KOCHI: Startup Village, a technology business incubator formed through a public-private partnership to promote technology startups, will rope in investments of Rs 100 crore and nurture 1,000 startups in the next ten years, said Sanjay Vijayakumar, CEO of wireless solutions startup MobMe Wireless Solutions, on Sunday.
Infosys Technologies co-chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan, who will serve as chief mentor, launched the Startup Village at the Kinfra Hi-Tech Park in Kalamassery near Kochi on Sunday. It will primarily serve as a telecom innovation hub. Sanjeev Vijayakumar is the chairman of the board of governors of the Startup Village.
Built on 15,000 sq ft of space, Startup Village is jointly promoted by the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), the Department of Science and Technology, government of India, and Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram, besides MobMe Wireless and other private parties.
Kris Gopalakrishnan said the Startup Village is an indicator of the state’s transformation into an industrial powerhouse. “Kerala’s Technopark is probably one of the most successful tech parks in the country, but nobody really talks about it,” Gopalakrishnan said.
He said the state has slowly been putting in place all the ingredients to build a successful entrepreneurial ecosystem. “The four key ingredients: innovation, education, research and entrepreneurship to create a good business development ecosystem are now falling in place. This will help to change popular misconceptions about Kerala as a business-unfriendly state,” Gopalakrishnan said.
It has been confirmed that when the right people come together, the possibility of success improves dramatically. “Startup Village is an attempt to bring the right people together in the process of incubating companies with great ideas,” Gopalakrishnan said.
Cusat vice-chancellor Ramachandran Thekkedath suggested that the Startup Village must also look at the possibility of incubating entrepreneurial ventures and ideas from older and retired professionals as well who are no less creative than their younger counterparts.
The village will have a 4G network, advanced telecom labs and provide all services including legal, intellectual property and accounting help.
A three-month residential accelerator programme to support entrepreneurs in developing their ideas into products has been initiated. Every company in the programme will receive $10,000 in seed capital along with introductions to network partners, venture capital firms and angel investors, Vijayakumar said.
A $10-million angel investment fund is also being set up under the guidance of KPMG to invest $50,000-$500,000 in high-growth startups.
Original Article: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-04-16/kochi/31349113_1_kris-gopalakrishnan-technology-startups-ventures
