College and University Incubators in India
765 college and university incubators in India. Campus incubators sit inside a college, institute or university, so they tend to take earlier-stage teams and can give access to labs, faculty and student talent. Some admit only students and alumni while others take outside founders; check who each one is open to before you apply.
iStart Rajasthan
Rajasthan's government startup platform — registration, free incubation at Techno Hub and the iStart Nest centres, and the state's startup policy schemes.
NSRCEL, IIM Bangalore
IIM Bangalore's startup incubator: free programmes for founders at idea, prototype and growth stage, plus sector tracks in climate, mobility, fintech and healthcare.
IIM Calcutta Innovation Park
IIM Calcutta's Section 8 incubator running incubation, acceleration and rural-livelihood programmes from its Kolkata campus.
GUSEC
Gujarat University's zero-cost startup council in Ahmedabad, with co-working space, mentorship and a route into DST, MeitY and Gujarat government funding schemes.
IIT Mandi Catalyst
IIT Mandi's technology business incubator on its Kamand campus — Himachal Pradesh's first, running staged startup programmes alongside DST, MeitY and BIRAC-backed funding schemes.
Pusa Krishi, ICAR-IARI
Agri-business incubator run by ICAR-IARI on the Pusa campus in New Delhi, with incubation programmes for idea, prototype and MVP-stage agri startups plus short pre-incubation courses.
Pusa Krishi (ICAR-IARI)
The agribusiness incubator of ICAR-IARI in New Delhi, running cohort programmes for agriculture and agri-tech founders from idea stage to incubation.
SINE, IIT Bombay
SINE, IIT Bombay's technology business incubator since 2004, has backed 550+ startups including Gupshup, ideaForge and ImmunoACT, and now also runs Y-Point, its own early-stage deep-tech VC fund.
AIC Bamu Foundation
A campus incubator at Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, running pre-incubation and incubation for early-stage founders.
PSG-STEP
A technology business incubator at PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore, running since 1998 with DST, BIRAC, MeitY and StartupTN grant and seed-fund schemes across IT, electronics, biotech and nanotech.
Bhau Institute, COEP
Startup incubator at COEP Technological University in Pune, running physical, virtual and pre-incubation tracks plus DST and Maharashtra government funding programmes.
IIMA Ventures
IIM Ahmedabad's startup incubator and seed investor, formerly IIMA-CIIE (CIIE.CO), with offices in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Indore and Guwahati.
Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), IIIT Hyderabad
IIIT Hyderabad's technology business incubator, running three named incubators for deep tech, medtech and social-impact startups from its Gachibowli campus.
RIIDL, Somaiya Vidyavihar University
The incubator of Somaiya Vidyavihar University in Mumbai, open to outside founders as well as its own students, with five bookable labs and a spread of government and corporate funding programmes.
iTIC Incubator, IIT Hyderabad
IIT Hyderabad's deep-tech incubator, running pre-incubation, incubation and government-backed grant schemes for hardware and deep-tech founders.
Amrita Technology Business Incubator
A non-profit startup incubator run by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham from its Kollam, Bengaluru and Coimbatore campuses, open to founders across India.
IIMV FIELD
The incubation and startup hub of IIM Visakhapatnam, running women-focused, social and emerging-tech programmes from pre-incubation to acceleration.
VIT TBI
The technology business incubator at VIT Vellore, running DST NIDHI, BIRAC BioNEST and MeitY TIDE 2.0 grant programmes for deep-tech, biotech and ICT founders since 2003.
AIC–Nalanda Institute of Technology Foundation
An Atal Incubation Centre in Bhubaneswar running pre-incubation, acceleration and seed-fund tracks for Odisha's founders.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Startup support at IIT Madras in Chennai: the Incubation Cell, the Nirmaan pre-incubator and a biotech bioincubator. Campus founders come first; the Cell also lists outside entrepreneurs.
Indigram Labs Foundation
A DST-backed technology business incubator in New Delhi for agri, food, climate and rural-health startups.
DERBI Foundation
Healthcare and medtech incubator at Dayananda Sagar's DSU Innovation Campus in Bengaluru, created in 2015 with DST-NSTEDB support, running a PACE-GALLOP-EMERGE ladder plus a BIRAC BioNEST track and five national funding schemes.
AIC Banasthali
Atal Incubation Centre at Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan — an incubator for women-led startups in science, technology and deep tech.
FiiRE, Goa
Goa incubator for tourism, travel and hospitality startups, based at Don Bosco College of Engineering in Fatorda with coworking in Margao and Panaji.
FITT, IIT Delhi
FITT is IIT Delhi's industry interface and the body that runs the institute's startup incubator at Hauz Khas, backing deep-tech founders with campus space, faculty mentors, prototyping and bio labs, and a long list of government and corporate funding programmes.
AWaDH, IIT Ropar
IIT Ropar's DST technology innovation hub for agriculture and water, running deep-tech incubation, accelerators and a national CPS lab network from Rupnagar, Punjab.
Cultiv8
Cultiv8 is the technology business incubator of CIET in Coimbatore, running incubation and accelerator programmes for founders from idea stage to growth.
SKUAST Kashmir
Innovation and incubation centre of SKUAST Kashmir in Srinagar, running a startup incubation intake, BIRAC E-YUVA fellowships and agri-business accelerator cohorts.
Sardar Patel Technology Business Incubator (SP-TBI)
DST-listed technology business incubator on the Sardar Patel Institute of Technology campus in Andheri West, Mumbai.
AgHub
Agri and food-tech incubator at PJTAU, Hyderabad, running incubation, grant calls and rural spokes for founders, students and farmers.
Kongu Engineering College
DST-backed technology business incubator on the Kongu Engineering College campus in Erode, open to outside founders and Tamil Nadu MSMEs.
