Finance
The Odisha government, in collaboration with angel investors and venture capitalists, will provide over Rs 1,200 crore in fund support for startup growth over the next five years. MSME Minister Pratap Keshari Deb said Thursday at a special session on ‘Startup Odisha’ at the Make-in-Odisha conclave that the state government will work closely with investors and other stakeholders to achieve the goal of creating 5,000 startups by 2025.
“Odisha has already been recognised as a ‘top performer’ in the startup ranking 2021. Our aim is to emerge a leading startup hub in the country through strategic partnerships, conducive investment, and favourable policies,” Deb said.
Odisha already has over 1,400 startups and 25 incubators, according to him. Approximately 40% of these are led by women. “The government is eager to promote youth innovation and has launched several programs, including Startup Yatra 2.0, to encourage young people to innovate and achieve their goals,” he said.
MSME secretary Saswat Mishra stated that a Fund-of-Funds scheme has been promulgated by Startup Odisha under which alternative investment funds (AIFs) of national and global repute have committed an investment of Rs 950 crore into state-based startups. “We will soon enter into formal agreement in which the state government will also commit Rs 255 crore investment in startups as a matching grant on the investments done by these AIFs. This Rs 1,205 crore investment support to the Odisha startups will be provided in a period of five years,” he said.
During the event, Startup Odisha also signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with SBI, National Law University (NLU) Odisha, Fluid Venture, Headstart, and Campus Fund to provide funding, handholding support, and legal assistance to startups and entrepreneurs.
During the event, Startup Odisha provided Rs 4.61 lakh crore in support to 69 startups, while 11 startup ideas were chosen as part of Startup Yatra 2.0 and received financial support of Rs 1 lakh each. During the event, four Unicorn founders were also honored: Zetwerk co-founder Vishal Chaudhary, NestAway co-founder Amarendra Sahu, Purplle co-founder Rahul Dash, and Mogix managing director Partha Dash.
Source:TNE
