India: TANSEED Initiative for Startups (Sixth Edition)

TANSEED is the Government of Tamil Nadu’s flagship seed fund initiative for Startups, aimed at bridging the gap in fund requirements of Startups during their early stages. The fund provides seed funding to Startup founders in an equity model to help them develop their products, validate their ideas and scale up their businesses.

As a part of the support provided, StartupTN will take a 3% Support Stake in the Startup ventures and provide them with a one-year accelerator programme that includes mentorship support, priority for participation in various networking events and National & International Startup delegations.

Seed Fund Support

• Under TANSEED, the seed fund support up to Rs. 15 Lakh to Green Tech, Rural Impact, and Women-led Startups and up to Rs. 10 Lakh each to other Startups. As a part of the support provided, StartupTN will take a 3% Support Stake in the Startup ventures and provide them with a one-year accelerator programme that includes mentorship support, priority for participation in various networking events and National & International Startup delegations.

Eligibility Criteria

• The entity should be registered as a Private Limited Company.
• The entity should be a Startup registered with TANSIM and STARTUP INDIA. It shall be located and registered in Tamil Nadu.
• The average profit of the entity (as per income tax return) for the last 3 years (or lesser in case it’s a newly registered entity) shall be less than Rs.5 Lakhs.
• Working towards innovation, development or improvement of products or processes with a high potential of employment generation, social impact or wealth creation. The startup must be working on an innovative product or technology and not involved in pure service delivery. Have at least a Proof of Concept (PoC) of the Idea or a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Use technology in its core product or service, or business innovation model, or innovative distribution model, or innovative methodology to solve the problem being targeted.
• The entity should not have been formed by splitting up, reconstruction of a business already in existence or as a Subsidiary/Joint Venture/Associate of another Company.
• The startup should have cleared all / not have any other pending dues with any of the Government agencies and shall not be blacklisted by any Government agency in India.
• The applicant may be incubated in an incubator for at least six months at the time of application.
• Applicant has to be an Indian start-up. This support is not meant for Indian Subsidiaries of MNCs/Foreign Companies. Persons holding Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) would be considered as Indian citizens for the purpose of this scheme. The shareholding by Indian promoters in the incubated Startups should be at least 51 %.
• The Seed Fund is not generally given for service company working in Traditional Trade and Commerce.
• The seed fund shall be funding the development of the prototype or a product which is market ready/of small level pilot production only and shall not be for regular research which any University or College can foster.

For more information, visit StartupTN.