Meanwhile, across eChai
South Canara banking cluster
Between ~1880 and 1935, 22 banks were founded in coastal Karnataka, nine of them in Mangaluru city. The region gave India five nationally significant banks — Canara, Vijaya, Karnataka Bank (all Mangaluru) pl...
Ammembal Subba Rao Pai
Founded 1906 in Mangaluru as the 'Canara Hindu Permanent Fund'. Nationalised in 1969, it grew into one of India's largest public-sector banks (now HQ'd in Bengaluru). Its Mangaluru origin is the flagship exh...
Infosys operates a large campus on ~354 acres allotted at Mudipu — the flagship anchor of Mangaluru's IT-services presence. Other majors including Cognizant, Thomson Reuters and Mphasis (BPO) also run office...
founded by B.R. Vysaray Achar & co-founders
Founded 18 Feb 1924 in Mangaluru and STILL headquartered here — the last major 'Canara' bank to remain independent and locally HQ'd after the others were nationalised or merged. A listed private-sector bank ...
Karnataka's largest chemical-fertilizer manufacturer (urea, DAP, specialty and liquid fertilizers, plus industrial chemicals like sulphuric acid). Listed company (Adventz/Zuari group). A long-standing pillar...
ONGC subsidiary
A 15 MMTPA oil refinery and petrochemicals complex, ONGC subsidiary and a listed Miniratna CPSE under the Ministry of Petroleum. Produces the full range of fuels plus polypropylene, xylene and petcoke. One o...
One of India's major ports and the only major port in Karnataka; handles a large share of the country's coffee, cashew and timber exports plus crude, LPG and containers. Mangaluru is one of only a handful of...
Established 1960 (as KREC), one of India's top-ranked NITs and the region's premier engineering + tech-talent anchor, sited on the Arabian Sea coast ~22 km north of the city. Recruiters include Google, Micro...
A.B. Shetty & farmer-community founders
Founded 23 Oct 1931 in Mangaluru to serve local farmers. Nationalised in 1980; merged into Bank of Baroda in 2019. Part of the cluster of nationally significant banks born in Mangaluru — heritage record, no ...
Cybersecurity startup (est. 2022) by Mohammed Sheik Nihal providing 24/7 monitoring, penetration testing and managed security services. Emerging Mangaluru infosec venture.
Krithika Shetty & Ayeesha Rasha
Founded 2020, a women-led femtech / women's-wellness venture. Early-stage; noted as part of a visible women-founder cohort in Mangaluru.
Vignesh Prabhu
Early-stage SaaS / compliance-tech startup, incubation-supported (Deshpande Startups). Small and early; represents the RegTech/compliance-SaaS thread.
Government of Karnataka + KDEM + TiE investor-connect series run across three Beyond Bengaluru cities — Hubballi, Mangaluru, Mysuru. Connects regional startups with investors and ecosystem partners.
AIM/NITI Aayog-backed Atal Incubation Centre jointly promoted by Nitte Education Trust. Provides startups with expertise, tech support, investor access, market entry and networking. A co-organizer of Coastal Startup Fest.
Healthcare-innovation-focused incubator (Section 8) at Yenepoya deemed university. Facilities include a 3D bioprinting lab, ISO 13485 medical-device manufacturing, and a NABH-accredited clinical-trial facility. Supports medtech startups ...
One of five state-backed K-tech Innovation Hubs / Common Instrumentation Facilities (Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Belagavi, Mysuru, Shivamogga), established by KITS in partnership with IKP Knowledge Park (Hyderabad). The Mangaluru hub is a prod...
The region's oldest and most established technology incubator, hosted at the National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) in Surathkal, north of Mangaluru city. Founded in 1994 (formerly KREC-STEP), it provides business incubation, ...
One of the more active academic incubators in Mangaluru city, spread over ~20,000 sq ft (with more space earmarked) and hosting a K-tech NAIN incubation centre since 2017. It supports startups in IT, electronics/IoT, embedded systems, me...
Incubator of Yenepoya Deemed-to-be University (started May 2019), with a distinct focus on healthcare and health-tech innovation given the university's medical strengths. Identifies, mentors and hosts innovators through the healthcare-in...
