KSIDC to Host Scale-up Conclave 2024 for Startups on Monday; Minister Rajeeve to Inaugurate

KOCHI: Seeking to ramp up supports for startups in the state to enable them to scale up operations and forge partnerships, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) has planned a one-day conclave here on March 4.

Minister for Industries, Law and Coir, Rajeeve will open the ‘KSIDC Scale-up Conclave-2024’ at 10 am at the Taj Vivanta (Marine Drive, Ernakulam).

The event will be a platform to network with other start-ups, policymakers and eco-system enablers, said KSIDC Managing Director Harikishore, who is also Director, Industries & Commerce.

The speakers at the opening session will include Industries & Norka Principal Secretary Suman Billa, KSIDC Chairman  Paul Antony, State Electronics & IT Secretary Dr Rathan U. Kelkar, KINFRA Managing Director  Santhosh Koshy Thomas and KSUM CEO Anoop Ambika, besides Harikishore.

The meet will seek views from delegates on changes, if any, required in the implementation of the incentive schemes through the New Industrial Policy 2023. The event will have around 250 select startups from within Kerala and outside.

The conclave, being held against the backdrop of recent achievements of Kerala’s start-up ecosystem, will showcase the policy initiatives of the state government.

The Union Department of Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade ranked Kerala as the ‘Best Performer’ in India for the last three years. Further, Kerala was also ranked first in Asia in ‘Affordable Talent in Global Startup Ecosystem’, as per the Global Start-up Ecosystem Report.

The conclave will host two pre-lunch sessions, followed by a success-story presentation and a panel discussion in the afternoon.

The sessions will be on ‘Kerala — Opportunities Galore’ and ‘My Journey’ by top ten startup employers in the state. The success story presentation will feature five speakers, while the panel discussion on ‘Suggestions & Strategies for strengthening the Kerala Start-up and Scale up Ecosystem’ will have three speakers.

The state boasts of more than 5000 start-ups spread across its 14 districts, traversing sectors including Artificial Intelligence, SaaS, health-tech, manufacturing and fintech. These start-ups have raised investments totalling around Rs 3,000 crore from various funding agencies. Many such nascent companies are in the cusp of scaling up.

For more information regarding registration for the Startup Conclave and for KSIDC’s scale-up funding scheme, please visit https://www.ksidc.org/startup-conclave. Participation in the Conclave is through registration, which is free. For more details, KSIDC Business Development Executive, Sarath K, 9562031048 (sarathk@ksidcmail.org) may be contacted.