BENGALURU: The Karnataka government\u2019s Department of Electronics, Information Technology and Biotechnology (IT\/BT) on Wednesday concluded the 2026 edition of ELEVATE NxT, its flagship DeepTech startup support programme under the Local Economy Accelerator Programme (LEAP).<\/p>\n
The programme, which expanded the scope of the state\u2019s long-running ELEVATE initiative to a national level, received 983 applications from DeepTech startups across India. Following a multi-stage evaluation process, 256 startups were selected as finalists.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom evaluating 983 startups to hosting 256 finalists at the grand finale, we completed the entire process in a record 60 days. This reflects Karnataka\u2019s unmatched innovation ecosystem and our commitment to enabling cutting-edge entrepreneurship,\u201d said IT\/BT Minister Priyank Kharge.<\/p>\n
ELEVATE NxT builds on the ELEVATE programme, which has supported early-stage startups in Karnataka for nearly a decade. Unlike its predecessor, the new initiative invited applications from DeepTech startups nationwide.<\/p>\n
This year, startups from sectors including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), quantum technology, space tech, health tech, cleantech and mobility participated in the programme. <\/p>\n
Of the 983 applications received, 661 startups were shortlisted for in-person pitching sessions before the field was narrowed to 256 finalists for the grand finale.<\/p>\n
Selected startups will be eligible for grant-in-aid support of up to Rs 1 crore each, along with milestone-based funding, domain-specific mentorship and structured ecosystem support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BENGALURU: The Karnataka government\u2019s Department of Electronics, Information Technology and Biotechnology (IT\/BT) on Wednesday concluded the 2026 edition…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[84,214157,4203,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-632614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-business","tag-elevate-nxt-26","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}