Infosys Co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, who is also Chairman of Axilor Ventures, has said that startup entrepreneurs should be able to trace the best opportunities from unexpected crises.

Delivering the inaugural address of the sixth edition of ‘Seeding Kerala’, Gopalakrishnan said that opportunities come with crises and startup founders must see how they can leverage the emerging new business models.

“We saw acceleration in digital technology during the pandemic. We have also seen opportunities like working-from- home, focus on healthy living and digital content etc. during the Covid-19. It’s high time we leveraged emerging trends and technology,” he said, setting the context for the two-day the virtual event.

Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) is holding the event that aims at better awareness about angel investment and encourage funding by high net-worth individuals (HNIs).

On the startup ecosystem in the state, he said, “Kerala has more than 2,000 startups, which shows that around five per cent of India’s startups are in the state. This is a good number for us to grow.”

“Kerala has been very strong in the traditional model of agriculture. To get the benefit for farmers, we should be able to eliminate intermediate people while taking the produce from farm to ports. New models have to be embraced in agriculture where there are plenty of opportunities,” Gopalakrishnan said.

Referring to startups from non-metros, he also highlighted the stupendous success of startups like Techgentsia, Jackfruit 365, and GenRobotics that have come with unusual ideas. “These are a few examples of success from Kerala, where interesting startups are coming up.”

Citing the ban on Chinese apps, he said that the government itself is creating opportunities by providing room for the growth of Indian apps.

Mohammed Y Safirulla, Additional Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of Kerala, said “The state government has taken a decentralized approach for the growth of the startup ecosystem in the state. Incubation facilities will be increased to five lakh sqft this year.” Despite the pandemic, around 26 startups were able to raise Rs 400 crore, he added,

‘Seeding Kerala’ will focus on start-up ecosystems beyond the country’s metropolises and tier-1 cities. Conceived in tune with Startup Bharat, it will strive to generate investments in second-rung cities and towns.

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