SR Innovation Exchange (SriX), a technology business incubator of SR University, Warangal, has received a ₹5.25 crore NIDHI-SSS seed grant from the Centre’s Department of Science and Technology to nurture early-stage startups.
The NIDHI-SSS (Seed Support System) grant empowers startups financially in meeting varied needs, including positioning of the product in market, test marketing, acquiring new customers, team building, revenue management, technology and business mentorship, business planning, design and marketing support and IPR expertise, a release from SriX on Tuesday said.
“The seed support is positioned to act as a bridge between the development stage of the startup and commercialisation stage. We are typically looking for early revenue stage tech startups which have a market ready product,” CEO Sreedevi Devireddy said.
Highlighting why an investment like NIDHI-SSS that will not put the startup team under pressure was necessary, she said investments from venture capital funds/angel investors remain highly competitive and not every startup had access to the right platform at the right time. Banks also preferred providing loans to firms that show significant traction and sustainable success for a period of time.
Thanking the DST for “entrusting the responsibility to find passionate entrepreneurs and support them with seed grant,” SR University Vice Chancellor G.R.C.Reddy said a NIDHI-SSS monitoring committee comprising successful entrepreneurs and technologists to scrutinise and shortlist startups for funding has been formed.
Anita Gupta, Head, National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board, under DST, said the objective of NIDHI-SSS is to ensure timely availability of seed support to the deserving incubated startups within an incubator.
