Overview
- The Government First initiative, which launched Wednesday, September 30, 2026, allocates ₹25 crore over three years to support up to 100 Karnataka startups with up to ₹25 lakh per pilot.
- KITS will run the scheme under the Elevate strand of the Karnataka Startup Policy 2025–30, using a test–evaluate–procure model that pilots solutions in real government departments for performance, user acceptance, cost and scalability.
- Eligibility limits firms to Karnataka-registered startups under ten years old with annual turnover no greater than ₹200 crore, and solutions must meet Technology Readiness Level 7 or higher to qualify for pilots.
- Operational rules published include staged payments (25% on work order, 75% after completion certificate), startups retain intellectual property unless otherwise agreed, committee-based technical reviews, a public dashboard and annual reporting.
- The scheme aims to give startups early market access and create a pipeline for scaling innovations in areas such as IT, AI, data analytics, transport and hardware, while the modest budget and readiness rules will favor later-stage, deployment-ready firms.