Startup India Seed Funding Scheme (SISFS)

The Startup India Seed Funding Scheme was launched by the Government of India in the year 2016 to provide financial assistance to the eligible startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market-entry, and commercialization. Such financial assistance is known as Seed Fund which will be disbursed to selected startups through the eligible incubators. The financial assistance provided in the form of seed funding is as follows:

1. Upto Rs. 20 lacs as grant for your prototype development stage which you don’t want to repay to the government.
2. Upto Rs. 50 lacs for market entry, commercialization, or scaling up through convertible debentures or debt or debt-linked instruments, which you have to repay to the government after 1 year with a 4% interest rate and should complete in 5 years as EMI.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR STARTUPS

1. A startup, recognized by DPIIT, incorporated not more than 2 years ago at the time of application.
2. The entity must have a business idea to develop a product or a service with a market fit, viable commercialization, and scope of scaling.
3. It should use technology in its core product or service, or business model, or distribution model, or methodology to solve the problem being targeted.
4. Preference would be given to startups creating innovative solutions.
5. Startup should not have received more than Rs 10 lakh of monetary support under any other Government scheme.
6. Shareholding by Indian promoters in the startup should be at least 51% at the time of application.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR INCUBATORS

1. The incubator should be a legal entity, i.e. either of the following entity:
   • Society registered or incorporated under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
   • Private Limited Company registered or incorporated under the applicable provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, or Companies Act, 1956.
   • Trust registered or incorporated under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882.
   • The statutory body created through an Act of the legislature. 
2. Incubators must be operational for at least two years prior to the date of filing the application. 
3. Incubators should have seating facilities of at least 25 individuals. 
4. Incubators should have at least five startups undergoing incubation physically prior to the date of filing the application. 
5. Incubators need to have a full-time Chief Executive Officer, experienced in entrepreneurship and business development and supported by a team capable and responsible for mentoring startups in validating and testing, legal, finance, and human resources functions. 
6. Incubators must not be disbursing seed funds to incubates using funding from any third-party private entity. 
7. The Central or State Governments should have assisted incubators.
8. In case the Central or State Governments have not assisted the incubators, they must satisfy the following conditions to be eligible:
   • Must be operational for a minimum of three years. 
   • Must have at least ten separate startups undergoing incubation physically on the date of application. 
   • Must give the audited annual reports for the last two years. 
9. Any additional criteria decided by the Experts Advisory Committee (EAC).

APPLICATION PROCEDURE FOR STARTUPS

The application procedure for availing the seed fund from the incubators by the startups under the SISFS are as follows:

1. Go to the official Startup India Seed Fund Scheme website.
2. Click on the ‘Login’ button on the top right-hand side of the homepage.
3. The ‘Login’ tab will open. Click on the ‘Create an Account’ option at the bottom of the tab.
4. The registration page of the ‘Startup India’ website will open.
5. Enter the name, email ID, mobile number, password, confirm the password and click on the ‘Register’ button.
6. An OTP will be sent to the applicants’ registered mobile numbers. Enter the OTP and click on the ‘Submit’ button.
7. Go to the official Startup India Seed Fund Scheme website and click on the ‘Apply Now’ button on the right-hand side of the homepage. 
8. Select the ‘Apply Now’ button under the ‘For Startups’ option and log in using the username and password registered on the Startup India website.
9. The application form will open. Enter all the details on the application form, upload the documents and click on the ‘Submit’ button.
10. Upon clicking on the ‘Submit’ button, the application will be submitted for selection of the startup for seed funding under the SISFS scheme.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE FOR INCUBATORS

The application procedure for incubators to apply for the SISFS are as follows:

1. Go to the official Startup India Seed Fund Scheme website.
2. Click on the ‘Login’ button on the top right-hand side of the homepage.
3. The ‘Login’ tab will open. Click on the ‘Create an Account’ option at the bottom of the tab.
4. The registration page of the ‘Startup India’ website will open.
5. Enter the name, email ID, mobile number, password, confirm the password and click on the ‘Register’ button.
6. An OTP will be sent to the applicant’s registered mobile number. Enter the OTP and click on the ‘Submit’ button.
7. Go to the official Startup India Seed Fund Scheme website and click on the ‘Apply Now’ button on the right-hand side of the homepage. 
8. Select the ‘Apply Now’ button under the ‘For Incubators’ option and log in using the username and password registered on the Startup India website.
9. Select the country, click on the input letterbox and click on the ‘Next’ option. 
10. The application form will open. Enter all the details in the application form and click on the ‘Save Profile’ button.
11. The profile will be sent to a moderator for approval. After approval, log in to the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme website.
12. Click on ‘Apply Now’ under the seed fund scheme. 
13. Enter the details in the application form such as general detail, incubator support detail, incubator team detail, fund requirement details, etc.
14. Upload the documents and click on the ‘Submit’ button.
15. On clicking the ‘Submit’ button, the incubator will have applied for the SISFS.