IIT Bombay technology business incubator plans to launch Rs 100-crore VC fund

MUMBAI: IIT Bombay's technology business incubator Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (SINE) on Thursday said it is planning to launch a Rs 100-crore VC fund to support deep tech startups and those in areas of national importance amid plans to scale up the number of startups it supports over four-fold to 1,000 over the next 10 years.

This fund will be a game-changer, building on SINE's 20-year track record of supporting 245 start-ups -- with a survival rate of over 80 per cent as against low survivability rate (20 per cent) among startups in the early-stages of growth -- that have collectively raised USD 942 million and are valued at USD 3.56 billion, SINE said.

Besides, it has handheld another 60-odd incubators nationwide under central government schemes. It offers resources such as shared workspaces, prototype labs, access to high-end IIT Bombay labs, technical expertise, mentoring, and access to funding. The fund will focus on science, biotech, space, defense, and other national priority sectors to drive innovation, the technology business incubator said.

"SINE plans to scale up the number of startups it supports over four-fold to 1,000 over the next 10 years. To give further impetus to this plan, SINE plans to launch a Rs 100 crore Venture Capital (VC) fund to support deep tech startups and those in areas of national importance," it said.

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After it gets the necessary regulatory approvals, SINE aims to approach IIT Bombay alumni, many of whom are leaders in their respective fields, to raise subscriptions for the proposed fund, the platform said.

"When SINE was founded, India's startup ecosystem was in its infancy. As the ecosystem grew and gained momentum over the years, we evolved alongside it, providing vital early-stage support to more than 1,000 entrepreneurs in their initial phases of their journeys," said Santosh J Gharpure, professor-in-charge at the platform.

Its current incubated companies include Haystack Analytics (genomics for clinical decisions), SustLabs (sustainable energy tech), Babblebots.ai (Voice AI for interviews), Inspecity (space technology), and Lifespark Technologies (mobility solutions for Parkinson's patients), among others in diverse domains, according to the platform.

"To have a scale impact, India needs to go from 100 startups per million population to 1,000," SINE CEO Shaji Varghese said. "We focus on supporting early-stage tech startups, particularly in the product hardware space, where the market is still evolving, and challenges are significant," said Milind Atrey, Deputy Director (Academics, Research and Translation) at IIT Bombay.