Idea stage
Pre-incubation
Mentorship, workspace and structured guidance to shape a raw idea into something fundable the lowest-risk way to start inside the ecosystem.
The place to build your venture
Tap into Keralam’s technology talent, startup infrastructure, capital networks and pathways to market.
Visit KSUM's WebsiteA startup landscape that’s matured.
From early-stage capital to exits, Keralam has built the foundations for founders to start, scale and create lasting businesses.
National ranking
#4
Startup ecosystem, state rankings
Notable exits
18+
Acquisitions & public listings to date
Capital deployed
6000 Cr+
Across seed and growth stages
Active startups
8,300+
Registered & operating with KSUM
Kerala Startup Mission
The state's nodal startup agency for registration, grants, incubation and the official startup registry.
Explore MorePrograms built to back founders
A structured pathway for founders to build, validate and scale with the right support at every stage
Validation
Idea grant program
Milestone-based grant funding to test a concept before you incorporate or raise. Open to students and first-time founders, disbursed against progress.
Global
Market access & soft-landing
Dedicated programs grants, academic-leave provisions, top-ups and priority incubation slots for student founders and women-led ventures.
Accelerate
Accelerator cohorts
Fixed-term, cohort-based programs that pair growth-stage startups with operators, investors and market access to move from traction to scale.
Inclusion
Student & women-led tracks
Dedicated programs grants, academic-leave provisions, top-ups and priority incubation slots for student founders and women-led ventures.
Build
Product & prototyping support
Lab access, hardware fabrication and productisation grants including India's largest hardware incubator, Maker Village, for deep-tech founders.
Start with the basics.
Get familiar with the institutions, programs and pathways that can help you get started.
KSUM is the executive nodal agency of the Government of Keralam (under the Department of IT, AI & Future Technologies) tasked with planning, establishing, and scaling the state's startup ecosystem.
It functions as an end-to-end facilitator providing infrastructure (incubation/coworking space), early-stage grant funding, seed loans, patent support, international market exposure, and public procurement access to technology entrepreneurs in Keralam.
The Idea Grant is a non-dilutive financial grant (up to ₹3 Lakhs) designed to support early-stage innovators and students in transforming raw concepts into working prototypes or Minimum Viable Products (MVPs).
- Application Process: Applicants register and pitch their proposals during monthly Idea Day or campus Idea Fest events hosted by KSUM.
- Evaluation: An expert screening panel evaluates proposals based on innovation, feasibility, and market potential.
- Fund Disbursement: If selected, funds are disbursed in tranches against milestone achievements and a formal Fund Utilization Plan. Individual/student innovators receive funds routed through local college IEDC incubators
Pre-incubation is a structured, early-stage acceleration phase (typically lasting 3 to 6 months) for founders who are at the ideation or prototype development stage before commercial launching. During this phase, KSUM provides:
- Subsidized desk space / shared coworking seating across KSUM hubs.
- Access to digital fabrication labs (FabLabs) and prototyping machinery.
- Basic legal, accounting, and company incorporation guidance.
- Mentorship to help refine product-market fit before entering full incubation.
To apply for KSUM schemes, incubators, or grants, ensure you check off these standard criteria:
- Innovator Base / Entity: You are an individual innovator, college student in Keralam, or a registered startup entity.
- Product Focus: You are building an innovative, technology-driven product or technology solution (not a traditional SME, consultancy or service agency).
- Company Age: The entity is incorporated and is within 10 years of registration.
- KSUM Unique ID: The company is registered on the state portal and holds a active KSUM Unique ID.
- Dues & Clean Track Record: Founders have no pending financial defaults or blacklisting with state agencies, and maintain clean credit standing.
The initiative
Maker Village is India's largest hardware incubator
A dedicated launchpad for electronics and hardware startups to build, prototype, validate and scale
A place to actually build. Set up under the Electronics System Design & Manufacturing programme, it turns ideas into working hardware. Inside are shared fabrication labs, PCB prototyping, testing and characterization facilities, and resident engineers so a founder can go from schematic to a functional prototype without raising a factory's worth of capital first.
150+
Hardware startups incubated
100+
Products taken to prototype
40+
Labs & fabrication facilities
Incubators & accelerators
Sixty-plus places across Keralam will take you in grouped here by what they do.
Incubators
Workspace, mentorship and pre-incubation to take a raw idea to an incorporated company across every major tech park.
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Accelerators
Fixed-term, cohort-based programs pairing growth-stage startups with operators, investors and market access.
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Domain labs & CoEs
Specialised incubators and Centres of Excellence for hardware, biotech, open source and emerging tech.
Stories of growth and innovation
Leading insurers and asset managers
Allianz - Enabling delivery excellence and innovation-Technopark
AI & cloud product engineering
Equifax PEC drives full-lifecycle engineering, cloud transformation, and AI-enabled solutions across global markets.
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SaaS banking technology provider
Zafin: Powering Global Banking Transformation - Technopark
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Assurance, consulting, tax and strategy
Harnessing Keralam’s Potential as a Strategic Hub for GCC.
Capital to get started
Idea Grant
Early validation funding to test a concept before you incorporate no equity taken. Funding upto 3lakhs
Eligibility
- Startups at ideation, designing or proof-of-concept (PoC) stage.
- Only innovative technology-based products are considered.
- Innovators based outside Keralam can apply.
- KSUM Unique ID isn’t mandatory at application filing, but certification is mandatory for fund disbursal.
- Company incorporation (Pvt Ltd, LLP or OPC) is mandatory before fund disbursal.
Not eligible
- Applicants who applied within three months of a previous application, or who have already received support under the same grant scheme.
Student Innovator
The idea-grant route for founders still in college, disbursed through KSUM-sanctioned IEDCs.
Eligibility
- Student innovators at ideation, conceptualisation & designing, or proof-of-concept stage.
- Company registration is not mandatory during the application phase.
- Any student innovator based in or outside Keralam can apply; funds are disbursed through Keralam Startup Mission sanctioned IEDCs.
Not eligible
- Student innovators who have already availed an Idea Grant for the same team, product or idea.
Women / Transgender Productization Grant
An additional productization grant of up to ₹5 lakh for startups majority-held by women or transgender founders.
Eligibility
- Any startup from India in which a woman or transgender founder is a major stakeholder (51% share), as per G.O.(Rt) No.60/2021/ITD.
- Startups at product development stage only.
- An active KSUM Unique ID is mandatory.
- Incorporation as Pvt Ltd, LLP or OPC with active status in MCA is mandatory.
Not eligible
- Startups that have already received a Scale-up Grant.
Productization Grant
Up to ₹7 lakh to take an innovative technology product from development towards market.
Eligibility
- Startups at product development stage only.
- The startup owns an innovative technology product.
- KSUM Unique ID is mandatory for application filing and processing.
- Incorporation as Pvt Ltd, LLP or OPC with active status in MCA is compulsory.
- Startups that have already availed an Idea Grant are eligible for the remaining amount only.
Not eligible
- Student innovators who have already availed an Idea Grant for the same team, product or idea.
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