IIM-K and Cochin Shipyard Grant ₹1.8 Crore Seed Funding to Six Startups

Quick Summary

• IIM-K LIVE, the business incubator of the Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode (IIM-K), in collaboration with Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), has sanctioned ₹1.8 crore in seed funding for six early-stage start-ups under the USHUS initiative.
• The six funded start-ups are Wroxai Pvt.Ltd.(Coimbatore); Hyetron Energy Pvt. Ltd. (Chennai); EyDelta Pvt. Ltd. (Bihar); xtent Innovations Pvt. Ltd., Calicut; Mafkin Robotics Pvt. Ltd., Jaipur; and Xera Robotics Pvt. Ltd., Chennai.
• A total of ₹4.4 crore has been sanctioned to 14 start-ups under this programme so far, with ₹2.1 crore already disbursed to eight start-ups.
• The seed-funding award ceremony was attended by senior representatives from both CSL and IIM-K LIVE, including Prof. Ashutosh Sarkar from IIM-K LIVE and leadership figures from CSL such as Dr Krishna Prasad S.
• Prof Debashis Chatterjee, Chairman, IIM-K LIVE, emphasized reimagining India’s maritime legacy through innovation during his speech at the event.
• Madhu S Nair, Chairman and Managing Director of CSL highlighted that USHUS has created over 70 high-skilled jobs and aims to indigenize scalable technologies in India’s maritime field.

Indian Opinion Analysis

The collaboration between academia (IIM Kozhikode) and industry stakeholders like Cochin Shipyard reflects a noteworthy example of how partnerships can foster entrepreneurship within critical sectors like maritime technology-an area crucial for India’s economic development given its robust coastline and export-import ecosystem.The continued financial support under USHUS affirms a growing commitment toward nurturing domestic startups capable of addressing sectoral challenges while promoting self-reliance (“Atmanirbhar Bharat”). Encouragingly, this initiative not only invests monetary resources but actively supports innovation ecosystems that generate skilled employment opportunities-a significant bonus amidst ongoing debates around job creation.

Further scaling such programmes could strategically position India as a thoght leader in sunrise technologies within global shipping or logistics sectors while deepening its industrial capabilities domestically.

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