FiiRE

Choose the right route

• TourismTech startup with a ready prototype and a full-time founder: FiiRE's own incubation programme.
• First-generation graduate with a technology idea and no income: NIDHI-EIR, when a cohort opens.
• Individual innovator or young startup building a first physical prototype: NIDHI-PRAYAS.
• TourismTech startup already incubated at FiiRE for at least three months: the NIDHI Seed Support System.
• DPIIT-recognised startup less than two years old: the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme, applied for on the national portal with FiiRE Goa as your chosen incubator.
• Just need a desk in Goa: FiiREWork coworking, which does not require incubation.

How applications work

• Each programme has its own online application form, linked from its page.
• FiiRE does not publish intake dates for most programmes. Check the programme page and the investments page, and expect them to disagree on whether something is open.
• The investments page marks GENESIS EIR and the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme as completed, so confirm with FiiRE before preparing an application for either.
• For anything the pages leave unclear, write to reachus@fiire.org.in.

How selection works

• The incubation programme runs an online application, a panel assessment, a feedback session, a screening meeting by video call or in person, final confirmation and induction.
• The NIDHI-EIR page asks for a formal business plan and presentation.
• The schemes publish their selection steps only in part. Ask FiiRE what comes after the form.

What reviewers look for

• A solution that can scale across markets.
• An innovative answer to a significant problem in tourism.
• A full-time founder with proven experience in the market they are targeting.
• A minimum viable prototype that is ready now, not planned.
• For PRAYAS, a physical, technology-based prototype and ownership or usage rights over the IP.

Before you apply

• Check your ownership: several schemes need Indian promoters or citizens to hold at least 51%.
• Check prior funding. The schemes limit how much earlier government or outside funding you can have received, and NIDHI-EIR stops its stipend once outside funding arrives.
• GENESIS EIR's pages give two different limits on how old a startup can be. Do not rely on either without asking.

FiiRE, short for Forum for Innovation Incubation Research & Entrepreneurship and styled FiiRE Goa, is a startup incubator in Goa. It describes itself as an incubator supported by the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, and it operates from the Don Bosco College of Engineering in Fatorda. Its own incubation programme is built around TourismTech, meaning startups in sustainability, hospitality and travel, and it also runs a coworking brand, FiiREWork, with a second centre in Margao.

How FiiRE programmes work

FiiRE runs two kinds of programme. The first is its own incubation programme, which gives early-stage TourismTech startups mentorship, workspace and access to investors. The site lists monthly incubation fee plans in three tiers, and it does not describe any equity terms for the programme. Selection follows an online application, an assessment by an internal panel, a feedback session, a screening meeting by video call or in person, final confirmation and induction.

The second kind is government schemes that FiiRE delivers as the host incubator. These include the NIDHI Entrepreneurs-in-Residence programme, NIDHI-PRAYAS, the NIDHI Seed Support System, the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme and the MeitY GENESIS Entrepreneur in Residence programme. Each has its own eligibility rules, and most application forms sit on a third-party application platform linked from the programme page.

FiiRE does not publish intake dates for most of these. The programme pages rarely say whether a batch is open, and FiiRE's own investments page labels several of them as completed. The programme entries below say what each page shows and where the site contradicts itself.

Who can apply

For the incubation programme, FiiRE looks for a solution that can scale across markets, an innovative approach to a significant challenge in the tourism sector, a full-time founder with proven expertise in the market it serves, and a ready minimum viable prototype.

The schemes ask for different people. NIDHI-EIR is for first-generation entrepreneurs who hold a science or engineering degree, have no prior source of income and will work on the venture full time; final-year students cannot apply. NIDHI-PRAYAS is for individual innovators and for startups under seven years old that want to build a first physical prototype. The NIDHI Seed Support System is open only to TourismTech startups that have already completed at least three months of incubation at FiiRE, physical or virtual. The Startup India Seed Fund Scheme is for DPIIT-recognised startups that are less than two years old. GENESIS EIR was limited to applicants from Tier II and Tier III cities.

FiiRE's pages give no age, registration or citizenship rule for its own incubation programme.

Programmes that are closed or between intakes

Several entries on the site are no longer taking applications or show no live batch. GENESIS EIR is marked as a completed programme on the investments page. The Startup India Seed Fund Scheme is also marked completed there, although the scheme page still points to the national portal, where a startup selects FiiRE Goa as its incubator. The MSME Idea Hackathon 5.0, for which FiiRE was a host institute, closed applications on 14 July 2025, though the investments page still calls it an active programme. NIDHI-EIR is listed as an upcoming third cohort with no dates, and the NIDHI-PRAYAS page is for the 2024 edition without saying whether it is open.

FiiRE also ran the Goa Tourism Accelerator, a 16-week incubation programme for TourismTech startups. The 2021 cohort drew more than 50 startups, and 14 of them received incubation. The site mentions a 2022 cohort and lists no later batch.

FiiRE says it was selected as a recipient of the HDFC Bank Parivartan SmartUp Grant and uses it to support startups in social-impact sectors such as environmental conservation, affordable healthcare, rural economy and gender inclusion. The page gives no application route.

Coworking and facilities

FiiREWork is FiiRE's coworking offer. The Fatorda headquarters was its first workspace, and the coworking page lists a Margao centre and a Panaji workspace as well. It offers open desks, cabins, fixed and flexible seats and day passes, along with meeting rooms, an auditorium, a cafe and community events. Coworking is open to freelancers, startups, small businesses and enterprise teams, not only to incubated startups, and seat plans and terms are not published. Incubated startups pay a monthly desk fee for their coworking space.

The coworking page counts three locations, but the site publishes addresses for only two of them: the Fatorda headquarters and the Margao centre. The pages also give different figures for floor area, so we have left them out.

Scale

These figures are FiiRE's own and are not audited. Its homepage counts more than 250 startups supported and 63 funded, while older blocks on its programme pages still say more than 180 supported and 52 funded. The homepage says the 63 funded startups raised money through seed funds and equity grant programmes. It counts more than 2,500 coworking community members and more than 100 events hosted, though a second block on the same page gives different counts for events and competitions.

FiiRE's team page says its leadership has helped launch over 3,000 enterprises and 100 startups in Goa over two decades. That is a claim about the team's earlier work, and it is not dated.

Who runs it and where it is

The site does not state FiiRE's legal form. It names a CEO and a director on its team pages, and it says it operates from the Don Bosco College of Engineering rather than being part of it. FiiRE says it is a NIDHI Seed Support System facilitator under the Department of Science & Technology and a selected incubator under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme.

The headquarters is at the Don Bosco College of Engineering, behind the PWD office, in Fatorda, Goa. The second centre is at the Old Presentation Convent on Adeodato Barreto Road in Nehrunagar, Madgaon (Margao), opposite Holy Spirit Church. The incubation programme is open to founders from across India, and its focus is Goa-based TourismTech.