AIC STPINEXT Initiatives

Work out whether you want the company or one of its centres

STPINEXT is the umbrella body. The only programme it runs under its own name is AIC STPI Bengaluru, for startups in healthcare, e-commerce, information and communications technology, electronics and the Internet of Things. If you build electronics hardware, mobility, fintech, blockchain, agritech, gaming or medical devices, the STPI Centre of Entrepreneurship for that domain runs its own calls on its own website and is the better door. Applying to the wrong one costs you a cycle.

Check the eligibility bar before anything else

You need a registered company, not an idea. An incorporated private limited company, a registered partnership firm or a limited liability partnership, under ten years old, within the turnover ceiling, not formed by splitting up or reconstructing an existing business. Sort the incorporation out first — nothing else in the application matters if this fails.

Read the two conditions people miss

Selected startups have to work out of the STPI Bengaluru incubation facility, so plan for a physical move. And selected startups have to offer an equity stake to STPI, STPINEXT and other stakeholders and pay space charges, on terms STPI decides. If either is a problem for you, find that out now rather than after selection.

Expect a screening round and then a presentation

Applications are screened first. If you clear that, you are called in person to present your business plan and supporting details to a committee, so prepare to defend the plan in a room rather than on paper. The stated aim is to finish selection within two months of your application, and how long you then stay in incubation depends on the domain.

Time it against the Open Challenge Programs

Intake runs through recurring Open Challenge Programs rather than a rolling door. The Bengaluru centre has run seven editions so far and the challenges calendar shows no call open at the moment, so watch that page and the STPI centre sites for the next one.

Do not trust the apply buttons

Many of the apply links across the site point to innovate.stpinext.in, whose security certificate has expired and does not match the domain. Browsers block it and it lands on a separate platform. Use startup.pmu@stpi.in or the Delhi office number to confirm where a live call is actually taking applications before you spend time on a form.

Frame the pitch around getting to market

The centre describes its job as moving a startup from idea to prototype, prototype to minimum viable product, and minimum viable product to go-to-market. Show where you are on that path and what the next step needs, rather than presenting research for its own sake. Show too that you fit one of the prescribed domains — that is written into the eligibility, not just a preference.

AIC STPINEXT Initiatives is a Section 8 company set up by Software Technology Parks of India (STPI). STPI describes it as the nodal agency and common implementation vehicle for its startup and entrepreneurship activities, which means STPINEXT is the corporate body that signs, holds and runs things on STPI's behalf rather than a single incubator you walk into. Its registered office is at East Kidwai Nagar in New Delhi, with branch offices in Electronic City, Bengaluru and on Rajiv Gandhi Salai in Chennai.

Its parent, STPI, is an autonomous society set up by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in 1991 to promote software exports from India, and it says it now has more than 50 centres across the country, including Tier-II and Tier-III locations. Founders looking for STPINEXT should note that the company's live site is stpinext.in. The older innovate.stpinext.in address that many of its own buttons still point to no longer works: its security certificate has expired and does not match the domain, so browsers refuse to open it, and requests end up on a separate Sayuj community platform instead.

How programmes work

The programme STPINEXT runs under its own name is AIC STPI Bengaluru, an Atal Incubation Centre built by STPI with Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog. Its focus is the Internet of Things and its applications in health and pharmaceuticals, e-commerce, big data and artificial intelligence.

Intake happens through Open Challenge Programs, recurring calls that a founder applies to on the website. The company's own challenges calendar lists seven editions of the Bengaluru Open Challenge Program, the most recent of which ran from September to December 2024, alongside calls for the various STPI Centres of Entrepreneurship. The calendar shows nothing under ongoing challenges as of September 2026, and the apply buttons on the archived calls point at the broken address described above, so anyone interested should write to the published contact inbox rather than rely on those links.

Once selected, a startup gets a domain-specific lab with tools and technologies, ready-to-work plug-and-play space with high-speed internet, round-the-clock security and a dedicated support team. Mentoring covers domain, technology and business questions, with need-based sessions on legal work, compliance, branding, cyber security and tech. STPINEXT describes taking a company from idea to prototype, prototype to minimum viable product, and minimum viable product to go-to-market, and then graduating it to full company status. There is marketing help through knowledge sessions, road shows, networking events and international events, and administrative support across human resources, finance, administration and legal. Patent drafting and filing, trademark and copyright work are available through an agreement STPI has signed with the National Research and Development Corporation.

The centre does not give money directly. It says it supports and guides startups raising funds for proof of concept, product and scale-up, and lists grants, equity, equity-linked instruments, preference shares and debentures as the forms that money can take.

Who can apply

The bar is a registered entity that meets the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade definition of a startup. In practice that means an incorporated private limited company, a registered partnership firm or a limited liability partnership, no more than ten years old, under the turnover ceiling, not formed by splitting up or reconstructing an existing business, and working on innovation with the potential to create jobs or wealth. An individual with an idea and no company does not qualify.

On top of that, the company has to be working in a field STPI or STPINEXT has prescribed, which the centre lists as healthcare, e-commerce, information and communications technology and electronics, and the Internet of Things.

Two conditions are worth reading before you apply. Beneficiary startups have to operate from the STPI Bengaluru incubation facility, so this is not a remote programme. And beneficiary startups have to offer an equity stake to STPI, STPINEXT and other stakeholders, and pay space charges, on terms STPI decides.

How selection works

Applications go through a screening round. Shortlisted applicants are called in person to present their business plan and supporting details to a designated committee. STPINEXT says it aims to close selection within a maximum of two months from the date of application, and that how long a startup then stays in incubation differs from domain to domain.

Who runs it

The board is drawn from STPI's own officers. Arvind Kumar, Director General of STPI, is chairman, and Sanjay Kumar Gupta, a Senior Director at STPI, is managing director. Rakesh Dubey serves as director and chief innovation officer. Most of the other directors are STPI centre heads who also run individual Centres of Entrepreneurship, which is how the group holds together: the same people sit on the company board and run the centres on the ground. Amruta Jogalekar is chief executive of AIC STPI Bengaluru. Its mentor panel includes Devi Prasad Shetty of Narayana Health as chief mentor, along with representatives from the Karnataka Department of IT, BT and S&T, Intel, Tejas Networks, IIIT Bengaluru and KITVEN.

The wider STPI network

STPINEXT sits at the centre of a network it does not itself operate day to day. STPI's Centres of Entrepreneurship include Electropreneur Park in Delhi and Bhubaneswar for electronics system design and manufacturing, MOTION in Pune for connected and electric mobility, Neuron in Mohali, FinBlue in Chennai and FinGlobe in Gandhinagar for fintech, IoT OpenLab in Bengaluru, IMAGE in Hyderabad for gaming, animation and visual effects, MedTech in Lucknow, Apiary in Gurugram for blockchain, OctaNE in the North East, FASAL in Akola for agriculture, Kalpataru in Visakhapatnam, EmTek in Bhubaneswar, VARCoE for augmented and virtual reality, and Efficiency Augmentation in Bengaluru. Each runs its own calls on its own website and its own record belongs to it, not to STPINEXT. The Next Generation Incubation Scheme is run from twelve STPI centres: Agartala, Bhilai, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Dehradun, Guwahati, Jaipur, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Mohali, Patna and Vijayawada.

Careers and contact

STPINEXT advertises jobs for the centres on its careers page, currently incubation manager roles for the Kalpataru and Electropreneur Park Delhi centres. The general inbox is startup.pmu@stpi.in and the office is open 9:00 AM to 6 PM, Monday to Friday. The nearest metro stations to the Delhi office are AIIMS, INA and South Extension.