146 Start-ups get ₹38 Cr Grant Under K'taka Govt's ELEVATE Programme

The Karnataka government on Saturday rewarded 146 startups through its flagship ELEVATE programme.

The startups that were rewarded under ELEVATE programme, included 103 ELEVATE 2025 winners, 33 ELEVATE Unnati ( which supports start-ups by the SC/ST community) winners and 10 ELEVATE Minorities ( empowering entrepreneurs from Minority communities) 2025 start-ups with a total committed grant of ₹38.85 crores.

ELEVATE provides a one-time grant-in-aid of up to ₹50 lakhs to start-ups recognised under this programme. In addition, they are given mentoring and incubation support at subsidised rates at government-supported incubation centres to help in product development and validation, the Department of Electronics, IT & BT said Through ELEVATE, Karnataka is enabling entrepreneurs across the state to transform bold ideas into real impact, it said in a release.

Since its launch in 2017, the ELEVATE programme has disbursed ₹287.85 crores as grant-in-aid seed funding to 1,230 start-ups across Karnataka.

Of these, 37% are from beyond Bengaluru, while 28% are led by women entrepreneurs.

Statistics show that under ELEVATE 2025, 43% of the winners are women-led enterprises, while 43% are based beyond Bengaluru.

They are from sectors like agri-tech, biotechnology, food & beverages, and food processing, consumer electronics, ESDM and aerospace, healthcare and pharmaceuticals.

IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge reaffirmed the Karnataka government's deep commitment to its start-up ecosystem, emphasising that the success of entrepreneurs is intrinsically linked to the success of the government.

Referring to Karnataka’s role in shaping India’s start-up journey, he said, “As India marks ten years of the Start-up India movement, this is where it all began. This is where success stories are being built.”