Startup hubs
Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi
Nodal agency
Mission Startup Karnataka, Dept. of Electronics, IT & BT
Official portal
Tracks
By Women For Good
Bengaluru remains the deepest pool of product talent, senior operators and venture capital in the country, and the state government pairs that gravity with real money. The Elevate programme has funded well over a thousand startups through open pitch rounds, and the Beyond Bengaluru mission is building serious clusters in Mysuru, Mangaluru and Hubballi so founders outside the capital are not an afterthought.
Flagship support
Elevate
Grant support of up to ₹50 lakh for innovative startups, awarded through open pitch evaluations held across the state.
Beyond Bengaluru
Cluster development in Mysuru, Mangaluru and Hubballi: subsidised space, talent pipelines and local investor connects.
Sector Centres of Excellence
State-backed CoEs in aerospace, biotech, AI and animation give deep-tech founders labs and pilot partners.
Karnataka Startup Cell
A single point of contact for policy help, approvals and connecting founders to the right department.
Who gets extra doors opened
For women founders
Elevate has run dedicated editions and reserved support for women-led startups, and Bengaluru hosts the largest concentration of women founders and women-in-tech communities in India, so peer support is a short auto ride away.
For startups solving public problems
Government grand challenges regularly pair startups with public problem statements in health, mobility and governance, and social-impact ventures compete in Elevate on equal footing with commercial ones.
Getting started in Karnataka
Get DPIIT recognition on Startup India, then register your startup on the Mission Startup Karnataka portal.
Watch for Elevate call windows and grand challenge announcements; applications are online and cohort-based.
If you are outside Bengaluru, contact the Beyond Bengaluru cluster team for local incubation and mentor access.
Official sources
Verify everything here before applying
missionstartupkarnataka.org startupindia.gov.in (central schemes)Building in Karnataka? Do not build alone.
Join the hub for the Starter Boost: volunteer expert consultations, curated resources and webinars, at no cost. Then use the community to find your people in Bengaluru and beyond. Founders never pay to be here.
Scheme details, amounts and eligibility change over time and by notification. This page is a plain-language starting point, not official or legal advice. Always confirm the current rules on the official portal above before applying, and if a link has moved, search the program name to find its new home.