In a first in India, the Karnataka government granted funds to eight startups in the tourism sector which had won a hackathon. They were each handed over 25 percent of Rs 1.90 crore that they had collectively won.
It was five minutes to 5 pm when Karnataka’s IT and Tourism Minister Priyank Kharge walked into an empty hall along with officers of his department.
“Where are the winners?” he enquired, a little shocked that none of the eight entrepreneurs and co-founders of the tourism hackathon, “Idea2ProofofConcept”, winners had made it to the designated room in a corner of the third floor of the Vidhana Soudha, the state’s seat of power. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was due to walk in any second to hand over their cheques, which would make Karnataka the first state in the country to grant funds to startups.
A flurry of officials swung into action and connected with each of the eight on their cell phones, and they were all directed, one by one, to the correct gate, entrance, stairwell, and floor, leading them to the exact corner of the mammoth building.
“We were stopped by the security, and we were pleading with them for almost an hour to let us in,” said Smaran Subbaiah from TripdAIry, sweating profusely.
But when CM SIddaramaiah strode in, and the startup founders were called one by one, the bitter experience of waiting in the glaring sun melted away, with each of them grinning from ear to ear as they accepted the cheques.
Priyank explained to the CM,
“A total of Rs 1.9 crore has been granted to these startups. Karnataka had once again blazed a new trail in the travel and tourism space, by funding eight tech-based startups in the tourism sector to develop ideas and products that enhance the tourism experience. It is a first-of-its-kind initiative in India, where winners of the Pitch to Government — Tourism Challenge held in November last year are receiving their first instalment cheques.”
Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, IT, BT and Science and Technology, explained that these eight startups were selected under the Idea to Proof of Concept Grant Scheme (Idea2POC) of the Karnataka Startup Policy 2015-20. These were winners from among 127 online registrations, and each would receive anything between Rs 5 lakh and Rs…