Over 1,000 Startups Provided INR 177 Cr Under Startup India Seed Fund Scheme

Over 1,000 startups were selected by approved incubators under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) to provide cumulative financial support of INR 177 Cr as of April 30, 2023, the government informed the Parliament.

“As on 30th April 2023, INR 611.36 Cr has been approved for 160 incubators by the Expert Advisory Committee (EAC) under SISFS. The approved incubators have selected 1,039 startups for support of INR 176.63 Cr,” Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

For the uninitiated, the SISFS was notified in 2021 for four years with a corpus of INR 945 Cr. The scheme aims to provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry and commercialisation.

The government also provided a list of the 160 incubators, as per which Vel Tech Technology Incubator approved an amount of INR 5 Cr for 29 startups as of April 30, 2023.

Crescent Innovation and Incubation Council, Foundation for Innovation & Research in Science & Technology and Chitkara Innovation Incubator Foundation were in the second position, having approved funds for 24 startups each. 

Startups recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) are eligible to get funding via one of the government-recognised incubators under the SISFS. Startups need to have at least 51% shareholding by Indian promoters to be eligible to get financial assistance under the scheme.

The Startup India Seed Fund Scheme is among the host of schemes, including the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS), launched by the government during the last few years to expand the country’s startup ecosystem.

The minister also said that the number of recognised startups in the country grew to 98,119 as of April 30, 2023, from 428 in 2016.

Earlier, the government told the Parliament that 22 accelerators have been shortlisted to support 175 startups under the Startup Accelerator of MeitY for Product Innovation, Development, and Growth (SAMRIDH) scheme.

It must be noted that the ongoing funding winter has resulted in a steady drop in seed funding over the last few quarters. According to Inc42 data, seed stage startups raised only $479 Mn across 233 deals during the first half of 2023, a drop of 53% from $1.02 Bn in the second half of 2022.

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