FSID, IISc

About FSID, IISc

The Foundation for Science, Innovation and Development (FSID) is a Section 8 (not-for-profit) company incorporated in August 2020 and promoted by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. It carries forward over 25 years of IISc's innovation-and-entrepreneurship heritage — previously housed under the Society for Innovation & Development (SID) — and today operates as one of India's most credible deep science incubators.

FSID is structured as four symbiotic entities:

• STEM Cell — the flagship deep science/tech incubator, open to all (not just IISc alumni)
• CORE — engages large corporations in collaborative R&D with IISc faculty
• TIME² — works with mid-size enterprises to accelerate disruptive innovation
• SEED — supports rural entrepreneurship, particularly in agricultural waste management

STEM Cell Incubator

STEM Cell is domain-agnostic and accepts applications throughout the year. It receives roughly 400 applications annually and selects approximately 20 deep-tech startups per cohort. Around 45% of incubatees come from outside IISc, making it genuinely open to the broader Indian startup ecosystem. Over the years, FSID has built a portfolio of nearly 140 startups tackling problems where the science is hard, timelines are long, and stakes are planetary.

Funding & Support

Incubatees can access:

• Up to ₹1 crore in seed funding through grants and equity-linked instruments
• Under the Nidhi Seed Support Scheme: ₹25 lakh to ₹50 lakh via equity-linked instruments (requires DPIIT registration and ≥51% Indian promoter shareholding)
• Rental-free physical workspace on the IISc campus
• Access to IISc labs and research infrastructure
• Technical and business mentors from IISc faculty and industry
• Cloud credits from partner organisations
• Working capital and debt funding access through partner networks
• Group medical insurance for founders and employees

FSID is also building its own dedicated deep-tech fund with a target corpus of approximately $25 million, which could scale to $50 million if matched under the government's R&D Innovation Fund — signalling a significant step up in follow-on support.

Who Should Apply

STEM Cell is best suited for founders building on genuinely hard science — materials, biotech, cleantech, advanced manufacturing, space, and similar domains where IISc's research depth can add real value. Whether you are an IISc-affiliated researcher looking to spin out a venture or an external founder seeking deep-tech infrastructure and credibility, FSID's open-access model welcomes strong science-first teams at the pre-seed or seed stage.