Karnataka Govt Partners DRDO To Back Defence Startups

Karnataka government has inked a pact with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to aid defence startups.

With this partnership, defence startups will have access to DRDO’s testing facilities, said BK Das, director general for electronics and communication systems at DRDO.

Speaking at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2024, Das said, “The other thing we will do is handhold the startups and act as mentors in terms of growing this business. We will also organise a visit to DRDO facilities for the startups.”

He also added that the DRDO, under the Ministry of Defence’s Technology Development Fund (TDF), has supported more than 80 tech startups across the country which accounts to around INR 400 Cr overall. 

This comes at a time when both DRDO and the government of Karnataka are doing their bit to empower startups across the country.

For instance, DRDO recently sanctioned seven new projects to startups across defence and aerospace sectors under TDF. These projects will enable the development of several key military assets including unmanned aerial vehicles (ULUAVs) and long-range remotely operated detection vehicles.

Last month, defence minister Rajnath Singh unveiled the fifth edition of Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) “Dare To Dream” initiative, which will look to incubate cutting-edge indigenous technologies in the defence sector. 

On the other hand, Karnataka Government recently rolled out two flagship programmes, ELEVATE 2024 and Karnataka Acceleration Network (KAN), to bolster early stage and growth stage startups in the state. 

In July, former defence secretary Ajay Kumar floated an INR 250 Cr VC fund to back early stage startups in the defence, aerospace and deeptech sectors.

The MountTech Growth Fund, secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and also received subscriptions worth INR 280 Cr.

It is pertinent to note that India was the fourth largest military spender in the world in 2023 at $83.6 Bn, after the US, China and Russia.