Apply here | Guidance for application
Entrepreneurship Development Center (Venture Center) is hosting the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) which aims to provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry and commercialization. Such assistance would facilitate these startups to graduate to a level where they will be able to raise investments from angel investors or venture capitalists, or seek loans from commercial banks or financial institutions.
The SISFS scheme allows for two types of financial assistance to be provided through this scheme- Grants and Convertible Debentures. Grants upto Rs. 20 Lakhs can be provided for validation of Proof of Concept, or prototype development, or product trials. The grants may be disbursed in milestone based installments where the milestones can be related to development of prototype, product testing, building a product ready for market launch, etc.Funding can be through Convertible debentures for up to Rs. 50 Lakhs for market entry, commercialization, or scaling up.
The eligibility criteria for a startup to apply under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme are:
- A startup, recognized by DPIIT, incorporated not more than 2 years ago at the time of application
- Startup must have a business idea to develop a product or a service with market fit, viable commercialization, and scope of scaling
- 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
- Startup should not have received more than Rs 10 lakh of monetary support under any other Central or State Government scheme. This does not include prize money from competitions and grand challenges, subsidized working space, founder monthly allowance, access to labs, or access to prototyping facility
- Shareholding by Indian promoters in the startup should be at least 51%
Preference would be given to startups creating innovative solutions in sectors such as social impact, waste management, water management, financial inclusion, education, agriculture, food processing, biotechnology, healthcare, energy, mobility, defence, space, railways, oil and gas, textiles, etc.