In a bid to accelerate the vibrant startup ecosystem, Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) has invited request for proposal (RFP) from SEBI-accredited alternative investment funds (AIFs) under its ‘Fund-of-Fund’ scheme.

Selected AIFs will receive funds from the State Government to invest in the startups from Kerala and thus meet the fund requirements of fledgling technology enterprises.

KSUM, the nodal agency of the Kerala Government for innovation and entrepreneurship, has invited the RFP online and the details are available at https://startupmission.kerala.gov.in/programs/fof/. Interested AIFs who meet the pre-qualification criteria can submit their expression of interest on or before November 30. After completing the bid process, the final selections will be announced on December 29.

Based on the Kerala Technology Startup Policy 2014, the State Government had launched the Kerala Startup Corpus Fund, a first-of-its-kind initiative in India. A total corpus fund of ₹25 crore was then created with the support of two SEBI-registered AIFs — Unicorn Ventures India, and SEA Fund. Out of this ₹25 crore, an amount of ₹12.5 crore was pooled in by the State Government, and the other half by the two AIFs.

The objective of the present RFP is to make additional investment into eligible AIFs for supporting exclusively the emerging startups in the State through venture investments, said Saji Gopinath, CEO, KSUM.

More than 200 startups are presently working from KSUM’s five incubation facilities at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode and Kasargod.

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