KSUM to hold summit for promising startups

KOCHI: The Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) will hold a two-day summit Seeding Kerala from February 7 that aims at providing high-net-worth individuals with opportunities to invest in some of the best nascent firms in the state and other parts of the country.

Seeding Kerala here will see the participation of 150 select startup ventures from the state and 200 investment experts. Into its fifth edition, Seeding Kerala typically focuses on angel investment that is essential for startups to proceed.

The event envisages funding those upstart businesses that have outstanding ideas and models but are financially struggling to hit the market. As many as 150 individuals with high investment capacity will participate in Seeding Kerala, along with 10 investment funds, 14 angel investors, 30 startup entrepreneurs and as many corporates, according to organisers. There will be masterclasses on angel investing and lead angel investing, pitch for startups, an IPO roundtable and panel discussions on ‘Unicorn First Checks’ and ‘Remarkable Business Case Studies from Kerala’.


There will be an ‘Investor Café’ providing special interaction facilities between investors and 30 startups elected from a national contest.

The sessions will be addressed, among others, by Infosys Co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, 100X.VC founder Sanjay Mehta, Indian Angel Network co-founder Padmaja Ruparela, Dr Aniruddh Malpani of Malpani Ventures and Virginia Tan who is founder partner of Teja Ventures that accords priority to women entrepreneurs.