ACIC KL Startups

Choose the right route

• Still shaping an idea or a student project: start with pre-incubation. It is designed for ideation-stage teams and students.
• Already have a proof of concept or prototype: apply to incubation.
• An aspiring community innovator aged 18 to 35: check the Community Innovator Fellowship, which runs with the Atal Innovation Mission and UNDP India.

How to apply

• Each programme has its own application form, linked from its page on the centre's website.
• For questions, write to acic.klstartups@kluniversity.in or call 08645 350200, extension 1795.

What to check before applying

• Incubation requires a registered business form or a commitment to register within a year, so confirm your entity status first.
• Incubation has a turnover ceiling for applicant startups, so check your latest financial year.
• Fellowship applicants must live within 30 km of Vijayawada or Guntur, unless they plan to complete the required community and centre hours.
• The site does not state intake dates for pre-incubation or incubation. Ask the centre directly before you plan around a cohort.

ACIC-KL Startups Foundation is the Atal Community Innovation Centre hosted at KL (Deemed to be) University, Vaddeswaram, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. It is supported by the Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, and aims to build innovation ecosystems in underserved regions by helping community innovators and early-stage founders turn ideas into products.

How programmes work

The centre runs a pre-incubation process for ideapreneurs, students and aspiring entrepreneurs. It lasts three to four months, runs in virtual or on-site mode, and covers mentor engagement, handholding from ideation to prototype, and masterclasses on IPR, market research, design thinking, business models and finance.

Its incubation programme is for early-stage startups that already have a proof of concept, prototype or working model. Support includes co-working space, lab and prototyping facilities, mentorship and advisory support, funding support and technical support.

The Community Innovator Fellowship is a one-year programme run with the Atal Innovation Mission and UNDP India. Fellows gain SDG awareness, entrepreneurial skills and life skills while they work on their idea, and receive a grant.

Who can apply

Pre-incubation is open to students, working professionals and budding entrepreneurs, including ideation-stage teams and startups with a proof of concept. Incubation is open to Indian citizens aged 18 and above. The startup must be registered as a company, partnership, LLP or another business form allowed under Indian law, or the application must be made in the names of all founders with registration to follow within a year. The fellowship is for aspiring community innovators aged 18 to 35 who hold at least a bachelor, diploma or degree, and it is aimed at people living within 30 km of Vijayawada or Guntur.

Facilities

The centre lists a co-working space, an ideation zone, a conference room, an IoT lab, a Makers Lab, a Rapid Fab Lab, an AR/VR lab and a PCB prototyping machine.

Scale

The site gives two different counts of startups. The homepage shows 154 startups, while the portfolio page shows 83 registered startups and 35 at idea stage. The homepage also reports a mentor pool of 42, 58 corporate partners and 17 academic partners. These figures are self-reported and are not reconciled, so treat them as approximate.

Who runs it

The organisation page names V. Ramankanth as CEO, K. Nageswara Rao as manager and Yakama Lavanya as incubation manager. The centre draws on an advisory board and a pool of mentors from industry, academia and the startup ecosystem.

Locations

The office is on the fifth floor of L-Block at the KL University Green Fields campus in Vaddeswaram, Andhra Pradesh 522502. The fellowship draws on communities around Vijayawada and Guntur.