India: Startup Agri-Business Incubation Programme (Seed)

Deadline: 30-Jun-23

CCS NIAM Centre for Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Skill Development launches “Startup Agri-Business Incubation Program” under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana- Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR).

Startup agri-businesses eager to get integrated incubation support comprising of business mentoring, technical assistance, access to domain experts, marketing and networking support are encouraged to apply.

Seed Stage Funding as grant-in-aid to Startups

• Under the seed stage funding available to incubatees, financial assistance of a maximum of Rs. 25 lakhs will be granted to potential startups that have a minimum viable product (MVP) based on innovative solutions/ processes / products/ services/ business models in agriculture and allied sector. The amount of Rs. 25 lakh is the upper limit of the seed fund assistance. The applicant incubatees would be provided funds as per their genuine requirements and as per appraisal/evaluation of their business plans by the RKVY-RAFTAR, Selection and Monitoring Committiee (RC) and the decision of the CIC in this regard will be final. The RC will not be bound to give any reason in case an application for seed loan is rejected.
• 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.
• 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.

Broad Activities to be supported under Seed Stage 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 d. Manpower for day to day operations
• Day to day operational expenses like electricity bill, incubation charges etc.
• Any other area/activity as deemed necessary and recommended by the NIAM Centre of Excellence Incubation Committee (CIC).

Eligibility Criteria

• All incubatees will be eligible for this funding on the basis of consistent performance evaluated by CIC.
• The applicant should be a registered legal entity in India.
• The applicant has to be an Indian start-up as per DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) 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.

For more information, visit CCS National Institute of Agricultural Marketing.