Thiruvananthapuram: They are fresh from college but not desperate for a job!

Eight engineering graduates from this state, known better for its thriving tourism industry, are looking to give jobs to people in their IT startup that is already being valued at around $7 million.

This team of graduates, which actually shaped its destiny by setting up ‘Torque´ to provide IT solutions across verticals, now dreams of turning Kerala into the ‘Silicon Coast´ of India.

“I come from a middle class family. I don’t have a big family tag to my name. The state has given me a good education. And, now I think, I have to pay (it) back,” Torque CEO Sanjay Vijayakumar told PTI on asked about the inspiration behind the venture created a year before they left campus.

Obviously, the team also drew inspiration from Stanford University graduates, who helped the Silicon Valley in the US to become the metonymy for world hi-tech ventures.

Their brainchild Torque has in a short time grown into a pioneering technology business incubated company being currently valued at 5-7 million dollars based in Technopark here.

“Our initial cash investment was Rs 8 lakh raised by eight of us while we were in college some 18 months back,” Vijayakumar said.

Besides Vijayakumar, the core group included Kenni Joseph, now Torque’s Chief Technology Officer, Sony Joy Chief Operating Officer and Anil K Antony, son of Defence Minister A K Antony.