Startups
The Startup India initiative of the Government of India envisages building a robust Start-up ecosystem in the country for nurturing innovation and providing opportunities to budding entrepreneurs. DPIIT has created Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) with an outlay of INR 945 Crore to provide financial assistance to startups for Proof of Concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry, and commercialization. It will support an estimated 3,600 entrepreneurs through 300 incubators in the next 4 years.The Seed Fund will be disbursed to eligible startups through eligible incubators across India.
Eligibility: For Startups:
# A startup, recognized by DPIIT, incorporated not more than 2 years ago at the time of application.
# The startup must have a business idea to develop a product or a service with a market fit, viable commercialization, and scope of scaling.
# The startup should be using technology in its core product or service, or business model, or distribution model, or methodology to solve the problem being targeted.
For Incubators:
# The inubator must be legal entity.
# The incubator should be operational for at least two years on the date of application to the scheme.
# The incubator must have facilities to seat at least 25 individuals
# The incubator must have at least 5 startups undergoing incubation physically on the date of application
Funding Grant:
Seed Fund to an eligible startup by the incubator shall be disbursed as follows:
1) Up to Rs. 20 Lakhs as grant for validation of Proof of Concept, or prototype development, or product trials. The grant shall be disbursed in milestone-based installments. These milestones can be related to development of prototype, product testing, building a product ready for market launch, etc.
2) Up to Rs. 50 Lakhs of investment for market entry, commercialization, or scaling up through convertible debentures or debt or debt-linked instruments
3) A startup applicant can avail seed support in the form of grant and debt/convertible debentures each once as per the guidelines of the scheme