vishakhapatnam. He is also thinking of forming an innovation fund in order to create an innovative ecosystem.

The government aims at achieving IT investments worth $2 billion in the time period of three years and electronics investments worth $5 billion. It even has plans of offering gigabit broadband connectivity to every village by 2020. The government further has goals of setting up IT parks in Vijayawada, Kakinada, Chittoor and Anantapur.

Meanwhile, people at Startup Village are proud and happy that the country’s first public-private technology business incubator is gaining popularity and encouraging other states to have such an ecosystem for themselves too.

The team from Andhra had a detailed discussion with the Startup Village’s chief executive officer Pranav Kumar Suresh and Hrishikesh Nair, head at Infopark, which is a state run IT industry destination in the city. In the meeting, the team from Andhra asked for their help and support for setting up a similar facility in Andhra Pradesh.

According to J Satyanarayana, the Andhra government is thoroughly impressed by the Kerala Startup Village and aims at setting up an incubation facility of similar kind. The government is in touch with the team from Startup village for the same.  This step taken by the government is a part of the process of gearing up its IT policy in order to attract more entrepreneurs, investors and startups.

Ajay Sawhney, principal secretary to the chief minister; Sanjay Jaju, the information technology and communications secretary and experts from the consultancy firm Ernst & Young ,were also the part of the Andhra Pradesh delegation that visited Kerala.