Karnataka Digital Economy Mission launches start-up grid

The Beyond Bengaluru initiative of the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) is working towards the government of Karnataka’s efforts of moving technology and innovation to the clusters beyond Bengaluru.

Bangalore has already proven as the investment hub of leading companies. Now KDEM is putting efforts to improve the start-up ecosystem beyond Bengaluru. This comes after building a strong industry connect, resulting in an increase in demand from IT/GCC/ESDM companies for workforce in these clusters.

“We are quite excited to see the momentum is building for the mission and industry is responding well to expand to these locations as well encourage the start-ups to grow in these clusters to reach our aspirational goal of 5000 start from these clusters,” BV Naidu, Chairman, KDEM, said.

COVID-19 has given rise to a hybrid working model. Now, companies are looking at how to address the new opportunities presented by this era. Driving the next strategy presents with a spoke shore strategy, which will cater to this new normal and help industries to retain the talent, grow the talent and expand their operations across emerging clusters.

KDEM plans to “nurture” the talent for future needs of the industry and aims to have 5000 new companies and start-ups under the spoke shore strategy. It also wants to create 10 lakh employment and reach its goal of $10 billion worth of exports from these clusters.

This initiative is led by the aim to provide network, facilitate market access, mentor access, and investment access as forum for the startups to interact and grow among themselves.

KDEM through its industry anchors will enable and extend all the support for its Beyond Bengaluru Startup Grid members. Nearly 40 start-ups from emerging clusters like Mangalore, Mysuru, and Hubali have become a part of this grid.