Applications open for Nidhi Seed Support Program (India)

Chitkara Innovation Incubator Foundation (CIIF), Chitkara University is hosting a seed fund program for startups under the NIDHI Seed Support Program of the Department of Science and Technology.

Focus Areas

• Agriculture
• Internet of Things
• Healthcare
• Deep Technology
• Education
• EV and Smart Mobility

Benefits

• Funding
• Infrastructural Facilities
• Mentoring
• Business support and Networking
• Lab Facilities

Funding Information

• Under this program, the seed support may be between INR 10 – 25 lakh. In exceptional cases, it may be higher.

Eligible Activities

• The seed support should be utilized largely for technology development and de-risking activities, scale-up, market entry, product development, mentoring, seeking consultancy, IPR issues, and all such startup activities.
• Not more than 10% of the fund can be directed towards team salaries.

Ineligible Activities

• The seed support should not be used for:
  • Repayment of loans or dues of promoters and their associates to the company.
  • Creation of personal assets.
  • Repayment of loans from any other source or for payment of interest on the support borrowed from such other source.
  • Extending loan support to promoters or their associates
  • Making any inter-corporate deposits or any speculative purpose.
  • Personal benefit of promoters or their associates.

Eligibility Criteria

• The applicant startup must be a company registered in India, preferably be a DPIIT registered/applied startup and should have completed a minimum 3 months of association with CIIF in its resident or virtual incubation program.
• The applicant startup should have developed clarity on Unique Selling Preposition (USP) through customer validation and value proposition for its targeted customers.
• This support is not meant for Indian Subsidiaries of MNCs/foreign companies. Persons holding Overseas Citizens of India (OCI), Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) would be considered as Indian citizens for the purpose of this scheme.
• The share holding by Indian promoters in the incubate start up should be at least 51%.
• Preference will be given to startups, who have not availed any funding from any Government of India/State Govt. body.
• Preference may be given to startups with funding commitments from an external investor (Angel, VC, etc).
• Preference may be given to startups with hardware based products.
• Criteria for applicants:
  • The founders should be working full time on the startup.
  • The startup must have clear roadmap and business/revenue generation plan.
  • The idea and team should be technically sound
  • The team should show potential and credibility for raising investment in future.
  • The venture must be registered as a private limited company
  • The startup must be willing be share equity in the startup against the funding support.
  • The applicant must be an incubatee of CIIF or should be willing to be incubated at CIIF for three months before getting eligible for funding.
  • The startup shall not have received funding support under Seed Support Program from any Incubation Center/Center of Excellence/Innovation Hub or similar organizations in India.

For more information, visit CIIF.