<p>The Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS) and the Karnataka State Women Development Corporation (KSWDC) have set in motion a budgetary proposal to extend loan support to woman entrepreneurs in the state.</p>.<p>The KITS, on Wednesday, invited applications from woman entrepreneurs for loans ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, to be provided by KSWDC under the Vriddhi scheme.</p>.<p>The beneficiaries will be restricted to winners and runners-up of two state-run startup challenges – Elevate (2016 to 2021) and Amrita Startups (2021). A proposal in this connection was made in the state budget for 2022-23. The loans will be provided at a 4 per cent interest rate, to be repaid in 60 installments.</p>.<p>A key official engaged with the initiative told <em><span class="italic">DH</span> </em>that the facilitators were hopeful of identifying a substantial talent pool even with the restricted eligibility.</p>.<p class="CrossHead"><strong><span class="bold">Scale-up support</span></strong></p>.<p>“This is the stage where entrepreneurs who have already passed the PoC (proof of concept) phase are preparing to scale up. Challenges like Elevate have attracted more than 1,000 applicants; the winners and runners-up by themselves constitute a very impressive spread,” the official said.</p>.<p>The State Department for Electronics, IT, Bt and S&T launched Elevate – Idea2PoC scheme to help incubate innovative startups and provide them funds and mentorship. So far, a total of 531 winners have been supported with funding of Rs 124.28 crore. The final of the 2021 edition of Elevate featured 522 startups; 107 of them were declared winners.</p>.<p>The department also runs Elevate Women, a programme under which incubation and acceleration programmes are designed to support woman entrepreneurs with grant-in-aid funds.</p>.<p>“Post-Covid trends show increased participation of healthcare-based startups in these challenges. Fintech and edtech are other sectors that have generated considerable interest,” the official said.</p>.<p>The eligibility criteria for the KSWDC loans stipulate that at least one director or partner in the applicant company should be a woman with substantial shares in the company. The applications will be screened initially for eligibility as per norms prescribed in the Karnataka Startup Policy 2015-20. The KSWDC will select the beneficiaries from a list of eligible woman entrepreneurs submitted by a KITS expert panel.</p>
<p>The Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS) and the Karnataka State Women Development Corporation (KSWDC) have set in motion a budgetary proposal to extend loan support to woman entrepreneurs in the state.</p>.<p>The KITS, on Wednesday, invited applications from woman entrepreneurs for loans ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, to be provided by KSWDC under the Vriddhi scheme.</p>.<p>The beneficiaries will be restricted to winners and runners-up of two state-run startup challenges – Elevate (2016 to 2021) and Amrita Startups (2021). A proposal in this connection was made in the state budget for 2022-23. The loans will be provided at a 4 per cent interest rate, to be repaid in 60 installments.</p>.<p>A key official engaged with the initiative told <em><span class="italic">DH</span> </em>that the facilitators were hopeful of identifying a substantial talent pool even with the restricted eligibility.</p>.<p class="CrossHead"><strong><span class="bold">Scale-up support</span></strong></p>.<p>“This is the stage where entrepreneurs who have already passed the PoC (proof of concept) phase are preparing to scale up. Challenges like Elevate have attracted more than 1,000 applicants; the winners and runners-up by themselves constitute a very impressive spread,” the official said.</p>.<p>The State Department for Electronics, IT, Bt and S&T launched Elevate – Idea2PoC scheme to help incubate innovative startups and provide them funds and mentorship. So far, a total of 531 winners have been supported with funding of Rs 124.28 crore. The final of the 2021 edition of Elevate featured 522 startups; 107 of them were declared winners.</p>.<p>The department also runs Elevate Women, a programme under which incubation and acceleration programmes are designed to support woman entrepreneurs with grant-in-aid funds.</p>.<p>“Post-Covid trends show increased participation of healthcare-based startups in these challenges. Fintech and edtech are other sectors that have generated considerable interest,” the official said.</p>.<p>The eligibility criteria for the KSWDC loans stipulate that at least one director or partner in the applicant company should be a woman with substantial shares in the company. The applications will be screened initially for eligibility as per norms prescribed in the Karnataka Startup Policy 2015-20. The KSWDC will select the beneficiaries from a list of eligible woman entrepreneurs submitted by a KITS expert panel.</p>