KSUM chief executive officer Anoop P. Ambika
The Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) has done for the start-up ecosystem what Infopark did for the larger Information Technology industry in the city.
Formerly known as Technopark Technology Business Incubator (Technopark TBI), the KSUM initially joined hands with Mobme Wireless, a mobile technology company, to launch an initiative called Startup Village in 2011. Backed by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) with a financial assistance of ₹2.50 crore, it was then the country’s first public-private-partnership-model telecom incubator.
For the next five-odd years, the Startup Village remained the poster child of the State government’s entrepreneurship development programmes, before it shifted to the virtual platform claiming to have exceeded the target of incubating 48 start-ups and citing space constraints. Its assets and liabilities were since then taken over by the KSUM, as a nodal agency for promoting start-ups.
“This was followed by the setting up of Kerala Technology Innovation Zone, the first such facility anywhere in the country, at the Kinfra Hi-Tech Park in Kalamassery. Shortly thereafter, the country’s first super fab lab was set up there in association with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,” said KSUM chief executive officer Anoop P. Ambika.
The KSUM followed this up with Maker Village, arguably the country’s largest hardware incubator, which was set up in association with the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala, which was later upgraded to Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology, also known as Digital University Kerala (DUK), and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. These facilities turned Kochi into a hub of activities and helped the city leave its footprint in the start-up ecosystem, said Mr. Ambika.
The start-up ecosystem is not a standalone system but is the by-product of many other ecosystems, which Kochi has in abundance owing to a slew of inherent advantages. For one thing, all major public sector units have presence in Kochi, and they are all invested in the start-up ecosystem either by way of technology adoption or funding start-up companies through corporate social responsibility funds, he said.
“Kochi already had a proper IT ecosystem thanks to Infopark, and the presence of major IT players has further augmented the scope for start-ups. The Kerala Angel Network, an initiative of TiE Kerala, continues to scout ideas and fund start-ups. Besides, Kochi plays host to major conferences, which open up business and funding avenues for start-ups,” said Mr. Ambika.
He urged successful companies, which have been operating out of Kochi for years, to invest their disposable income in the start-up ecosystem, which he said would give a further boost to promising start-ups.
Published – September 10, 2025 01:03 pm IST