ET Soonicorns Summit 2024: English for machines, funding surge, Karnataka's startups, gender gap.

At the ET Soonicorns Summit 2024 in Bengaluru, the pre-lunch session was highly productive, featuring the release of the 'ET 50 Future Unicorns of Karnataka' report, a keynote by BV Naidu, Chairman of the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), and discussions on the Indian startup landscape by various panelists.

In his keynote, Naidu highlighted the rapid growth of Bengaluru's startup ecosystem, supported by the forward-thinking policies of the Karnataka government and India's overall positive economic momentum. He emphasized that Bengaluru is a leader in the country’s unicorn count, producing 53 out of India’s 115 unicorns and achieving an 8.5% GDP growth rate.

Naidu credited the strong collaboration between the government and industry players for the ecosystem's success and noted that government initiatives, such as Centres of Excellence, have helped drive innovation and expand the startup landscape beyond Bengaluru.