IT Ministry to nurture 125 early-stage startups with funding, mentorship

The IT Ministry on Thursday announced the second cohort of its startup accelerator where 125 early-age startups, selected and supported through potential accelerators, will be provided funding support and mentorship.

The last date to submit application under the Startup Accelerators of MeitY for Product Innovation, Development and Growth (SAMRIDH) is October 2.

In the first cohort, 22 accelerators from 12 states were selected through open calls for proposals. These accelerators then selected 5-10 startups each in the focused areas of health-tech, ed-tech, agri-tech, consumer-tech, fin-tech, software as a service (SaaS) and sustainability through a multi-level screening process.

As second cohort is part of the 100-day agenda of the government to select and support 125 startups through potential accelerators so as to achieve the target of nurturing 300 startups.

MeitY said it is working for the growth of India's software product industry under the National Policy on Software Products (NPSP)-2019.

Launched in August 2021, the SAMRIDH programme aims to support 300 software product startups with outlay of Rs 99 crore over a period of 4 years.

The scheme is being implemented by MeitY Start-up Hub (MSH), Digital India Corporation (DIC).

“SAMRIDH is being implemented through potential and established accelerators across India which provide services like making products market fit, business plan, investor connect and international expansion to startups plus matching funding up to Rs 40 lakh by MeitY,” said the government.

According to the ministry, the domestic software product industry including startups are being supported through various programmes such as Centre of Excellences, Technological Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE) programme, Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS), ICT Grand Challenges, Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups (GENESIS) etc.