Thoothukudi’s homegrown startups power a southern surge

THOOTHUKUDI: A buzzing Thoothukudi is gearing up for an industrial leap. With VinFast’s entry, expansion of port-airport, and TIDEL NEO parks, the city is drawing attention and big investments. But beyond these top-down transformations, a bottom-up wave is also rising, led by homegrown startups.

This wave is not isolated to Thoothukudi. Data from StartupTN, Tamil Nadu’s nodal agency for entrepreneurship, shows a steady uptick in entrepreneurial activity across the state’s southern belt, which includes Kanniyakumari, Tenkasi, Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli, and Thoothukudi. The Tirunelveli hub, under which the five districts are grouped, has recorded the strongest growth of startups post the establishment of StartupTN, outweighing the known industrial clusters of Hosur, Salem and Erode.

The belt now has at least 500 startups, and 354 of them emerged in the past three years. The Pearl City alone is home to 117 of them.

“Thoothukudi is seeing international companies set up shop, new industrial parks are coming up, and a major port is in place. There’s a real sense of momentum. When local youth see their town developing, it often sparks a thought, ‘Why can’t we set up something on our own?’” said StartupTN Mission Director Sivarajah Ramanathan.

Childhood friends and Cosmic Port co-founders Liwaans Amuthan and Naveen Subbiah are among those youngsters. Their startup is building launch vehicles with propulsion systems based on liquid methane. “Our city will be a hub for aerospace and defence. With the Kulasekarapatnam spaceport on the cards, we have access to testing facilities at Mahendragiri. The State is also investing heavily in this sector,” said Liwaans. The duo has set up operations in a rented home with a team from across India, working on assembly, testing, and design – all from Thoothukudi.

Startups across diverse sectors are popping up in Thoothukudi and the broader Nellai hub. Of the 500, IT leads with 88 startups, followed by food (40), agriculture (34), construction (31), healthcare (26), and other emerging sectors, including renewable energy (18), fintech (14), AI (11), and aerospace and defence (7).

Sivarajah explains the patterns in the types of ventures emerging and what might shift going forward.

“There will always be some natural advantages for IT startups in metros like Chennai and Bengaluru. But that doesn’t mean IT booms can’t happen in Madurai or down south. Right now, a lot of agri, food-related, and B2C startups are from southern districts. These ideas are rooted in the region’s strengths. We try to support them through mentorship and investor linkages.”

One such startup is Caruvadu, founded by mechanical engineer Joseph Cascarno, who returned to modernise his family’s three-generation-old dried seafood business.

“Earlier, the process was traditional. We wanted to change that,” said Joseph. After two years of R&D, they try to build a hygienic, solar-dried and contamination-free system.

“We created a robust SOP for handling and packing fresh fish. Now, we are a B2C brand, and with StartupTN’s support, Caruvadu is also working toward expanding into a franchise model with physical stores in multiple cities,” explains Joseph.

Women-led startups are also carving out their space in this ecosystem. Of the 500 startups, 232 are led by women. Among them is DeepCycle Hub, an e-waste management company founded by Deepthi and her husband.

“We wanted to tackle the e-waste problem at source, and since we are from Thoothukudi, we decided to start here,” said Deepthi.

The duo pitched the idea at the Puththozhil Kalam, a social startup initiative launched by MP Kanimozhi last year and won a Rs 10 lakh seed grant.

That gave rise to PARI - (Public Access Recycling Infrastructure). The system includes IoT-enabled smart bins with sensors to monitor waste levels and contamination.

“The goal is to raise awareness among sanitary workers, track e-waste volumes, and ensure proper recycling,” said Deepthi. The smart bins will soon be installed across the city.

Thoothukudi may not resemble a conventional startup hub just yet. But with focused sectors like space tech, marine, and logistics gaining ground, the city is playing to its strengths.

And, across the southern districts, the idea of startups is looking to gradually become more feasible.