The Tamil Nadu MSME minister TM Anbarasan on Friday announced that the state government will soon launch a special Seed fund to support startups run by differently abled and transgender people in Tamil Nadu. The minister made the announcement on Friday during the demand for grant session for the MSME Department but the value of the fund was not disclosed.
The fund is meant to support startups run by differently-abled individuals and transgender people to help them start and grow their ventures. The state’s nodal body for entrepreneurship -StartupTN- is tasked with identifying potential beneficiaries throughout the state.
The minister also announced that new regional startup hubs will be established in Coimbatore and Trichy in the current financial year. The state has already established such regional hubs in Madurai, Tirunelveli, Erode, Salem, Hosur, Cuddalore, and Thanjavur in the last two years. This is in addition to the hub in state capital called Chennai Metro Startup Hub.
The ministry also plans to set up Global Startup Coordination Centres in Singapore and the US in the fiscal year 2024-25 in order to support startups registered in Tamil Nadu to expand globally. To lend a helping hand to startups in their product design stage, the state is also planning to establish a design studio called ‘Thozhil Nayam’ at StartupTN’s Chennai Metro Hub.