Atal Incubation Centre jointly promoted by Nitte Education Trust and NITI Aayog under the Atal Innovation Mission, GoI; ~10,000 sq ft, focused on agriculture, biotechnology and ICT. Offers mentorship, tech support, investor access and ma...
New Age Innovation Network centre at NMAM Institute of Technology, a KITS unit under the state IT/BT dept promoting student innovation and incubation since 2017 (with ELEVATE-winning teams such as AthrV-Ed and Airmydus/Infinity Drones). ...
DST/NSTEDB-funded technology business incubator of Manipal Academy of Higher Education, established March 2010, operating from a ~10,000 sq ft facility. Focus areas span IT, healthcare, medical devices, agriculture and renewable energy; ...
Entrepreneurship Development Cell of Canara Engineering College, part of the broader NAIN network, encouraging student-led innovative businesses through mentoring and events. A smaller campus-level enabler roughly 22 km outside Mangaluru...
A managed/premium coworking operator in Mangaluru (Yeyyadi, near Citadel Mindspace, plus a second 'wrkwrk Triangle' managed-office location). Offers flexible desks and fully managed offices aimed at freelancers, startup teams and small c...
Home-grown Mangaluru coworking brand with multiple locations (Kodialbail/M G Road, Ballalbagh and others), offering dedicated desks and shared/private office space for freelancers and early teams. Central Kodialbail location makes it one...
eChai does not yet have a Mangaluru chapter. Since 2009, eChai has helped founders across 39 cities find their people and grow together through free, open meetups. Mangaluru — India's fast-rising 'Silicon Beach' — is a strong candidate t...
KDEM's flagship annual Mangaluru tech-and-innovation showcase under Beyond Bengaluru. 5th edition on 24 Sep 2025 brought 70+ startups, ~60 Global Capability Centres (GCCs), and ~20 investors together. Focus on GCCs, deep-tech startups, a...
TiE chapter established April 2023 to galvanize the Coastal Karnataka startup ecosystem. In under two years: 40+ programs, 400+ entrepreneurs reached, 130+ member founders. Runs TiE Nurture (12-week mentoring), TiE Global Angels, TiE U (...
Inaugural TiECon for the chapter, held 16 Jan 2026 on National Startup Day. 500+ delegates, 50+ investors, 30 startup exhibitors showcasing the region's most promising ventures. A signature set-piece for the Silicon Beach narrative.
Two-day festival (28-29 Mar 2026) organized by AIC-Nitte Incubation Centre, K-Tech Innovation Hub, and the NITTE-Govt of Karnataka Centre of Excellence in Aquamarine Innovation, with KDEM as strategic partner. 30 product startups exhibit...
Billed as the country's only startup beach festival, held Jan 2026 at Tannirbhavi Beach with Allcargo Logistics as title sponsor. Featured the CREDAI-Mangaluru BuildSmart Innovation Challenge finale and the Emerge Silicon Beach Shark Tan...
KDEM's flagship annual Mangaluru convening under the Beyond Bengaluru vision, bringing together industry, GCCs, startups, academia and investors to position the city as a tech/fintech hub. Functions as the region's main ecosystem-network...
The apex business body for the Dakshina Kannada / coastal region and one of Karnataka's oldest chambers. Increasingly active on startups — it ran the 2024 seminar 'Enabling Startups: Roles of Industry, Academia, and Government', launched...
Miraii.ai
Founder & CEO of Miraii.ai (est. 2024, Mangaluru), building an AI voice-companion smart ring ('Elai') with fall detection, SOS, vitals tracking and NFC — originally aimed at women's safety and now extended t...
Lowen Women
Co-founders (est. 2020) of Lowen Women, a femtech D2C venture tackling period pain with a wearable massager/relief belt. A women-led product startup addressing women's health — notable in a city with few con...
coastal Karnataka
India's oldest women-in-business network (est. 1983, ~20+ chapters, 15,000+ members) running mentorship, entrepreneurship and leadership programmes. The organised national women-entrepreneur platform coastal...
women-entrepreneur chambers
WICCI (Women's Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry) runs Karnataka councils in the southern region covering coastal Karnataka, feeding women into policy and business networks. AWAKE (Association of Women E...
