Chennai, September 21, 2023: The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Thiru. M.K. Stalin released the ‘Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Policy 2023’ with over 50 action points that will help the State become a leading Startup Ecosystem. The Policy, released at the Secretariat here on Wednesday, also forms the base to propel the role of Startups in realizing the State’s vision of emerging as a USD 1Trillion economy by 2030.
The Policy is designed to nurture Startups, accelerate their growth, make them globally competitive and increase their share in the State GDP and Social Capital. It defines and strengthens the seven determinants of the Startup Ecosystem – Startup Literacy; Innovation Landscape; Startup Support Centres; Access to Market; Investment Ecosystem; Stakeholder Engagement and Equitable Growth. Below are some of the salient features of the Policy:
Redefinition of a Startup – Ventures by persons from socially marginalized communities that apply proven innovative techniques in other sectors for the betterment of the socio-economic conditions of their communities will also be considered as Startups. This is in addition to the existing criteria of a Startup.
Co-creation Fund – The Government of Tamil Nadu will create a Rs. 100 Crore ‘Co-creation Fund’, a unique Fund-of-Funds model designed to participate in private sector VC Funds. Special focus will be given to funds investing in Regional Startups and sectors like Rural Impact, Women-led and Climate Action.
Startup Thamizha – This distinctive Startup pitching television reality show will be launched to raise awareness of entrepreneurship, innovation and investment in Tamil Nadu. It will bring about a cultural change from the employee mindset to emerge as employers.
Startup Smart Card – Cards loaded with a wide range of essential services by various service providers, that are vital for early-stage Startups, at a subsidized cost. Social Justice Venture Lab – A mechanism to enable multistage intervention in Startups founded by entrepreneurs from marginalized communities.
Women-led Startups – Comprehensive supportive measures designed for the promotion of Women-led Startups with the understanding of the unique challenges faced by them.
Differently abled & Trans people-led Startups – Special schemes to support Startups promoted by differently abled and trans people, who may not get support from the mainstream.
EIR Programme – Entrepreneur-in-Residence is a special financial and acceleration support linked programme for seasoned corporate executives to become entrepreneurs.
TANFUND – A Startup-Investor aggregator platform to connect national and international investment agencies with Tamil Nadu Startups, with structured Backoffice facilitation.
Beyond TN – Establishing ‘Global Coordination Centres’ in potential countries across the globe to connect resources including funding, mentorship and market access with Tamil Nadu Startups.
Sectoral Focus – Enabling Sectoral Forums with the objective of connecting sector-specific Startups with the respective sectoral stakeholders to take them to the nextlevel.
These focussed initiatives, among others, will result in groundbreaking innovative and wealth-creating ventures while giving equal importance to creating socially impactful enterprises by individuals from all walks of life.
TN SC/ST Startup Fund
The Hon’ble Chief Minister also handed over sanction orders for investments to the tune of Rs. 10.85 Crore in 8 Tamil Nadu-based Startups that are run by entrepreneurs from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. Investment from the Government brings more credibility to the Startups, helping them acquire new clients and expand to more markets.
Investees who received the sanction orders on Wednesday are from the FMCG, Emerging Drone Tech, IoT, Industrial Services, E-commerce, and the Media and Entertainment space. These Startups are based out of Chennai, Coimbatore, Tirupur and Ramanathapuram districts. This includes two Startups with women co-founders and one Scheduled Tribe Startup. Startup TN also provides mentorship and post-investment support to help them achieve their goals more efficiently.
The event was carried out in the presence of the Hon’ble Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Thiru. T.M. Anbarasan; Chief Secretary Thiru. Shiv Das Meena, I.A.S.; Secretary to Government, MSME Department, Thiru. V. Arun Roy, I.A.S.; StartupTN Mission Director and CEO Thiru. Siva rajah Ramanathan and other higher officials.
Details of the Startups that received sanction orders on Wednesday and how the investment will benefit them are given below:
70 MM DigiversePvt. Ltd. (Sector: Media and Entertainment)
Investment: Rs. 1 Crore
70mm Digiverse is a data asset management company for the entertainment industry, providing backup services at the production stage and archival services as well. This investment will help it deepen its penetration into the Tamil movie industry in the data management business and provide end-to-end visibility to production houses at different stages of post-production as a software-driven solution.
Lemurian Ventures Pvt. Ltd. (Sector: FMCG)
Investment: Rs. 80 Lakh
Lemurian Foods specializes in packaging and selling dry fish sourced out of Ramanathapuram, their packaging solution has enabled them to sell dry fish in footfall-heavy areas such as railway stations and also has enabled them to sell the product online through e-commerce platforms. The fund will help the Startup scale its operations and mature its supply chain and sales capabilities.
Enthu Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Sector: IOT)
Investment: Rs. 3.5 Crore
Enthutech is primarily into R&D, and manufacture of IOT devices using the LORAWAN protocol. They also provide turnkey IOT solutions consisting of end-nodes to capture data and stream it to a central gateway using a network server to collect streamed data and a software interface for the customer to derive actionable data. The fund will help them set up LoRa networks in Coimbatore and Salem.
Auckam Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Sector: Emerging Drone Tech)
Investment: Rs. 2 Crore
The electronics specialist designs and manufactures electronic products like water flow meters, home automation devices, IOT-based devices and industrial automation solutions. Looking to develop products for emerging drone tech, the investment will help them design and manufacture its line of critical drone components and accessories, such as electronic speed controllers, battery management systems and charging circuits.
Vervai Food Products Pvt. Ltd. (Sector: FMCG)
Investment: Rs. 25 Lakh
Vervai Foods is into up-cycling of second-grade and cosmetically-damaged vegetables into edible value-added products with an aim to improve farmers’ income, while retaining the nutritive value of the products. This investment will help them set up a processing unit to enable scaling its product range and set up marketing channels to support sales.
KSU HarnexonPvt. Ltd.(Sector: Industrial Services)
Investment: Rs. 1.2 Crore
KSU Harnexon is an industrial wire harnessing company, primarily for the manufacturing and textile industries. They’re also into producing solenoid actuators. Using the investment through this fund, the company plans to scale its production of solenoid actuators that they have re-engineered from imported products.
VayurathaPvt. Ltd. (Sector: Emerging Drone Tech)
Investment: Rs. 1.6 Crore
Vayuratha is a 3-D printed and assembled drone manufacturer with a focus on the agricultural sector, specifically manufacturing drones for small-scale farmers. They also provide Drone as a Service to farmers. The fund will help them obtain licences for specific types of drones, set up a Remote Pilot Training Organisation, assemble drones and set up a service and training team.
IcamTechnosysPvt. Ltd. (ST) (Sector: E-commerce)
Investment: Rs. 50 Lakh
IcamTechnosys is creating a B2B e-commerce platform (Tribal Mart) for tribal-made products, this platform can potentially help the tribal communities earn more from their products. This investment will help the company enhance the traceability of tribal works and leverage Business-to-Business (B2B) channels to scale the volume of sales.
