AIIH Foundation — Acropolis Innovation and Incubation Hub

Before you apply

• Have a proof of concept or a working prototype. AIIH screens for a build you can show, not an idea on a slide.
• Be able to say how you become fundable or self-sustaining within eighteen to twenty-four months. That window is written into the eligibility, so answer it directly.
• If you are already earning revenue and growing, say so. AIIH takes early-revenue and growth-stage startups as well as prototype-stage ones.
• Prepare a business plan. It is asked for with the application, not later.

Sorting out your legal status first

• You do not need a registered company to apply. Individuals and founding teams are welcome.
• Expect to convert to a private limited company during incubation. AIIH's eligibility describes this as a requirement inside a set timeframe, while its answers elsewhere describe it as a choice. Ask which applies to you before you sign anything.
• Plan for a founders agreement within three months of joining. If your founding team is unsettled, settle it early.

How selection works

• Applications are screened in more than one round before anyone meets you.
• Shortlisted teams present a business deck to a selection panel, so build the deck while you wait.
• A letter of intent with the terms comes before onboarding. Read it carefully, particularly the parts about fees and about any programme that involves equity or convertible instruments.
• Allow two to six weeks for a reply. Follow up after that rather than before.

What to check on the money side

• Core incubation is stated to be equity-free. Get that confirmed in writing for the specific programme you are joining.
• Incubation is paid, and AIIH does not publish its fee. Ask for the fee and what it covers before you commit.
• Funded or premium programmes may involve equity or convertible instruments. If someone offers you one of those, treat it as a separate decision.

Making the most of it once you are in

• The prototyping equipment is on the host college campus. If hardware is your bottleneck, ask up front which machines you can book and when.
• Being outside Indore is not a blocker. The programme is hybrid and AIIH runs virtual engagement for founders elsewhere, but you will get less out of the workshops and labs remotely.
• You will file monthly updates and quarterly reports to a review committee. Treat those as a free board review rather than paperwork.
• Ask to be introduced to the investment partners and to the intellectual property advisers early, not in your final quarter.

AIIH Foundation, which operates as the Acropolis Innovation and Incubation Hub (AIIH), is a technology business incubator on the Acropolis Group of Institutions campus in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. It is a registered Section 8 company, set up on 7 August 2024, and it is a separate body from the colleges that host it, including Acropolis Institute of Technology and Research. Its incubation programme is open to founders from outside the campus, not only to Acropolis students.

How incubation works

AIIH runs one published programme, called simply the Incubation Program. There are no cohort dates. You apply online whenever you are ready, attaching a business plan, and AIIH says it usually replies within two to six weeks.

Selection runs in stages. Applications are screened more than once, and shortlisted teams present a business deck to a selection panel. If you are taken on, AIIH issues a letter of intent setting out the terms, then you sign the incubation agreements and submit the paperwork to be onboarded. From there you get access to the facilities and to regular mentor sessions.

Incubation generally lasts between twelve and twenty-four months, depending on how the startup progresses. While you are in, you file monthly progress updates and quarterly detailed reports, and a review committee assesses them and gives guidance. You graduate when the company becomes self-sustaining, raises money, exits or reaches the end of its term, and you can leave early once one of those happens.

The programme is hybrid. AIIH gives physical access to workspace and labs where it can, and runs virtual engagement for founders based in other cities, so being in Indore is not a condition of taking part.

AIIH says it does not take equity for its core incubation support. It notes that certain funded or premium programmes may involve equity or convertible instruments, and that this is always explained in advance. The programme is not free: AIIH says its fees vary and asks founders to contact it for the details.

A second track called the Pre-Incubation Program is named on the programmes page, but AIIH has not published anything about who it is for or how it runs, so treat it as not yet open.

Who can apply

AIIH says it is for innovators, aspiring entrepreneurs, early-stage startups and technology-driven businesses. Nothing in its published eligibility limits the programme to students, alumni or Madhya Pradesh residents.

You are expected to be past the idea stage. AIIH looks for a proof of concept or a working prototype, with a path to becoming fundable or self-sustaining within eighteen to twenty-four months, or for a startup that is already at early revenue and growing.

