CUSAT TBI (CUSATECH Foundation)

Pick the right route in

• Incubation at the TBI: this is a business centre on the CUSAT campus. The steps of the general incubation process are not readable as text on the site, so ask the TBI for them.
• The startup fund: check the RUSA Startup Fund page first. Both rounds we found have closed, so ask whether a new call is coming.

How grant applications work

• Download the application form from the CUSATECH Foundation website.
• Write a proposal covering the idea, its value proposition, the present status and the future potential.
• Split the grant request into expenditure heads.
• Send the application by email to the address named in the call, before the deadline.

How selection works

• A panel of experts shortlists applicants.
• Shortlisted founders present to a panel of industry representatives, startup experts and academics.
• Grants are paid in milestone tranches, and each later tranche needs a progress report.

What reviewers look for

• A useful idea or solution.
• Sound science or technology.
• Potential for growth.
• A team with the commitment and expertise to deliver.
• A business model with a clear path to viability.
• A clear plan for the grant money and realistic timelines.

Costs to plan for

• Grant money cannot pay founders' salaries or buy personal assets and gadgets.
• CUSAT alumni get special discounts on incubation charges.

CUSAT TBI is the technology business incubator of Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), in Kochi, Kerala. It is run by CUSATECH Foundation, a public company incorporated on 24 September 2019, and is based in Room No. 310 of the university's Administrative Building. It helps technology-based start-ups get the resources they need to grow into mature businesses.

What the TBI offers

The TBI gives incubatees a first place to operate, set up as a business centre. Its pages list help with technology, hands-on management, mentoring, business plan development, and exposure to venture and institutional capital. The TBI also covers the business and finance needs of a company that is starting and growing.

Campus facilities are part of the offer. RISE, the newer TBI space set up with RUSA support, includes a software and IT space that is leased to start-up firms. The biotech incubator has facilities that start-ups can use for a nominal charge. A FabLab, set up in association with Kerala Startup Mission, has 3D printers, CNC machines and other equipment for incubatees.

Who it is for

The incubation page says CUSAT has supported startups through its CITTIC centre for students. For the 2024 grant, the grant document says startups incubated elsewhere can apply if they plan to associate with the TBI if selected. The incubation pages do not state a rule for startups from outside CUSAT. CUSAT alumni get special discounts on incubation charges.

CUSAT says it permits its faculty to start their own startups in their research domains, under the university's entrepreneurship policies.

The CUSAT-RUSA Startup Fund

The CUSAT-RUSA Startup Fund is a non-refundable grant sponsored by CUSATECH Foundation and run through the TBI. It is paid in milestone-based tranches, and each later tranche needs a progress report and details of how the earlier money was used. The 2024 round is for Indian citizens who plan to incubate a new startup, or a new unit of an existing startup, at CUSAT. An earlier 2021 round also had an idea grant for CUSAT faculty, staff and students.

The grant cannot pay founders' salaries or buy personal assets and gadgets. It can be used for R&D work, fabrication, product promotion, hiring specialised people, product improvements and patent filing. The product grant is for startups that have finished a prototype or minimum viable product and are close to market. CUSAT may also ask that the product be installed on campus as one of the grant terms.

Both rounds we found have closed. The 2024 round asked for applications on or before 15 December 2023, and the 2021 round on or before 31 October 2021. Watch the RUSA page for the next call.

Scale

The incubation page says more than 150 startups operate out of CUSAT TBIs, in areas such as electronic hardware, biotechnology, marine science, polymers and software. The 2024 grant document gives a lower number, more than 68 startups incubated at CUSAT, and the 2021 document says more than 50. These are the TBI's own figures and they are not dated. We have not reconciled them.

Who runs it

CUSATECH Foundation's board lists a managing director and five directors. The managing director, Prof. (Dr.) M Junaid Bushiri, is also named as Vice Chancellor of CUSAT on the TBI team page. The TBI team is led by CUSAT faculty coordinators.

Location

Room No. 310, Administrative Building, CUSAT campus, Kochi 682022, Ernakulam, Kerala. The contact page lists separate phone lines for the TBI and for the bio incubator. The TBI also has its own website, separate from the foundation's, with pages for RISE, CITTIC, the FabLab, the bio incubator and the startup funding. The foundation's home page lists its contact hours as Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm.