Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) is organising mentorship sessions to equip early-stage start-ups to gain from the summer 2023 funding cycle of the US-based Y Combinator.

KSUM is the nodal agency of the Kerala government for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities. The Y Combinator was recently in the news for having taken a hit from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. It is a community of over 9,000 founders and has funded more than 3,500 companies since 2005.

3-month-long programme

According to officials, KSUM has conducted online workshops to equip start-ups with resources to take part in the three-month-long global programme of Y Combinator, slated to be held from June to August. It is expected to provide mentoring and investor-connects and invest around $500,000 in each selected company.

Also read: Start-up funding deals drop 65% in February 2023

The Y Combinator will also open up opportunities to access venture capital firms, the spokesman said.

At the end of the three-month programme, a ‘demo day’ will be conducted for selected start-ups. So far, eight start-ups from Kerala have been selected to various editions of the programme, the spokesman added.

Desirous start-ups for this year’s edition may register at https://www.ycombinator.com/apply. The last date to register is April 08.