Story

The Story of Startup Village

The Story of Startup Village is a small book written by Founder & Chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar. It talks about his entrepreneurship journey, starting from his days as the founder of a small company in Thiruvananthapuram to founding Startup Village.

Download the book

The resources below supplement the book with additional detail.

Founding Agreements

Our physical incubator was approved under the National Incubator Scheme by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. To comply with the scheme requirements, we legally formed ITIH-TBI (Indian Telecom Innovation Hub — Technology Business Incubator), a charitable society registered under the Travancore Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Act, 1955. List of documents available:

List of documents available:

  1. TBI Guidelines from National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), are general guidelines for setting up a Technology Business Incubator in the country.
  2. MoU between Department of Science and Technology and two joint Host Institutes: MobME Wireless and Technopark TBI on September 1, 2011 that set up the incubator. This document also contains capital and recurring expenditure support provided by DST.
  3. The Roles of Technopark TBI and MobME Wireless are clarified in a separate MoU signed between them on 26th August, 2011. Technopark TBI has an advisory role. MobME Wireless is responsible for bringing in funds, and the vision and execution of Startup Village.
  4. ITIH-TBI Certificate of Registration (Society), the registration certificate for ITIH-TBI.
  5. Bond Format for the Scheme from Department of Science and Technology, the format of the Bond that was signed between MobME Wireless and Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
  6. Bond Between MobME Wireless & Department of Science and Technology is the legal bond signed by MobME Wireless for approval of ITIH-TBI as a recognized incubator.
  7. Approval for Establishment of Indian Telecom Innovation Hub is the approval document from Department of Science and Technology.
  8. Approval for Establishment of Indian Telecom Innovation Hub (Recurring Grant) is a followup approval for recurring grant from Department of Science & Technology.
  9. Approval for Release of Grants-in-aid in recurring account to Indian Telecom Innovation Hub from Department of Science & Technology.

Seed Fund Utilisation

These are documents pertaining to seed funds distributed through ITIH-TBI from National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.

  1. Guidelines for Seed Support System (SSS) from NSTEDB, DST, GoI.
  2. Seed Fund Support from Startup Village (FY 2013/14) is the approval order for the seed fund scheme via ITIH-TBI from NSTEDB, DST, GoI.
  3. ITIH-TBI also entered into an additional Bond for Seed Fund Scheme to deploy seed funds.
  4. These are details of Seed Funds Deployed and paid back to ITIH-TBI.
  5. Letter from Govt. of Kerala to DST for Transfer of Seed Fund Scheme on April 08, 2019.
  6. Presentation made to DST Seed Fund Monitoring Committee on April 11, 2019.

Crowdfunding Study by IIM-A

This is an interesting crowdfunding study done by professors at IIM Ahmedabad regarding the pioneering work done by Startup Village in assisting hardware startups to raise money via crowdfunding. This case study was awarded the Philip Thomas Memorial Case Award at IIM-A.

  1. Angels and Crowds (Case)
  2. Angels and Crowds (Teaching Note)
  3. Crowdfunding Concept and Economic Rationale

Host Institute Change

Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, has approved the transition of host institute to SV.CO as per its letter dated 31st May 2016.

  1. Recommendation from DST for change of host institute is a letter from DST, Government of India indicating its approval of the transition of host institute to SV.CO.
  2. In May 2016, Kerala Startup Mission released a report on the Kerala Startup Ecosystem that describes Startup Village as spearheading a startup revolution in the state.
  3. Startup Village Project Completion Report details how ITIH-TBI had met and exceeded goals set for the functioning of the incubator by FY 2014/15.
  4. Independent Project Report on Startup Village Experiment by Prof. Rakesh Basant, IIM-A is an independent critique of the Startup Village incubator and recommendations for further action.
  5. Recommendation from Technopark for Project Competition of ITIH-TBI is the recommendation for ITIH-TBI's project completion forwarded by K.G. Girish Babu, CEO Technopark to Dr. H.K Mittal of NSTEDB.
  6. Technopark agreeing to brand transition and host institute change is a letter from Ramnath S. CEO of Technopark to Dr. H.K Mittal of NSTEDB endorsing licensing of brand and change of host institute to SV.CO.

Awards & Recognition

  1. Startup Village won the National Award for best Technology Business Incubator in 2014.
  2. Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman of Startup Village, has been nominated as an Indian Board Member to the Indo-US Science and Technology Endowment Fund.
  3. Startup Village Chairman, Sanjay Vijayakumar is amongst the 10 founders highlighted in the Make in India magazine by Condé Nast, published February 2016.

RTIs Received

This is a list of all queries received and responses sent by Startup Village under the Right to Information Act, 2005. Please note that because Startup Village receives requests forwarded from Government organizations and does not respond to RTI requests directly, the final responses might be limited to information published as part of relevant Government records.

Requests are ordered in reverse chronological order.

  1. February 25, 2016: An RTI requesting information about the details of the promoters of Startup Village, documents about the selection of MobME Wireless to be the host institute and financials of Startup Village till date, was received at State Public Information Officer and forwarded to Startup Village. A response was sent back on February 25, 2016.
  2. March 13, 2015: An RTI asking for list of startups & funds disbursed by DST was received at Department of Science and Technology, and forwarded to Startup Village. A response was sent back on April 7, 2015.
  3. September 22, 2014: An RTI requesting information about the founding of Startup Village and the composition of its executive team was received at Information Technology Department, Government of Kerala and forwarded to Startup Village. A response was sent back on September 22, 2014.
  4. July 30, 2014: RTI was filed at Information Technology Department, Government of Kerala Requesting selection criteria of MobME Wireless to be the host institute and funds provided by Government of Kerala, and forwarded to Startup Village. A response was sent back on August 9, 2014.
  5. November 11, 2013: An RTI Requesting information about the SV Square program was filed at Technopark, Trivandrum and forwarded to Startup Village. A response was sent back on December 11, 2013.