The commercial core of the city, carrying the banks, corporate offices, professional services and most of Mangaluru's coworking, including Cowozo on M G Road at Kodialbail. Karnataka Bank runs its head office at Kankanady on the southern edge of this belt and is the one coastal bank still headquartered in the city, while Mother Teresa Road in Bejai holds a share of the local software firms.
2 companies 1 coworking
Strong in Fintech, Banking
The National Institute of Technology Karnataka, about 20 km north of the city on NH-66, established in 1960 as KREC and the region's main engineering campus. NITK-STEP, its science and technology entrepreneurs' park, has run incubation here since 1994 alongside a student E-Cell, which makes Surathkal the deeptech end of the coast.
1 company 2 coworking
Strong in Tech Talent, Education
Karnataka's only major port, an all weather deep water gateway at Panambur working 16 berths across crude oil, LPG, petroleum products, iron ore pellets, coal, edible oil, fertiliser and containers. Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers, the state's largest fertiliser manufacturer, sits on the same stretch, and Panambur is also the city's landmark beach.
2 companies
Strong in Chemicals, Agri-industry
Answers about the Mangaluru startup scene
What does the startup ecosystem in Mangaluru look like?
Mangaluru's ecosystem is strongest in SaaS, fintech and IT services, sitting on an industrial base of the port, the MRPL refinery and the fertiliser and processing units around them. Homegrown product startups are still few and mostly early stage. The companies list above shows who is building what, filterable by vertical.
Why is Mangaluru called the cradle of Indian banking?
Because a large part of modern Indian banking started on this coast. Around 22 banks were founded in coastal Karnataka between 1880 and 1935, nine of them in Mangaluru itself, including Canara Bank in 1906, Karnataka Bank in 1924 and Vijaya Bank in 1931. Karnataka Bank is the one still headquartered in the city, at Kankanady, and that history is why Karnataka's tier two push treats Mangaluru as a fintech cluster.
Which are the best known companies from Mangaluru?
Karnataka Bank is the largest company headquartered in the city. Hangyo Ice Creams is the standout consumer brand, having raised about $25 million from Faering Capital in 2024. CodeCraft, Novigo and Tetherfi are the long running local software firms, Daijiworld is the regional media network built here, and MRPL and New Mangalore Port anchor the industrial economy.
Which are the top startup verticals in Mangaluru?
SaaS, fintech and IT services lead, with healthtech close behind on the back of the medical and dental colleges at Deralakatte. Use the vertical chips above to browse the companies in each.
Which incubators and coworking spaces are in Mangaluru?
NITK-STEP at Surathkal is the oldest, running since 1994, and the state backed K-tech Innovation Hub in the city offers a makerspace and desks for product startups. Sahyadri College at Adyar and Yenepoya at Deralakatte run the most active college incubators. Coworking is thin: wrkwrk at Yeyyadi and Cowozo on M G Road are the main operators, and the coworking section below lists them.
Are there investors and VCs in Mangaluru?
No angel network or venture fund is based in the city. Early money reaches founders here through Karnataka state programmes such as ELEVATE and NAIN, through TiE Global Angels via the local TiE chapter, and from investors in Bengaluru, which is about 350 km away. The investors section below lists what is active locally.
Where do founders network in Mangaluru?
Mostly around TiE Mangaluru, which started in April 2023 and reports reaching 400 or more entrepreneurs and 130 or more member founders, and at the set piece events, Mangaluru Technovanza, Coastal Startup Fest and TiECon Mangaluru. The campus incubators at NITK and Sahyadri convene the student and early stage end. The communities section below lists them.
Does eChai run events in Mangaluru?
Not yet. eChai has no Mangaluru chapter, and the nearest ones are Bengaluru and Kochi. eChai is free and open wherever it runs, with no application or membership fee, and if you would like to help start it here, get in touch.
Want to help launch eChai Mangaluru?
eChai does not run a chapter in Mangaluru yet. If you are a founder or community builder who wants to seed the first free, open eChai meetup here, get in touch. In the meantime, TiE Mangaluru is the most active founder network on the coast, running since April 2023 and the natural partner for a launch.
Get in touch
