Kerala Startups Bag National Level Innovation Funding in IIGP

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Three startups mentored by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) bagged a seed funding of up to Rs 25 lakh each in the India Innovation Growth Programme (IIGP) 2.0 held in New Delhi recently, which will enable them to scale up their operations and accelerate market penetration.
The Kerala-based startups- Genrobotic Innovations, Irov Technologies and Sastra Robotics- were among the 16 winners, who will also get an opportunity to undergo an incubation process along with mentoring support.
IIGP 2018 edition was a combined initiative of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, Lockheed Martin, and Tata Trusts.
This programme aims to support the Government of India’s missions of “Start-up India” and “Make in India“. It provides an innovation ecosystem to enable innovators and entrepreneurs to develop technology-based solutions. The 16 winners were selected from top 50 innovators, chosen from the 3,000 applicants. The selected innovators were given an opportunity to attend a boot camp conducted by IIM-Ahmedabad, after which 16 were picked.
Out of the nine startups from Kerala that participated in the event held last week, seven were supported by the KSUM. Genrobotic Innovations Pvt Ltd, which provides robotic solutions for sewer cleaning and other manual works, was founded by Arun George, Nikhil NP, Rashid Bin Abdulla, and Vimal Govind MK in 2015.
Irov Technologies Pvt Ltd uses its underwater drone EyeROV to inspect critical underwater infrastructures.
Kochi-based Sastra Robotics India Pvt Ltd is a startup founded by Aronin P in 2012, whose product SR-Dimenzio helps perform human-arm actions for high-risk tasks requiring precision.
These startups will now get an opportunity to test their products in the market with the help of leading scientists, technology experts, entrepreneurs and investors partnered with the programme. KSUM is the nodal agency of Government of Kerala for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state.