Department of Innovation, Incubation and Start-ups, Government of Assam

Start with MASI

Almost everything the state offers runs off MASI, the My Assam Startup ID. Apply for it before you go looking for a funding window, because the prototype grant, the seed fund and the venture fund all require it. The only window that does not is the ideation grant, which runs through Entrepreneurship Development Cells at colleges and universities.

The MASI form can be saved part way through, so gather your documents first rather than starting cold. It asks for the entity profile, contact and authorised representative details, leadership, the business model, your stage and funding history, supporting documents and self-declarations.

Check the Assam condition honestly

The single question that decides most applications is whether you clear the state gate. Either the entity is registered in Assam, or it is registered elsewhere and employs — or commits to employ — at least twenty-five percent of its qualified workforce from Assam, not counting contractual staff. There is no way around this for the state's own instruments.

The other conditions are: one of the four permitted entity types, incorporated no earlier than ten years ago, turnover under the policy ceiling in any preceding financial year, demonstrable innovation in the product, process or business model, and not a split-up, reconstruction or extension of an existing business or family enterprise. DPIIT recognition under Startup India satisfies the recognition test on its own.

Pick the window that matches your stage

The instruments are stage-ordered and the department says so plainly, so applying to the wrong one wastes a cycle. The grant call form warns that applications submitted under an inappropriate funding category may not be considered for evaluation.

• Validating a concept or building a proof of concept: the ideation route through your institution's Entrepreneurship Development Cell.
• Building a working prototype or MVP: the prototype development grant, with a larger ceiling for deep tech.
• A tested product that needs capital to grow: the Assam Startup Seed Fund, which takes equity or a convertible instrument.
• Raising a larger round: the venture capital fund routed through SIDBI Venture Capital.

If you are outside Assam, look at the challenge

The North East Seva First Innovation Challenge is national. It takes startups, companies, LLPs, other registered entities, individual innovators, teams, researchers, professionals and student teams, working alone or in a team of up to five with one named lead applicant. DPIIT recognition is not mandatory for it. There are two ways in: responding to a published problem statement from a government department or industry partner, or an open innovation route across technology, non-technology innovation and social impact.

If you already applied under the earlier Assam grant call, the challenge's own guidance says that application is carried across and you do not need to send it again.

What reviewers look for

The challenge publishes its assessment criteria: problem fit, innovation and merit, maturity, feasibility, impact, and the team and its presentation. The route runs from registration and choice of challenge, through eligibility screening and expert evaluation, to a finale where shortlisted teams present.

For the grant call, put real work into the sections that carry the argument — the problem statement, what makes the solution innovative, market size and competitors, the validation and traction you can show, how you plan to use the money, and the jobs and social or economic impact you expect. The form also asks how your work lines up with the state's priority sectors, so say it explicitly rather than leaving it to be inferred.

A pitch deck is the one upload you cannot skip, and it has to be a PDF. Convert a PowerPoint before you upload it, keep every file within the size limit, and if you share a demo link make sure anyone with the link can open it — a restricted link cannot be opened during review.

Practical notes

Funds are released in one or several tranches against milestones agreed before the sanction, so plan your spend against milestones you can actually hit. If the foundation invests or provides managed services it takes a small equity stake, capped in the policy — read that clause before you sign.

A fifth of the fund is reserved for women, tribal and rural entrepreneurs, each defined precisely in the policy, so check whether you qualify and say so.

There is no published phone number or general email address. Use the contact form on the site, or the query inbox named on a specific programme's page.

The Department of Innovation, Incubation and Startups (DIIS) is the Government of Assam's nodal department for startups. It sets policy, coordinates across other state departments and monitors how the ecosystem is doing. The day-to-day work — recognising startups, running funding windows, managing incubation centres and signing partnerships — is done by the Assam Innovation & Startup Foundation (AISF), a Section 8 not-for-profit company that acts as the department's operational arm from an office beside Pragjyotika, the Assam Emporium, in Ambari, Guwahati.

