Focus on value and solving problems: Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge tells startups

Priyank Kharge, Minister, IT and BT, and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Government of Karnataka, urged startups to give importance to value over valuation and focus on solving problems.

However, in the last couple of years, startups seem to have lost track and have been chasing valuation instead of value, said Kharge, in conversation with Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory, at TechSparks 2023.

The minister highlighted a number of initiatives from the Government of Karnataka to aid startups—including the Elevate Programme, which aims to identify and support the top 100 startups in the state, and special initiatives for women entrepreneurs.

He said, the state government is working on developing a Preferential Public Procurement Policy, whereby the government can purchase services from startups. It is also working on setting up centres of excellence (CoE) in the state, which will act as incubation centres.

The government is creating CoEs in deeptech, internet of things, cybersecurity, agritech, robotics, animation, and aerospace. Going forward, CoEs will be created in newer technologies for healthcare, manufacturing, biotechnology, and gaming.

Emerging technologies are a big priority for the government when it comes to these CoEs, said Kharge.

In December, the Karnataka cabinet approved a state startup policy for 2022-27, which aims to stimulate the growth of 25,000 startups by 2027.