Startup grants & funding schemes in India

The **Social Impact Incubation Programme** is a collaborative initiative by **Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV)** and **IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP)**. It is conceived to bridge the gap for impact-driven startups that face roadblocks like scarce funding and isolated networks. This programme is designed to empower social entrepreneurs building sustainable, technology-enabled solutions. 10 high-potential ventures will be selected to receive 360° support to amplify impact

This program, supported by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), is part of the broader **Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE 2.0)** initiative. The primary goal is to help ICT-based startups scale their Proof-of-Concept (PoC) to a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). It is a **12-month incubation program** at IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, providing: * A **Rs. 7 Lakhs grant** for one year for MVP development. * Incubation support at IIM Calcutta

The Innovation Voucher Program (IVP) is a flagship grant scheme by the Government of Tamil Nadu, implemented through the Entrepreneurship Development & Innovation Institute , Tamil Nadu (EDII TN). * **Primary Goal:** To promote research collaboration between Startups and MSMEs. * **Grant Structure:** The program offers two distinct vouchers: * **Voucher-A (Entry into Research):** Provides a grant of **Rs. 3 Lakh**. * **Voucher-B (Entry into Market):** Provides a grant of **Rs. 7 Lakh**. * The

The HIM Startup Yojana 2025 is a seed fund initiative by HPCED, implemented through IIT Mandi Catalyst. It is a state-backed program designed to help budding innovators and startups from Himachal Pradesh to develop their initial ideas into viable products or services and successfully launch them into the market. It aims to strengthen the innovation ecosystem by offering financial support to early-stage ventures. The initiative focuses on supporting entrepreneurs to develop prototypes or scale

The Bosch Innovation Challenge, in collaboration with iTNT Hub and Bosch Global Software Technologies, seeks to identify and support breakthrough ideas for building a "Foundational Security Strategy for IoT Products". The challenge focuses on embedding security-by-design into IoT product development to help startups and MSMEs create secure, compliant, and resilient IoT solutions across the entire product lifecycle, from design to deployment. The initiative encourages innovators to create a

The AI & AgriTech Innovation Center, operating under the Maha Agri-AI Policy 2025, 2029, aims to drive technology-driven, farmer-centric transformation in Maharashtra. Track 2, 'Pilot & Validation', is dedicated to supporting the field testing, validation, and scaling of mature AI-based agricultural solutions. The objective is to focus on real-world deployment, impact assessment, and business model validation of proven technologies. **Support Offered:** * Funding for pilot implementation

The **IIITD-IC FinTech Grand Challenge** is a national initiative launched by the IIIT Delhi Innovation & Incubation Center in partnership with Startup India and Decentro. Its core objective is to identify and support promising FinTech startups that are developing innovation-driven and scalable solutions to address critical issues in the financial sector. The challenge focuses on solving specific problem statements within FinTech, including: * **Seamless KYC & Digital Onboarding** *

The AI & AgriTech Innovation Center, launched under the Maha Agri-AI Policy 2025, 2029 by the Government of Maharashtra, aims to integrate Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, and frontier digital technologies across the agricultural value chain. Track 1, 'Discovery & Ideation', is designed to accelerate innovation at the earliest stages by supporting novel ideas and prototypes leveraging AI and data technologies to solve key agricultural challenges. This track encourages out-of-the-box

imaginATe is a flagship 9-month fellowship (with 6-month post-fellowship support) designed for Entrepreneurs with Disabilities to build, grow, and scale their ventures. **Key Offerings:** * A monthly stipend of Rs. 10,000. * Personalised mentorship from leaders across business and impact sectors. * Access to expert-led learning on key areas like finance, strategy, market access, branding, business planning, and product development. * Access to Assistive Technologies and productivity tools, and

This initiative, led by GCI-BIRAC, is a grant program aiming to support **transformative women's health innovation** by creating locally relevant, affordable, and acceptable **vaginal health solutions** for over 400 million Indian women of reproductive age. The initiative seeks to bridge the critical gap between cutting-edge vaginal formulation science and ground-level implementation. It encourages applications that combine scientific rigor with user-centered design to deliver products that

Pulse AI for Fintech is a 24-week accelerator program jointly launched by SanchiConnect and ThinKuvate. It is designed to provide quick term sheets and fast-track the growth of 4-6 selected startups leveraging AI for FinTech solutions. The program offers an upfront investment of INR 2-3 Crore per startup, along with a focus on market access through Go-to-Market strategies, partner connects, pilot opportunities, and participation in an offshore global demo day. Key benefits include one-on-one

The Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership Award is an annual, global award that recognizes an exceptional young leader, aged 18 to 30, who is using technology, innovation, and social impact solutions to advance the United Nations Global Goals and contribute to ending extreme poverty. The award provides a **USD 250,000 grant** which is paid directly to the legally registered organization affiliated with the winning applicant. This funding is intended to support scaling innovative