Priyank Kharge, Bengaluru-Karnataka’s Minister for IT/BT, Government of Karnataka, announced Hypergrowth Global Karnataka, a global late-stage scaling program at London Tech Week last evening. The initiative aims to propel the best Bengaluru-Karnataka-based tech companies into successful global commercialization and expansion into international target markets. This comes on the heels of the Bengaluru-Karnataka startup ecosystem being highlighted in the 2024 Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER), which also launched at the conference this week as an initiative between Startup Genome and the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission.

Hypergrowth Global Karnataka will focus on high-growth startups, recognizing them as drivers of economic growth and competitiveness, and creators of sustainable jobs and societal wellbeing. The program addresses a significant support gap for fast-growing scaleups, as most efforts traditionally concentrate on early-stage startups. Hypergrowth acknowledges the challenges for startups expanding globally, offering a solution to navigate global expansion through introductions to deep overseas networks. As the primary challenge for scaleups is their limited access to executives with scaling and global commercialization expertise, Hypergrowth will provide local companies access to global mentors, expert scaling advice from leading executives, and go to market support and connections to potential new customers and investors as they significantly increase their international expansion capabilities.

“The Government of Karnataka is committed towards making Bengaluru the best place for founders to start and scale their businesses through conducive policies by the state government.” — Dr. Ekroop Caur, I.A.S, Secretary to Government, Department of Electronics Information Technology Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka

The program will be a new addition to the robust Bengaluru-Karnataka startup community, highlighted in the GSER – a publication derived from the world’s most quality-controlled dataset on startup ecosystems. The Report analyzes data from over 4.5 million companies across 300+ entrepreneurial innovation ecosystems to provide rankings and deep knowledge about startup trends around the world. In the report, Bengaluru-Karnataka ranks as the #21 Global Startup Ecosystem. Their Ecosystem Value, a measure of economic impact, calculated as the value of exits and startup valuations, topped $158 billion in from Jul 01, 2021 to Dec 31, 2023, representing 22% compound annual growth. Additionally, Bengaluru-Karnataka ranked as a Top 10 Global Ecosystem and the #3 Asia Ecosystem in Funding which measures innovation through early-stage funding and investor activity. The report also touts Bengaluru’s established tech scene which is home to over 80% of India’s global IT offices and 400 Global Capability Centers out of India's total of 1,500. The city’s strategy has attracted venture capitalists and fostered a thriving startup environment, producing 43 unicorns, including Zerodha, Cred, PhonePe, Flipkart and Big Basket.

“We are thrilled to work with the Government of Karnataka to launch the Hypergrowth program to move it rapidly to the top startup ecosystems in the world. With 13,000 startups and more than 40 unicorns Bengaluru has shown tremendous growth as a startup ecosystem,” remarks JF Gauthier, Founder & CEO of Startup Genome. “Entrepreneurs, policymakers, and community leaders in Karnataka are pushing the limits of possibility – evident in the latest strides in both Life Sciences, Aerospace, Defence, Space Technology and Cleantech.”

View the full report here - https://startupgenome.com/gser2024