SRiX receives Rs 5.25 cr NIDHI-SSS seed grant from DST
Forms monitoring committee comprising of successful entrepreneurs and technologists to scrutinise and shortlist startups from across India.
Hyderabad: SR Innovation Exchange (SRiX), Technology Business Incubator in SR University, Warangal received Rs 5.25 crore NIDHI-SSS (Seed Support System) seed grant from the Department of Science & Technology (GoI) to nurture early-stage startups. Each startup may get a seed fund support of Rs 25 lakh or over, depending on the case.
NIDHI-SSS grant empowers the startups financially in meeting needs such as positioning of the product in the market, test marketing, acquiring new customers, team building, revenue management, technology and business mentorship, business planning, design & marketing support, and IPR expertise.
“Seed funding or seed stage funding is a very early investment which aims at helping a business grow and generating its own capital. Investments from VCs/Angels are highly competitive and not every startup has access to the right platform at the right time. Banks also prefer providing loans to companies that show significant traction and sustainable success for a period of time. To enable a wider range of startups to be investment ready and nurture them to be eligible for investments, an interim investment like NIDHI-SSS (Seed Support System), that will not put the startup team under pressure, is necessary,” said Sreedevi Devireddy, CEO, SR Innovation Exchange, SR University.
“The seed support is positioned to act as a bridge between the development stage of the startup and commercialisation stage. Such financial impetus will boost the startup’s morale and enable it to race forward with positive motivation and maximum performance. We are typically looking for early revenue stage tech startups which have a market ready product” she added.
“This has come at a crucial time when entrepreneurs are going through tough times due to the pandemic. We have formed a NIDHI-SSS monitoring committee of successful entrepreneurs and technologists to scrutinize and shortlist startups for funding. Last year, we supported eight entrepreneurs with a prototyping fund to the tune of Rs 44 lakhs received from MeitY (). In just three years SRiX has created a vibrant innovation ecosystem and is fostering entrepreneurship amongst startups, student innovators and rural innovators,” added Dr G R C Reddy, vice chancellor, SR University.
“The sole objective of the NIDHI-SSS which is under DST is to ensure timely availability of the seed support to the deserving incubated startups within an incubator, thereby enabling them to take their venture to the next level and facilitate their success in the marketplace.
We are looking forward to success stories of innovative startups from SR Innovation Exchange,” said Dr Anita Gupta, head, National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board, DST, Government of India.
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