Startups to get a big push at Government of Karnataka’s Elevate 2019 to be held on 29th July

Elevate 2019, organized by the Department of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka, which provides a comprehensive entrepreneurship platform for startups across the state, will take place on 29th July 2019.

It is believed that this year, Elevate received 729 applications from various technology startups from across the state. Out of this, 190 applications have been from women entrepreneurs.  Out of 480 multicity pitches at Mysore, Mangalore, Kalburgi, Belagavi, and Bengaluru, 270 startups have made it to the finals of Elevate 2019. The screening was conducted by a jury of eminent industry associations and ecosystem partners.

In the run-up to the final event, the Department of IT, BT and S&T organized a one-day mentorship and guidance program for Elevate 2019 finalists to give the startups direction as to how to make effective pitches and how to best utilize the scheduled time of eight minutes for pitching.

The panel of mentors included Sanjay Anandram, Entrepreneur and Mentor, CEO, Sysorex and Sattva Consulting, Dipanjan Gope, CEO, Simyog Technology and Jawahar Bekay, CEO, Tao Automation. The session was moderated by Naganand Doraswamy, MD, IdeaSpring Capital in the presence of Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, Department of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka, Prashant Kumar Mishra, Managing Director, KITS, Department of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka and Satyanarayana B V, Deputy Head, Startup Karnataka, KITS, Department of BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka

Addressing the finalists, Gaurav Gupta said, “The Elevate program continues to receive an excellent response with startups not only from Bengaluru but from other tiers II and tier III cities applying in large numbers. We have created New Age Incubation Network (NAIN) centers across institutions to help encourage district-level innovation and innovators from an institutional level.  The Elevate program not only assists the startups with initial funding but provides startups and innovators with access to sector domain experts, VCs and mentors. Among the 264 startups that have already been funded to the tune of 62 crores through the Elevate program, 15% have already raised further funding, there has been a 70% rise in employment, a 104% rise in paying customers.”

The Elevate program partners with TiE Bangalore, NASSCOM, ABLE, IESA, ABAI, MMActive, BBC and others.