IIM Lucknow Enterprise Incubation Centre
IIM Lucknow's incubator at its Noida campus, running 24-month incubation, sector accelerators and three seed-funding routes for DPIIT-recognised technology startups.
IIITB Innovation Centre
IIIT Bangalore's startup incubator in Electronics City, running ATOM pre-incubation, Orbit incubation, FLASH acceleration and MeitY TIDE 2.0 grants — open to outside founders.
AIC SMUTBI
Atal Incubation Centre at Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, Rangpo — the first AIC in North-East India, running incubation and North East acceleration programmes.
AIC Shiv Nadar University
Atal Incubation Centre at Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida — a tech-agnostic, hardware-leaning incubator set up in 2017 with Atal Innovation Mission support, taking applications year-round.
JECRC Incubation Centre
Incubation centre at JECRC University, Jaipur — a MeitY TIDE 2.0 G2C centre running GENESIS grant routes for founders nationwide and a student-only incubation cohort.
Sri Sairam Techno Incubator Foundation
Campus incubator at Sri Sairam Engineering College, Chennai, open to students, faculty and outside founders across seven thrust areas.
AIC-Pinnacle Entrepreneurship Forum
Pune Atal Incubation Centre hosted by Pinnacle Industries, running pre-incubation, a 12-month incubation, a 6-month accelerator and a women founders' track in EV, cleantech, healthtech, AI and robotics.
MUTBI, Manipal
DST-recognised technology business incubator at Manipal Academy of Higher Education, running DST NIDHI and MeitY GENESIS programmes and open to founders from outside the university.
AIC RAISE
An Atal Incubation Centre in Coimbatore backing startups building toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
AIC Anna Incubator
Atal Incubation Centre hosted by Anna University in Guindy, Chennai, with a hardware prototyping lab, coworking and a recurring pitch competition run with PALS.
NaaViC, ICAR-NIVEDI
The agri-business incubation centre at ICAR-NIVEDI, Bengaluru, for animal health, veterinary and agri startups.
AIC-RNTU Foundation
An Atal Incubation Centre at Rabindranath Tagore University near Bhopal, running staged startup programmes and implementing several government seed-funding schemes.
AIC-ADT Baramati Foundation
Atal Incubation Centre for agri and allied startups at Baramati, with a makerspace, a NABL-accredited analytical lab and a food innovation lab.
AIC ISB
The Atal Incubation Centre on the ISB Mohali campus, running government-funded grant and fellowship calls for founders in Punjab and beyond.
KL Technology Incubators Foundation
The technology business incubator at KL (Deemed to be) University, Vaddeswaram, running pre-incubation, incubation, accelerator and MeitY-backed programmes for early-stage founders in Andhra Pradesh.
Sandip TBI
Not-for-profit technology business incubator on the Sandip Foundation campus in Nashik, running MeitY TIDE 2.0 programmes and paid incubation for Maharashtra founders.
Incubation Centre IIT Patna
IIT Patna's hardware incubator for ESDM and Medical Electronics startups, hosting DST NIDHI, DPIIT Seed Fund and MeitY GENESIS schemes.
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Choosing a college or university incubator in India
College and university incubators sit inside an institute, which shapes everything about them. They are often the most accessible route for first-time founders: they take earlier-stage teams, they can offer lab and workshop access, and they put you near faculty and student talent. For a deep-tech or hardware idea that came out of research, an institute incubator can be the only place that has the equipment you need.
The main question to settle is who is allowed in. Some campus incubators take only current students, alumni or faculty-led spin-outs, and others are open to outside founders. Some are tied to one institute's research areas, and some serve a wider region. The college and university incubators above include both kinds, so the eligibility on each profile matters more than the name of the institute.
Think about what you need from the campus. If it is a lab, ask exactly which equipment is available and how it is booked. If it is a network, ask how often mentors are on site. If it is credibility, ask how many startups have come through and what became of them. A well-known institute with a thin programme is a worse choice than a smaller one that gives you what you actually need.
The numbers on this page
- 765 of the 2755 organisations we list in India (28%) are tagged "Academic".
- By stage focus, the most common are Ideation (531), Validation (505) and Early Revenue (92).
- By sector, the most listed are Deep Tech (338), Social Impact (331) and Others (291).
- By state, most are in Tamil Nadu (134), Maharashtra (78) and Andhra Pradesh (73).
- By city, most are in Chennai (43), Hyderabad (41) and Delhi (34).
- Many are also tagged Incubator (712) and Government (87), so the same organisation can appear on more than one list.
- 126 of 765 offer coworking space on site.
What to ask a campus incubator
- Is it open to outside founders, or only to students, alumni and faculty?
- Which labs, workshops and equipment can a startup use, and how are they booked?
- Is there a desk or a dedicated space, or is it mainly mentoring?
- Does the incubator take equity, and does the institute claim any rights over what you build?
- How many startups has it supported, and are any still active?
- Does the programme run during the academic calendar, or all year?
Frequently asked questions
How many college and university incubators are there in India?
We list 765 college and university incubators in India, out of 2755 startup support organisations we list there. The count updates as profiles are added and verified.
Where in India are most college and university incubators based?
Counting the profiles on this page, most are in Tamil Nadu (134), Maharashtra (78) and Andhra Pradesh (73).
Can I join a college incubator in India if I am not a student there?
Some campus incubators accept outside founders and some do not. The eligibility is stated on each incubator's profile or application page, so check who it is open to before you apply.
Do college incubators take equity?
Practice varies. Some take a small stake, some charge a fee for space and services, and some take nothing. Ask for the terms in writing, including who owns intellectual property developed during the programme.