STATE GOVT. MAKES ₹7.5-CRORE EQUITY INVESTMENT IN FIVE SC/ST START-UPS

The Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned ₹7.5 crore in equity investments to five start-ups that were founded and managed by entrepreneurs of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
Chief Minister M.K.Stalin handed over the sanction orders on Friday in the presence of Minister for Finance and Human Resources Management Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises T.M. Anbarasan at the Secretariat.
The Tamil Nadu SC/ST Startup Fund is an equity investment and debt fund. The government earmarked ₹30 crore for this fund through StartupTN in the 2022-23 Budget.
The initiative is meant to produce inspirational stories that would help to create more start-ups by the SC/ST entrepreneurs.
The scheme has attracted 330 applications since May 2022. The preliminary shortlisting of applications was done by StartupTN with the help of experts.
After a detailed evaluation, the project sanction committee approved ₹7.5 crore in investments in five start-ups in the form of compulsorily convertible debentures (CCDs).

Robots for cleaning

Unibose Technology Pvt. Ltd., which is into developing and building robots for cleaning vessels that store hazardous materials in the oil and gas industry and sewer lines, has got ₹2.5 crore.
The funds will help the company complete the development of its product lines and commercialise them in the market, comprising government as well as private buyers.
The second start-up that got ₹2 crore was Pack N Back Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
With the funding, the company will create a logistics platform to track containers by embedding RFID tags in them, and will transform itself into a digital supply chain management company.
Ywe Auto Assist India Pvt. Ltd. (TowMan), Eco Soft Zolutions Pvt. Ltd. and PEAS Automation Technologies Pvt. Ltd. got ₹1 crore each.

A unique service

Ywe Auto Assist provides unique subscription-based roadside assistance to two-wheelers and four-wheelers, including towing and jump-start, and other services such as pickup and drop of vehicles to and from dealers for repairs.
The funding will help the company expand across Tamil Nadu.
The funding will help Eco Soft pivot from a software services provider to an SaaS product provider in the automotive domain, eventually becoming a fintech solutions provider.
PEAS Automation is building portable multi-agro processing units for small and medium farmers based on Industry 4.0 concepts. The funding will help it develop and sell the processing units.

SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB

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