Gujarat Student Startup and Innovation Hub (i-Hub)

Pick the right route in

i-Hub runs several separate programmes rather than one funnel, so start by matching your stage to the right one:

• You have an idea or a proof of concept and want seed money: apply to Startup Srujan Seed Support (S4).
• You want full incubation support over a longer stretch: apply to Startup Grow.
• You have a solution to a specific industry problem statement: check the current Mind to Market (M2M) sector challenges.
• You're a woman founder: look at WEstart's four tracks — Initiate, Ascent, Cruize and WEnture — and pick the one matching your stage.
• You need help protecting or licensing IP: go to the IP Facilitation Centre.
• You want investor introductions: apply for Startup RISE ahead of the annual Startup Conclave.
• You just have a question or want a mentor: use Startup Clinic or Startup Engage; both are rolling, no deadline.

Who is eligible

Most i-Hub grant and challenge programmes (Srujan, M2M) set the same base eligibility: any innovator or startup up to 35 years old, connected to Gujarat as a current student, alumnus, or dropout of a Gujarat school, college or university. Startup Manak narrows this further to SSIP beneficiaries who are students or alumni within 5 years of graduating.

How applications work

• Startup Srujan runs in cohorts with its own deadline each round — check the current cohort's dates on the programme page before applying.
• Startup Grow, Startup Clinic, Startup Engage and SSIP Samajh (travel support) don't list fixed deadlines; they accept applications on a rolling basis.
• Startup RISE opens ahead of each year's Startup Conclave event in Gandhinagar.
• For a quick question about any programme, email the programme-specific address listed on its page rather than the general support inbox — it reaches the team faster.

Before you apply

• Have your stage clear in your head. i-Hub's own forms ask you to classify yourself as Ideation, Proof of Concept, Prototype/MVP, Early Revenue or Growth/Scaling, so know which one fits before you start the form.
• Check the Gujarat/student link first. Several programmes are restricted to founders with a current or recent connection to a Gujarat institution — confirm you qualify before investing time in an application.
• For Startup Manak, come with an MVP. It's built for testing and certification once you already have something working, not for earlier-stage ideas.

Gujarat Student Startup and Innovation Hub, known as i-Hub, is a Section 8 non-profit company set up under Gujarat's Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP), run by the Education Department, Government of Gujarat. It is based at the KCG Campus in Navrangpura, Ahmedabad.

What they support

i-Hub works with student innovators and startups from Gujarat, from a first idea through to early revenue. Several of its programmes set an age cap of 35 and ask that applicants be current students, alumni (usually within five years of graduating) or dropouts of a Gujarat-based school, college or university. Its incubated-startup directory spans a wide range of sectors, including deep technology, clean technology, agritech, biotechnology, healthcare, ICT, fintech, manufacturing and defence, so the hub is not narrowed to any one sector.

Programmes

Startup Srujan Seed Support (S4) is i-Hub's main grant programme. It gives seed grant support to innovators and startups moving from a proof of concept to the product or market stage, and is run in cohorts.

Startup Grow is the full incubation track: an 18-month programme, extendable by six months, that bundles mentorship, networking, IPR support, co-working space, access to funding and grants, meeting and conference rooms, and capacity-building sessions. Startups that complete it receive a certificate from a recognised government university.

Mind to Market (M2M) is an open innovation challenge that invites ideas against sector-specific problem statements, including dedicated Defence and Energy tracks run with sponsors such as GUVNL and NTPC. Selected proposals get grant support and mentorship.

WEstart is i-Hub's programme for women founders, with four parts: WEstart Initiate, a one-month capacity-building programme for early-stage startups; WEstart Ascent, three months of pre-incubation followed by nine months of incubation for scale-stage startups; WEstart Cruize, a nine-month incubation track; and WEnture, run jointly with WE Hub, the Government of Telangana's women's incubator, as an online pre-incubation and incubation programme for women founders from both states.

The Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre (IPFC) is a state-level IP support desk housed at i-Hub. It helps with IP registration, commercialisation and technology transfer, and offers a national IP filing grant to innovators and startups.

Startup RISE is i-Hub's investor-pitching track, run as part of the annual Startup Conclave in Gandhinagar. It puts startups from any Indian state, at any stage from ideation to growth, in front of investors through pitching sessions, alongside workshops, a startup exhibition and a hackathon.

Alongside these, i-Hub runs three ongoing mentoring services. Startup Clinic empanels legal, accounting, technology and marketing experts, plus peer entrepreneurs, and matches them to startups with specific questions. Startup Engage gives founders a more direct line to the i-Hub team and outside experts to work through challenges online. Startup Manak connects startups that have reached MVP stage with R&D and testing labs for product testing and certification, at reduced or no cost, for students and alumni of Gujarat institutions. SSIP Samajh offers travel support to SSIP-backed teams selected for national or international accelerators, hackathons or competitions, reviewed by a state-level expert committee.

Facilities and support

i-Hub gives resident startups a co-working space at The First by Synthesis Spacelinks in Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, with round-the-clock security and backup power, close to BRTS, AMTS and Metro connections.

Who runs it

i-Hub's board is chaired by senior Gujarat IAS officers from the Education Department, alongside the heads of EDII and NID, and directors drawn from industry, including Troikaa Pharmaceuticals and the P C Snehal Group. Its advisory committee includes Dr R A Mashelkar, the AICTE chairman, the managing director of the Atal Innovation Mission, and startup-ecosystem figures such as the Indian Angel Network's Saurabh Srivastava and Infosys co-founder Senapathy "Kris" Gopalakrishnan. Day-to-day operations are led by a CEO and CFO, supported by Officers on Special Duty for the Ahmedabad campus, administration and a Surat regional office, and by incubation, acceleration and programme teams.

Locations

i-Hub's registered office and campus are at Pragna Puram, KCG Campus, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad. Its team page also names an Officer on Special Duty for a Surat regional centre.

How to apply

There is no single application portal. Each programme has its own route in: Startup Srujan applicants use the process detailed on its own page, Startup Grow applicants can write to i-Hub's incubation team or call the listed number, Mind to Market applicants pick a sector challenge on the M2M page, and Startup RISE applicants fill a form ahead of the annual Startup Conclave.