Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women

Choose the right route

• Use the pre-incubation form if you only have an idea and need help to shape it.
• Use the incubatee form if you already have a business idea and want space and support as an incubatee.
• Look at the acceleration programme only if you are a woman entrepreneur and the foundation has announced a new intake.

What to prepare

• A CV in PDF.
• A written application, scanned as a PDF.
• A pitch deck in PDF.
• A short description of your business idea, including the problem it solves.
• An Aadhaar copy, if you are applying as an incubatee.

Before you apply

• The pages do not set out one eligibility rule. Write to the foundation and ask whether your company fits before you submit.
• The incubation pages give different counts of current incubatees. Ask the foundation for the current number if it matters to your decision.
• Pre-incubation details on the site say they will be updated soon. Ask for the current terms.

IGDTUW Anveshan Foundation is the business incubator of Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTUW), based at Kashmere Gate in Delhi. It is a Section 8 company that the university promoted and incorporated, and it runs the pre-incubation, incubation, acceleration and post-incubation work for founders.

How the incubator works

The foundation describes four phases of incubation and venture development: pre-incubation, incubation, acceleration and post-incubation. Pre-incubation covers motivation, ideation, innovation, MVP and proof of concept work, feasibility, prior art, intellectual property rights, pitch decks, business plans and presentation skills. Incubation is where a company is incorporated and given office space at the centre. The acceleration programme is a separate, shorter course for women entrepreneurs, described below.

Who can apply

The incubation pages set out the online application routes but do not state a single eligibility rule. Founders should write to the foundation before applying to check whether their company fits. The foundation's own pages describe its incubatees as women enterprises, and its stated purpose is to support women entrepreneurs and women enterprises. Its facilities page also describes its work as open to start-ups in sectors across the board, so the two descriptions should be checked together.

Facilities

Incubatees get company incorporation help, fully furnished air-conditioned office space, ICT facilities, and free consultancy in technical, business and strategic matters. The foundation's pages also list shared space, marketing support and seed money. Seed support is described as an investment against equity under various schemes.

Scale

The pages give different counts, and both are shown here. The facilities page says twelve companies are currently working as incubatees. The achievements page says the foundation has incubated 20 companies to date, and the incubatees page lists 20 companies, several of them marked as still in process. Check the current number with the foundation before relying on either figure.

Recognition

The foundation is recognised by the Department of Science and Technology as a Technical Business Incubator under DST NIDHI. It was incorporated on 13 October 2016 under the Companies Act 2013.

Funding

The foundation is funded by the Government of NCT of Delhi and by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

Acceleration programme

The Women Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program is a 70-hour course for women entrepreneurs, delivered at the university. Its brochure lists forty hours of pragmatic training as free of cost. The programme's events page describes a shared first part on entrepreneurship and startup development, followed by four 10-hour tracks in SaaS and AI, education technology, consumer retail, and career, healthcare and health-tech. Selected participants can be selected as incubatees after completing the programme and incorporating a company. The most recent run is listed as running to mid-February 2023, so check whether a new intake has been announced.

Partners and activities

The foundation has a contract with GiZ, a German organisation, to strengthen incubation and the start-up ecosystem, with a focus on women entrepreneurs. Under that contract it runs boot camps, networking sessions with other incubators, training and workshops, and demo and pitch days. It has also collaborated with NASSCOM Foundation and Nexus Incubation Hub for pre-incubation activities.

Student activity

The university's E-Cell has thirty student members. Over two years it has run workshops, boot camps, hackathons, industrial visits, inter college and university competitions, and management development programmes, according to the foundation's facilities page.

Lab

Cisco set up an IoT and robotics lab at the centre in 2018 through its CSR funds. The foundation says more than fifty projects in three cohorts have been completed under this initiative.

Location

The foundation's centre is at Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women, Kashmere Gate, Delhi. Its general enquiries go to the foundation's team inbox listed on the site.