RFAs: Agripreneurship Incubation Programme (SAMRIDDHI) – India

The seed stage funding will be available to incubatees who are incubated at the R-ABI. Under the programme, financial assistance will be granted to potential startups who have a minimum viable product (MVP) based on innovative solutions/processes/products/services/business models in agriculture and allied sector. The applicant incubatees would be provided funds as per their genuine requirements and as per appraisal/evaluation of their business plans by the SIC (Selection and Investment Committee) and the decision of the SIC in this regard will be final. The SIC and RIC will not be bound to give any reason in case an application for seed fund is rejected at any stage.

This support will assist the incubatees to launch their products/services/business platforms etc. into the market and help them to scale up their operations as well as to attain business viability at a faster pace. This support will also facilitate them to attract investments from angel/venture capitalists or taking loans from commercial banks/financial institutions for further scaling-up of their business operations.

Objectives

• To ensure timely seed support to deserving incubatees within R-ABIs.
• To enable translation of minimum viable product (MVP) to marketable stage and scale up the product and business.
• To provide a platform for faster experimentation and modification in their approaches or minimum viable product (MVP) based on innovative solutions/processes/products/services/business models etc. for scaling up.

Funding Information

• A maximum of 10-12 startups per R-ABI annually will be supported under the seed stage funding component. Each selected startup will be provided with a maximum limit of Rs. 25 Lakhs as grant-in-aid in two instalments (50:50). The seed stage fund will be released to each eligible and selected agri-startup through their respective KP/R-ABI.

Eligible Activities

• Funding Expenses for the following broad activities would be supported under this programme:
  • Product Refinement/Testing and Trials/Test Marketing/Marketing launch
  • Expenses on data generation/data acquisition for ideas working on IT side/AI side
  • Fees for IP issues/one time technology licensing fees
  • Manpower for day to day operations
  • Day to day operational expenses like electricity bill, etc.
  • Any other area/activity as deemed necessary and recommended by the RIC of R-ABIs.

Eligibility Criteria

• All incubatees of the R-ABI will be eligible for this funding on the basis of consistent performance evaluated by RIC (R-ABI Incubation Committee)
• The recipient should be a registered legal entity in India.
• The recipient has to be an Indian start-up as per DPIIT notification. This support is not meant for Indian Subsidiaries of MNCs/foreign companies.
• A startup supported once will not be eligible for applying for the subsequent round of seed support to any R-ABIs.

Selection Criteria

• Selection Process of Incubatee for Seed Stage Funding:
  • Each of the R-ABIs would constitute a RKVY- RAFTAAR Incubation Committee (RIC) as per clause No. 7.5 of the guideline
  • During the selection process, R-ABI will take into consideration any other grant-in-aid funding received by the incubatee for the same activity/product from other GoI institute(s)/ministry (ies). A self-declaration from the incubatee about such funding will be mandatory.
  • After one months of residency of incubatees, RIC will evaluate the progress of the incubatee and based on their performance recommend them for seed stage funding to the SIC.
  • SIC will further evaluate and recommend the incubatees to the Nodal Division, DA&FW for seed stage funding.
  • After getting recommendation from SIC, the selected seed stage incubattee will be given an incubation Programme for a period of 15 days/as per the suggestion of SIC before disbursal of the first instalment.
  • Nodal Division, DA&FW will approve and sanction the project of the incubatees based on recommendation of SIC and release the first instalment of the grant-in-aid to the respective R-ABI for further disbursement to the incubate.
  • The R-ABI would execute a legal agreement with the incubatee who is selected for the seed support and this agreement should be signed before the release of the first installment of seed fund to the incubatee. The terms of agreement with the incubatees start up should be framed by the R-ABI linking with the progress milestones, monitoring norms etc. Subsequent disbursement schedules should be linked to the achievement of milestones by the incubate.

For more information, visit ICAR- Indian Veterinary Research Institute.