Startup grants & funding schemes in India

FutureSites Innovation Program is a joint initiative by DPIIT Startup India and the CII Centre of Excellence for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Startups, in collaboration with a leading Oil and Gas corporate retail business unit. The program is designed to accelerate next-generation retail technology solutions by enabling startups to solve real-world operational challenges in live retail environments. The program focuses on three strategic challenge areas including agentic store operations

V-FUND 6.0 , Women 2026 is the sixth edition of the flagship accelerator and seed funding initiative by VELS Innovation Council (VIC), aimed at empowering early-stage women entrepreneurs. The program focuses on strengthening women-led startups by providing seed funding, structured incubation, and capacity-building support. It offers a platform for women founders to gain visibility, mentorship, and institutional backing to scale innovative and viable business ideas. Selected startups receive

The Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Women Startup Scheme is a flagship initiative by the Maharashtra State Innovation Society aimed at empowering women-led startups across the state of Maharashtra. The scheme provides early to growth-stage financial assistance to innovative startups founded and led by women entrepreneurs. Through direct grant support, the program seeks to strengthen inclusive entrepreneurship, promote innovation-led businesses, and help women founders scale their ventures

**ArthX** is a sustainability-focused initiative introduced by AIC at the Indian School of Business in partnership with HDFC Bank Parivartan under the Parivartan StartUp Grants program. The program is designed to support revenue-stage startups from Punjab that are building scalable and impactful solutions in sustainability. Selected startups will receive grant funding along with structured knowledge inputs and access to a strong ecosystem of mentors, industry leaders, and strategic

Sustainovation Challenge 2.0 is a national-level climate and social innovation program launched by AIC RAISE Business Incubator in collaboration with Startup India and DPIIT under the Bharat Startup Grand Challenge. The program is designed to accelerate startups building impactful solutions for a sustainable India by supporting climate-focused and socially inclusive innovations. Selected startups are onboarded into a 14-week structured incubation program that provides hands-on mentorship

WE-Escalate is a six-month acceleration program launched by Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre with the objective of empowering women-led startups in the life sciences ecosystem of Karnataka. The program is designed to help women innovators validate their technologies, accelerate product development, and enable faster deployment of solutions into real-world markets. The initiative focuses on nurturing early-stage women entrepreneurs while also supporting growth-stage startups to scale their

Tamil Nadu Hardware Accelerator for Prototype and Product (TN-HAPP), branded as iAccelerate 4.0, is a 12-week intensive and structured hybrid accelerator programme designed to help hardware startups in Tamil Nadu move from concept stage to production-ready products. The program is implemented by Tamil Nadu Technology Hub (iTNT Hub) and focuses on providing government-subsidized access to professional design, prototyping, and manufacturing ecosystem support. Selected startups are onboarded

Titan Capital is actively partnering with early-stage founders building differentiated and high-conviction businesses. The firm focuses on backing startups at the pre-seed and seed stages with a long-term perspective rather than short-term hype cycles. Titan Capital follows a hands-on, founder-first approach by moving quickly on decisions and supporting portfolio companies with not just capital but also deep strategic insight. Founders benefit from access to an operator-led network of

The AI-Based Early Childhood Development (ECD) Innovation Challenge is a Government of Andhra Pradesh initiative led by the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub in collaboration with the Women Development & Child Welfare Department. The challenge focuses on leveraging artificial intelligence to strengthen Early Childhood Development outcomes during the critical first 2,000 days of a child's life. Innovators are invited to design AI-powered solutions for children aged 0, 6 years that enable early

The Avaana , Startup India Grand Challenge for Deep Tech Innovation 2025, 26 is a nationwide flagship initiative designed to identify and empower breakthrough deep-tech innovators building solutions for India's most critical strategic priorities. Now in its third edition, the Grand Challenge has emerged as one of India's leading platforms for frontier technology startups, backed by policymakers, industry leaders, academia, and capital providers. The program enables startups to accelerate

ELEVATE NXT 2026 is a flagship Deeptech-focused grant-in-aid program by the Government of Karnataka under the LEAP framework. The program is designed to identify, support, and scale high-potential Deeptech startups through a transparent and milestone-driven funding process. The initiative targets startups developing novel, science- and engineering-led solutions using advanced technologies such as AI, ML, IoT, Blockchain, Robotics, AR/VR, Drones, Advanced Manufacturing, Semiconductors, Quantum

Innovate with SSDI is a collaboration-driven opportunity hosted by Incubation Centre IIT Patna in partnership with Sharp Software Development India Pvt Ltd (SSDI), the Indian R&D arm of Sharp Corporation, Japan. The program invites innovative startups to co-develop next-generation solutions that power global products, platforms, and enterprise services. The initiative focuses on resilient, sustainable, and scalable technology solutions with clear differentiation, especially those targeting