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The city of Bengaluru will aim to break into the league of top 10 startup ecosystems in the world from the current position of number 21, said Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge.

Addressing a gathering to felicitate the winners of ELEVATE, the Karnataka IT department’s grant-in-aid programme for startups on Wednesday, the minister said the GDP growth rate of Bengaluru is projected to grow at 8.5% till 2035, making this city an ideal destination for the startup ecosystem.

“We will extend all the support for the growth of startups in the state,” Kharge said.

According to the minister, numerous startups are also extending their operations to other countries, and the government will come out with a new policy to create country-specific corridors to enable these companies to have easier access to those markets.

The state IT department also launched the Bengaluru Innovation Report of 2024, which highlighted the numerous advantages of the city to help startups to launch their operations.

Today, Bengaluru is home to 45 unicorns out of the 112 in the country, with a total valuation of $161 billion. The minister remarked that the goal will be to break into the top three rankings in the world.

Kharge also highlighted how the startup ecosystem has expanded into other regions of the state, namely Mysore, Mangaluru and Hubli-Dharwad. These regions put together have 1,500 startups.

The Department also felicitated 263 startups in the State with a total grant of Rs 60 crore. The winners were from across four schemes within the ELEVATE programme: ELEVATE Kalyana Karnataka supporting entrepreneurship in the Kalyana Karnataka region; Amrita Startups supporting entrepreneurship and innovation by OBC entrepreneurs; ELEVATE Unnati to identify and nurture startups promoted by SC & ST entrepreneurs and ELEVATE encouraging entrepreneurs across the state requiring early-stage funding to develop a prototype, strategize market entry and scale-up.

Among the 263 winners, 47 startups were led by women entrepreneurs, and 119 startups hail from Tier II and III cities in the state.

The ELEVATE scheme was launched by the Department of Electronics, IT, BT and S&T to identify and nurture innovative startups and help materialize their ideas into innovative products. A one-time grant of up to Rs 50 lakh is given to encourage innovators who may need early-stage funding to develop a prototype, market development, and scale-up.

To date, the Department has supported 983 startups with a committed fund of Rs 224.06 crore as seed funding.