Government Launches 'Chunauti' Contest To Identify And Support Startups From Small Towns

The government on Friday (28 August) launched a contest to give a fillip to homegrown startups and software product companies with special focus on firms from small towns of the country, reports Economic Times.

The government's "Chunauti" - Next Generation Startup Challenge Contest, aims to identify 300 startups working in select areas which will be provided with a seed fund of up to Rs 25 lakh along with other necessary support to help them grow.

The chosen startups will be provided with incubation facilities, mentorship, security testing facilities, access to venture capitalist funding, industry connect as well as advisories in legal, human resources (HR), IPR and patent matters et cetera.

The government has earmarked a total of Rs 95 crore for the scheme over three years.

The contest would identify startups in areas like education-tech, agriculture-tech, financial-tech, supply chain, logistics and transportation management, and also infrastructure and remote monitoring.

Other areas under the contest include medical healthcare, diagnostic, preventive and psychological care along with domains like jobs and skilling, linguistic tools and technologies et cetera.

The scheme was launched by Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad.