Amrita Technology Business Incubator

Pick the right route in

Amrita TBI runs several distinct programmes rather than one single application. Start by matching your stage to the right one:

• Just have an idea: NIDHI-PRAYAS (a prototype-stage grant) or the general Startup Incubation Program.
• Software or IT product, any stage from idea to first customers: the Accelerator.
• DPIIT-recognised, under two years old, with a technology component: the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme.
• Already have a pilot order from a large corporate, PSU or unicorn: the MeitY GENESIS Pilot Program.
• Already raising external investment: the MeitY GENESIS Matching Investment Funding programme, which matches funds you raise during its acceleration program.
• Revenue-generating and want a Silicon Valley push: the Amrita TBI x Berkeley SkyDeck Accelerator Program.

How applications work

• Every programme has its own online application form, linked from that programme's own page.
• The Startup Incubation Program itself takes applications on a rolling basis all year, so there is no deadline to time your application around.
• Other programmes — the Accelerator, PitchFest, NIDHI-EIR, the MeitY GENESIS tracks — run on their own intake windows. Check the specific programme page for the current deadline before you apply, since these change through the year.
• Virtual incubation is available, so you do not need to be based in Kerala, Karnataka or Tamil Nadu to apply for incubation.

Who is eligible

• Most programmes are open to any startup in India — you do not need to be a student or alumnus of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham to apply for incubation, the accelerator, PitchFest, the Seed Fund Scheme or the Berkeley SkyDeck program.
• The Innovation Challenge and the Student Brand Ambassador programme are the exceptions — both are specifically for Amrita's own students.
• For the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme, you need to be DPIIT-recognised and incorporated no more than two years before you apply, with a technology component in your product, service, business model or distribution model.
• For the Berkeley SkyDeck program, Amrita TBI says startups with revenue above a threshold are preferred, and the founding team is expected to commit fully for the six-month program, based at SkyDeck in person or remotely.

Before you apply

• Read the specific programme page, not just the homepage. Amrita TBI runs several similarly named grant tracks (NIDHI-EIR and the newer MeitY GENESIS EIR are different schemes with different grant amounts), so check you're applying to the one that matches what you need.
• For the accelerator, expect a staged process: you submit an online pitch, a selection committee reviews shortlisted startups, accepted teams go through the acceleration program and are also incubated, and the program ends with a Demo Day pitch to investors.
• For grant schemes tied to NIDHI, MeitY or DPIIT, expect your application to be evaluated against that scheme's own government guidelines, since Amrita TBI is implementing a national programme rather than running a purely internal one.

Amrita Technology Business Incubator (Amrita TBI) is a non-profit startup incubator run by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, a private university, with its main campus at Amritapuri in Kollam, Kerala, and additional locations at the university's Bengaluru and Coimbatore campuses. It supports founders through incubation, mentoring and access to government funding schemes, and takes both physical incubatees at its three campuses and virtual incubatees who can operate from anywhere in India.

Who they support

Amrita TBI works with startups from idea stage through to growth stage. Its incubation program is open through the year on a rolling basis, and virtual incubation means a founder does not need to relocate to Kerala, Karnataka or Tamil Nadu to take part. Its accelerator track is aimed specifically at information technology and software startups, while other tracks are pitched at hardware and deep-tech founders, and one grant scheme prefers applicants working on social impact, waste management, water management, financial inclusion, education, agriculture, food processing, biotechnology or healthcare. Most of its programmes are open to any Indian startup rather than restricted to students or alumni of the university; a small number of activities, such as its innovation challenge and its student brand ambassador programme, are explicitly for Amrita's own student body.

Programmes

Amrita TBI runs its own Startup Incubation Program, offering physical incubation at its three campuses or virtual incubation, and says incubated startups can raise funding through its investment initiatives. Alongside this sits its own six-month Accelerator for software and IT startups, which does not take equity for participation, and Amrita TBI PitchFest, a pitch event that connects startups with venture capitalists and executives.

As an implementing partner for national schemes, Amrita TBI runs NIDHI-PRAYAS, a grant scheme for turning an idea into a prototype, and the older NIDHI-Entrepreneur-in-Residence programme, both backed by the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board. It is also one of ten NIDHI-EIR centres selected nationally. Under the MeitY Startup Hub's GENESIS scheme, Amrita TBI implements three separate tracks on the ministry's behalf: a Matching Investment Funding programme that matches external investment a startup raises during a six-month acceleration program, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence track that provides a subsistence grant, and a Pilot Program that funds startups with a live pilot order from an established corporate, PSU or unicorn partner. Amrita TBI is also a DPIIT partner incubator for the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme, open to startups incorporated within the last two years with a technology component to their product or service.

A more recent addition is the Amrita TBI x Berkeley SkyDeck Accelerator Program, run jointly with UC Berkeley's SkyDeck accelerator. It is sector-agnostic and open to Indian startups with global ambitions; the founding team is expected to be based at SkyDeck, in person or remotely, for the duration of the program, and UC Berkeley affiliation is not required. Amrita TBI has also run a since-closed MSME program under the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, for startups and SMEs registered in Kerala, and an Innovation Challenge aimed specifically at students.

Facilities and support

The Amrita TBI Fab Lab gives incubatees prototyping and testing equipment, including 3D printing, PCB printing, CNC machines, IoT kits and networking devices, alongside a separate Interactive Electronics lab and a NextGen Lab offering high-performance computing and networking infrastructure for testing products. Co-working space is available at all three campuses, with high-speed networking, IT support and shared meeting rooms, and startups incubated there also get access to more than 100 multidisciplinary labs across Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham more broadly.

Beyond space and equipment, Amrita TBI connects incubated startups with a network of investor partners that includes Ah! Ventures, Ankur Capital, Indian Angel Network and Gazelle Ventures, offers one-to-one mentorship from mentors based in India, Silicon Valley and Singapore, and gives incubatees access to a large pool of engineering and management students from the university for internships. Incubatees below a turnover threshold can also apply for GST exemption on their revenue for a period of three years. Amrita TBI's Chief Mentor is Dr. P. Venkat Rangan, the university's Vice Chancellor.

Track record

Amrita TBI's own pages give different counts for how many startups it has incubated, ranging from just over 200 to more than 300, depending on which page is read, so no single figure is stated here. It says its incubated startups have collectively raised significant external funding from investors and venture capital firms and have filed multiple patents between them. Startups that have come through Amrita TBI and gone on to raise further funding, according to its own pages, include the conversational AI company Yellow Messenger, relocation platform HappyLocate, and clean-energy startup EMO Energy; home-automation company MiQasa was acquired by Smartron. In 2017, Amrita TBI received the National Award for Best Startup Incubator in India, an award conferred by the President of India, and it says The Economic Times listed it among the top five most prolific startup incubators in the country in 2015. It is also one of six incubators selected to be developed further under the Atal Innovation Mission, run by NITI Aayog.

How to apply

Each programme has its own application form, linked from that programme's own page and gathered together on a central apply page on the Amrita TBI website. The Startup Incubation Program accepts applications on a rolling basis throughout the year, so there is no fixed intake window to plan around. Other programmes, including the accelerator, PitchFest and the various NIDHI and MeitY GENESIS tracks, open and close periodically; a founder interested in one of these should check the specific programme page for its current deadline before applying, since intake windows change through the year. General queries can be sent to Amrita TBI's info email, listed on every page of its site.