That split matters when you are trying to work out who to deal with. DIIS is the department; AISF is the body you apply to, whose team reviews your application and whose managers you meet. A third name you will run into is Assam Startup – The Nest, the Guwahati incubation centre the state set up earlier, which the current policy describes as an ecosystem integrator offering coworking space, mentoring and networking. Satellite incubation centres are being added around it in a hub-and-spoke model so that support reaches founders outside Guwahati, and partner incubators and accelerators are empanelled to run domain programmes without duplicating buildings.

MASI recognition comes first

MASI stands for My Assam Startup ID. It is a unique identification number issued to startups that register on the Assam Startup Portal and are approved under the state policy, and it is the gate to most of what follows. You apply on an online form that you can save and come back to; it asks for the entity profile, contacts, the authorised representative, leadership, business model, stage and funding history, documents and a set of self-declarations. Once you are approved, your first login uses your registered email as the ID and your MASI ID as the password, and you are asked to change it.

MASI is current, and it is the name the department uses today. It is also how you get into the public directory of recognised startups, which anyone can browse and filter by sector.

Who can apply

This is a state scheme and most of it is gated on Assam. To count as a startup under the policy you must be a private limited company, a one person company, a limited liability partnership or a registered partnership firm, and you must either be recognised as a startup by DPIIT under Startup India or meet the policy's own conditions: incorporated no earlier than ten years before you apply, and turnover under the policy ceiling in any preceding financial year. On top of that, the entity has to be registered in Assam, or registered outside Assam and employing — or committing to employ — at least twenty-five percent of its total qualified workforce from Assam, excluding contractual staff. You also have to show real innovation in the product, process or business model, and the entity must not have been formed by splitting up or reconstructing an existing business or family enterprise.

A fifth of the overall fund is reserved for women, tribal and rural entrepreneurs, and the policy defines each of those precisely. A women-led startup means at least 51 percent of capital owned and controlled by women at registration, a third of equity retained after investment, and a third of board voting rights.

The one current exception to the Assam gate is the North East Seva First Innovation Challenge, which states plainly that it is open to applicants from anywhere in India and is not restricted to the North-East.

How the funding ladder works

The policy puts four instruments in a line, and the shape of the support changes as you move along it. An Ideation Grant is for someone validating a concept or building a proof of concept, and it is offered at the pre-incubation stage through Entrepreneurship Development Cells in colleges, universities and technical institutes across Assam — the one window where MASI is not required yet. A Prototype Development Grant funds materials and product testing so a startup can build a minimum viable product, with a larger ceiling for deep-tech teams whose development cycles run longer. After that the instrument becomes equity: the Assam Startup Seed Fund invests directly or co-invests alongside angels and venture funds in startups with a tested product, and the Startup Venture Capital Fund provides growth capital through the Assam Venture Capital Fund managed by SIDBI Venture Capital. MASI is required for the prototype grant, the seed fund and the venture fund.

Money is released in one tranche or in several against milestones agreed before the sanction, with each tranche following the one before it. AISF caps the shareholding it takes through seed funding or managed services at four percent of issued and paid-up share capital on a fully diluted basis.

Beyond the cheque there is patent and trademark support through an IP facilitation cell, with filing costs reimbursed after a patent is granted, a share of the cost of approved overseas trade fairs and exhibitions, and help reaching interest-rate subsidies, credit guarantees and concessional finance under central and state schemes. Because the state policy is aligned with DPIIT, a DPIIT-recognised startup in Assam can also use the central Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups and apply for the Section 80-IAC income tax exemption if eligible.

Mentors, partners and programmes

AISF runs a mentor network you can book against: mentors set weekly availability, and a registered startup picks an open slot and says why before sending the request. Its shared services platform connects startups to domain experts in finance, technology, marketing, supply chain and human resources. Corporate partners offer benefits to registered startups, with eligibility and approval sitting with each partner; the foundation has signed an agreement with HDFC Bank under that bank's Startup Buildup initiative and a partnership with Link Innovations for acceleration and market access.

Programmes and events run through the year — investor connects, mentor connect days, incubator stakeholder meets, a knowledge series on things like intellectual property and technology readiness, and district workshops with Startup India. Most of the listings on the programmes page are past events, so check the news page for what is open before you plan around one.

Where it is

AISF is at Ambari in Guwahati, beside Pragjyotika, the Assam Emporium. There is no published phone number and no general email address on the site; queries go through the contact form. The site publishes no careers page.