Startup Village

Startup Village
Public-private partnership
Industry Not-for-profit business incubator
Founded April, 2012
Headquarters Kochi, India
Key people
 Kris Gopalakrishnan (Chief Mentor), Sanjay Vijayakumar (Chairman), Pranav Kumar Suresh (CEO)
Website www.startupvillage.in

Startup Village is a not-for-profit business incubator based in Kochi, Kerala, India. Started in April 2012, the organisation's aim is to launch 1,000 technology startups over the next ten years and start the search for the next billion-dollar Indian company.[1] It focusses primarily on student startups and telecom innovation. It is India's first[2] incubator that is funded jointly by the public and private sector. As of October 2013, Startup Village has incubated 450 startups. The promoters of Startup Village are Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Technopark, Trivandrum and MobME Wireless. Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys and an IT entrepreneur from Kerala, is the chief mentor at Startup Village.[3]

Administration

Sanjay Vijayakumar is the Chairman of Startup Village. Sijo Kuruvilla George was the first Chief Executive Officer of Startup Village until June 2013. Pranav Kumar Suresh, Chief Operating Officer took over from Sijo Kuruvilla George as Chief Executive Officer in July 2014.

Companies in Startup Village

Incubation program

Startup Village provides members with workspace, high-speed Internet connection, legal and intellectual property services and access to high-profile investors. Companies can also apply for the Startup Village Angel Fund that has been approved[5] by SEBI. They also have access to all the workshops, networking events and contests at Startup Village. Every month, Startup Village holds a community gathering where would-be entrepreneurs can connect with investors, technology innovators and famous businesspersons. Interested founders are asked to come for an open house session[6] that is held every Saturday at Startup Village's Kochi campus to connect with the team and brainstorm with other like-minded people. They can then apply online[7] if they wish to enrol for the incubation program. The Startup Village is in process of setting up a similar incubation facility in Andhra Pradesh.[8]

Developer 1000 program

While India churns out more than five lakh engineers every year, only 20 percent are readily employable. In order to equip youngsters in India with the best programming knowledge and make mobile technology fun and accessible to many students and future entrepreneur, Startup Village has rolled out an initiative called Dev-1000-P (pronounced Devlooop), through which they aim to create 1000 professional app developers by the end of 2013. This program is open to college students.

SVSquare

In January 2013, Startup Village and the Kerala government launched an initiative[9] called SVSquare. Every year, the Startup Village panel would select promising young entrepreneurs from India and send them on an all-expense paid trip to the U.S. The aim is to expose Indian youth to the legendary startup environment in Silicon Valley. This will also give them a chance to interact with some of the famous tech gurus and entrepreneurs in the world.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Searching for India's billion-dollar start-up, BBC, retrieved October 29, 2013
  2. ↑ Seaside 'village' in Kochi to nurture India's start-ups, Reuters, retrieved October 29, 2013
  3. ↑ Start-ups need to become household names: Kris Gopalakrishnan, The Economic Times, retrieved October 29, 2013
  4. ↑ "Zero Bulb Startup Village Company". Retrieved Feb 21, 2015.
  5. ↑ "SEBI approves Kerala's Start-up Village Angel Fund of $10 million". The Economic Times. May 7, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Startup Village: When to visit". Startup Village. Retrieved October 28, 2013 by. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  7. ↑ . Startup Village http://www.startupvillage.in/sv/apply.php. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ↑ "Andhra Pradesh to setup an incubator based on Kochi’s Startup Village". news.biharprabha.com. IANS. 26 July 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  9. ↑ . Indian Express http://www.indianexpress.com/news/kerala-reboots-it-plan-with--startup-village--in-kochi/1068048/. Retrieved Feb 2, 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links