Tamil Nadu To Set Up Two New Regional Startup Hubs

SUMMARY

Tamil Nadu has already set up regional hubs, which host events, pitch events, and hackathons, in Madurai, Tirunelveli, Erode, Salem, Hosur, Cuddalore, and Thanjavur

The government will also set up Global Startup Coordination Centres in Singapore and the US to help startups expand their business overseas, MSME minister said

Tamil Nadu, which is home to startups like Zoho, Freshworks, Uniphore, and Chargebee, has over 7,700 DPIIT-registered startups

As part of its efforts to grow the state’s startup ecosystem, the Tamil Nadu government plans to set up two new regional startup hubs in Coimbatore and Tiruchi in the ongoing financial year.

Besides, the government will also establish two Global Startup Coordination Centres (GCC) in Singapore and the US in FY25 to help startups in the state expand their business overseas, Tamil Nadu’s minister for MSME T.M. Anbarasan said in the state assembly.

In a statement, StartupTN said it has already set up regional hubs in Madurai, Tirunelveli, Erode, Salem, Hosur, Cuddalore, and Thanjavur over the past two years. These startup hubs host events, student programs, pitch events and hackathons.

The state has over 7,700 startups recognised by the Department For Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). These startups operate in 30 sectors.

Anbarasan also said that the government would set up a modern design studio at Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Mission’s (TANSIM) Chennai Metro Hub to cater to the needs of startups for designing their products.

It is pertinent to note that Tamil Nadu emerged as one of the “best” performing large states in the DPIIT’s ‘States’ Startup Ranking 2022’.

The state government aims to back 10,000 startups by 2026. In 2022, TANSIM CEO Sivarajah Ramanathan said that the state government was looking at startups for job creation.

Tamil Nadu is home to prominent startups like Zoho, Freshworks, Uniphore, and Chargebee.

The state government has backed 132 seed stage startups with grants to the tune of INR 14 Cr under the StartupTN program. Last year, it sanctioned equity investments of up to INR 7.5 Cr in five startups run by entrepreneurs from scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) communities.

Besides the SC/ST fund, the government has four funds to invest in startups – TANSEED, Tamil Angels, Tanfund, and Emerging Sector Startup fund..

Meanwhile, Anbarasan also said on Friday (June 28) that StartupTN will introduce a special seed fund for startups run by differently abled and transgender people.