Bhubaneswar: The state government has planned to constitute ‘Fund of Funds’ to extend financial support to startups in the state.
This was discussed at a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy at Lok Seva Bhawan here, Friday.
Centre’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had established ‘Fund of Funds’ (FoF) for startups in June 2016 with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore to boost the startup ecosystem. These FoFs managed by SIDBI provide capital to Sebi-registered alternate investment funds (AIFs), which in turn invest money in growing Indian startups through equity and equity-linked instruments.
Reviewing the launching and progress of Odisha-based startups, Tripathy directed the Industries department officials to examine the possibility institutionalising the FoF model as State Startup Fund. Comparative benefits & downfalls of different venture fund models were discussed in the meeting, official sources said.
It was considered that the FoF model would be more helpful and easier to access for Odisha based startups. Tripathy directed the officials to examine different contours of this model and formulate a detailed proposal, the sources added.
He advised the departments concerned to augment the startup ecosystem in the state by filling up the critical gaps through convergence so as to attract private venture capitals for Odisha Startups, which would create a quality venture fund and would accelerate growth by providing easy access to the fund by Odisha startups.
The meeting resolved to commit a total amount of Rs 100 crore for allocation to State Startup Fund over a period of three to five years as per requirement.
Industries Secretary Hemant Kumar Sharma said Odisha has been ranked as top performer in Startup Ranking at national level during 2018. The launching of startups in Odisha during 2017-18 has increased by 84 per cent over the year 2015-16 against the national growth of around 62 per cent during the same period.
Sharma said so far 500 startups have been registered from among which 57 per cent have been incorporated during and after the year 2017. Among the incorporated units, around 150 are led by women, constituting around 30 per cent of the total.
Presently, 13 Incubator centres are operating in Odisha including IIT Bhubaneswar, NIST, NIIT, KIIT, Sri Sri University etc.