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 funding support and mentorship will be provided to 125 young startups selected and supported through the potential accelerator.

The last date for submission of applications under MeitY’s Startup Accelerator for Product Innovation, Development and Growth (SAMRIDH) is October 2.

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

Selecting and supporting 125 startups through potential accelerators as the second cohort is part of the government’s 100-day agenda to achieve the target of nurturing 300 startups.

MeitY said it is working for the development of India’s software products industry under the National Software Products Policy (NPSP)-2019.

Launched in August 2021, the SAMRIDH program aims to support 300 software product startups with an 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).

“Samrudh is being implemented through potential and established accelerators across India to facilitate product-market fit, business planning, investor engagement and international expansion for startups, as well as an investment of Rs 40 lakh by MeitY,” the government said. Provides services like matching funding up to Rs.

According to the ministry, the domestic software products industry including startups will be supported through various programs like Centers of Excellence, Technological Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE) Programme, Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS), ICT Grand Challenges, Gen-Next. Used to be. Support for Innovative Startups (GENESIS) etc.