You do not need to be incorporated to apply. AIIH welcomes individuals and founding teams as well as registered companies, and says non-corporate applicants can convert to a private limited company during incubation. Its eligibility list is firmer on this than its own answers elsewhere, describing conversion to a private limited company within a set timeframe as a requirement, so ask where you stand before you apply. Founders are also expected to sign a founders agreement within three months of entering incubation.

AIIH describes itself as sector agnostic with a preference for technology products. It says it prioritises ventures working on areas of national importance and aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and names deep tech, healthcare, agritech and smart cities among the areas it covers.

What you get

AIIH lists seven kinds of support: mentoring from industry practitioners, help with funding and financial planning, prototyping support, workspace, hiring and internship support, network access, and help protecting intellectual property. Network access is described as connections to mentors, industry experts and peers, professional support in accounting, intellectual property, legal and management matters, and introductions to students, faculty and markets for validating and entering a market. It also lists internet, labs, market access, demo events and workshops among the things incubated startups use.

Facilities

The workspace is furnished coworking with both flexible and fixed seating, plus private cabins, meeting rooms and an auditorium for events, with an onsite cafe, recreational areas and parking.

Prototyping runs through the campus Idea Lab, an AICTE-supported facility at Acropolis. The equipment shown includes 3D printers and a 3D scanner, laser cutting and engraving machines, a CNC router, a vinyl cutter, a lathe, a PCB prototyping machine, a drill machine, a digital oscilloscope, a drone kit, a robotic arm, a flexible manufacturing system and universal and impact testing machines. Meeting and event space on campus includes a conference hall, seminar hall, board room, presentation hall and two auditoriums. Much of this belongs to the host colleges and is reached through them rather than owned by the incubator.

Track record

AIIH's portfolio page names thirty-one ventures, sixteen of them marked as current and fifteen as past. Its home page counter gives a smaller figure, more than twenty startups, and its own startup grid shows twenty-one, so its published counts do not agree. Named ventures include Neuratantra AI, Exrnext, Pawsitivity, Viben, FixPoint Drishti and Genica Biosciences among the current ones, and Bookzy, Protonshub, MomsKart, Curexel, Visron, Lifespark Technologies, Flylab Solutions, LoadMee and Milletto and Nutto among the past ones. YouVah and Rewa Powertech also appear on its pages.

Who runs it

Atul Bharat is a director and describes more than thirty-two years in entrepreneurship education, incubation and investment facilitation. Anupama Modi is COO, with over a decade in the entrepreneurship ecosystem and certification as an entrepreneurship educator by the Wadhwani Foundation and PMYUVA. Dr Prabhav Joshi, an IIT Delhi alumnus, is programme manager and works on the early concept-to-prototype side. Sachin Mittal advises on intellectual property, and Dr Ravi Patel heads innovation and research. The board also includes Er Gaurav Sojatia, chairman of the Acropolis Group of Institutions, Namrata Sojatia and Shradha Sojatia. A governing council of eleven industry and academic figures gives strategic direction.

Partners

AIIH lists TiE Madhya Pradesh, the Indian STEP and Business Incubator Association, the Wadhwani Foundation and the IIT Bombay Alumni Chapter Indore as ecosystem partners. Technology partners include Andhra Pradesh Medtech Zone and AWaDH at IIT Ropar. Incubation partners include JITO Incubation and Innovation Foundation, Phi Hub at RRCAT and the SNDT Mumbai WISE incubator. Investment partners include Inflection Point Ventures, Campus Fund, Fluid Ventures, Ignition Capital, Mavin Ventures and Ezeseed. R K Dewan and Co and the BITS Pilani Technology Enabling Centre are named for intellectual property work, and CII, the CII Indian Women Network and the FICCI Ladies Organisation for industry links.

Where it is and how to reach it

AIIH is on the Acropolis campus at Gram Raukhedi, Mangaliya Lasudia, Indore 453771, on the Indore bypass road near Manglia Square. Enquiries go to the hub's own inbox rather than to any college office. AIIH also runs sessions and events for founders and students, including a pitch competition, and advertises its own vacancies in Indore, so there is a careers page worth checking if you want to work in the ecosystem rather than build in it.