NIDHI-SSS (Seed Support System) at riidl Somaiya Vidyavihar University

About this scheme

The National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations - Seed Support System (NIDHI-SSS) fund at riidl aims to ensure the timely availability of seed support to deserving startups within the incubator.
This financial assistance is provided to enable startups to scale their venture to the next level, ultimately facilitating their success in the marketplace and helping them graduate to a level where they can raise investments from angel investors/VCs or seek loans from commercial banks.
The fund has a total corpus of INR 10 Crore.
Funding is provided through equity-based investment.
The project duration is typically 12 months.
The funds can be utilized for broad areas including product development, testing and trials, test marketing, mentoring, professional consultancy (e.g., attracting professors), IPR issues, and manpower for day-to-day operations.

Who can apply

• Registration: The incubatee should be a registered company in India.
• Residency: Must have a minimum of three months of residency at a STEP/TBI (Technology Business Incubator), specifically riidl in this context.
• Ownership: The startup must be an Indian startup (not meant for Indian subsidiaries of MNCs/foreign companies).
• Shareholding: The shareholding by Indian promoters in the incubatee startup must be at least 51%. Persons holding OCI/PIO status are considered Indian citizens for this scheme.
• Focus: Emphasis is placed on product offerings (vs. service offerings), IP-rich enterprises, strong knowledge components, and alignment with riidl's focus areas.

Frequently asked questions