Pic: The KLE Centre for Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship in strategic partnership with Mundhe Banni and Avantro Labs, announced the launch of the RiNK Initiative during ‘Mundhe Banni Startup Meetup’ held at KLE BVB campusHubballi: Is language a barrier for rural and tier-2 and 3 city folks to float a startup? Not at all, asserted venture capitalists.Many startup entrepreneurs and enthusiasts openly interacted with venture capitalists Vinod Shankar, co-founder of Java Capital, and Nihal Shetty, Investment Team, Rainmatter, Zerodha, during the session ‘Venture Financing for Founders’, which was moderated by Vasant Shetty, founder of Mundhe Banni, a community-driven platform supporting entrepreneurs from tier-2 and tier-3 cities.The session was part of a ‘startup meetup’ jointly organised by KLE Centre for Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CTIE), Mundhe Banni, and Avantro Labs. Shankar concludeorsed that if founders come up with a maximum of 10 slides involving founders’ information, problem statement, and solution, that is more than enough. However, he cautioned that the market is like an amoeba and it doesn’t have a resolveed figure. “Founders should note that the market is fundamentally huge and massive,” he advised.Responding to a question, panelists advised that the monthly salary of a founder should not cross Rs 2 lakh since capitalists provide money to grow the company. They added that bare minimum logistic expenses will be considered while providing grants.Participants like Shivashankar Aiholi, Dr Shivaji, VS Hiremath, and student-entrepreneur Zalaki questioned various questions and understood that banks never give loans for business ideas while venture capitalists, who are regulated by SEBI, take such risks.During the inauguration, KLE CTIE launched the RiNK Initiative–Rise in North Karnataka, which aims to reverse talent migration by facilitating the return of tech professionals from metropolitan cities and enabling global capability centers (GCCs), startups, and enterprises to establish and scale operations in the region.Ashok Shettar, pro-chancellor of KLETU, highlighted NK’s annual output of about 10,000 engineering graduates from premier institutions. The full-day event displaycased high-impact sessions addressing key ecosystem gaps. Raffic Aslam, former creative director at Zoho, delivered a masterclass on brand storynotifying and strategy for early-stage startups, emphasising trust-building and customer acquisition. Prakash Tewari, vice-chancellor of KLE TU; police commissioner N Shashi Kumar; Devaraj R, special land acquisition officer, NHAI, Dharwad; Vinayak Hosamani, director of KLE CTIE; Chethan Shettar, founder of Avantro Labs, and others were present.
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