TIDES Business Incubator

Start by choosing the right programme

• Still at idea stage with no company: the main incubation programme takes individuals, so you do not need a registered startup to apply. If you are selected you register within three months.
• Life sciences or med-tech: apply to BioNEST rather than the main incubation programme.
• Hardware prototype: NIDHI-PRAYAS is for hardware ideas. Pure software, e-commerce, service and app-based projects past the prototype level are not supported.
• Registered startup looking for seed support: the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme runs all year and is applied for through the incubator.
• Oil and gas or energy: EngSUI is built for that sector, and it asks for a DPIIT certificate.
• Want to meet mentors and pitch before committing: SAKSHI ends in a closed-door pitching session. It asks for prior registration.

How applications work

• The main incubation programme and BioNEST have no deadline and take applications all year through an online form on the programme page.
• NIDHI-PRAYAS has its own application form on its page.
• The Seed Fund Scheme, TIDE 2.0, TIP, SAKSHI and NEENV each use a link or an enquiry form on their own page. Nothing on TIDES's site gives dates for TIP, SAKSHI or NEENV, so ask before planning around them.
• EngSUI's page gives no application link or contact, so write to the general TIDES inbox.
• NIDHI-EIR shows as closed. Ask the programme contact when the next call opens.

What to check before you apply

• Fee and equity: TIDES's programme pages do not state fee or equity terms for its incubation programmes. Ask before you sign up.
• Sector for TIDE 2.0: the page describes the focus in two different ways, ICT in one place and MedTech and Biotechnology in another. Confirm with the TIDE 2.0 desk.
• Shareholding: the Seed Fund Scheme asks for at least 51 percent Indian promoter shareholding when you apply to the incubator.
• Income and other companies: TIDE 2.0 applicants should not have a source of income, and fellowship applicants should not be promoters or shareholders of another company.
• Nationality proof: NIDHI-PRAYAS asks for a government-approved proof of nationality, such as a valid passport or voter ID.

Which inbox to write to

• General: tides@iitr.ac.in
• BioNEST and the Seed Fund Scheme: bioincubation.tides@iitr.ac.in
• TIDE 2.0 grant and fellowship: tides_meity@iitr.ac.in
• NIDHI-EIR: tides-nidhieir@iitr.ac.in
• NIDHI-PRAYAS: tides-nidhiprayas@iitr.ac.in

TIDES Business Incubator is the startup incubator hosted at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) in Uttarakhand. TIDES stands for Technology Innovation and Development of Entrepreneurship Society. It runs its own technology incubation programme, a bio-incubator for life-science and med-tech ventures, and delivers several government seed, fellowship and prototype-funding schemes from the same campus.

How programmes work

TIDES lists its offer as a set of named programmes rather than one single cohort. The core one is TIDES TBI Incubation, which it describes as the flagship programme of the NSTEDB under the Department of Science and Technology. Alongside it sit BIRAC BioNEST Incubation for life sciences and med-tech, and a group of funding schemes: the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme, TIDE 2.0 (a grant and an Entrepreneur-in-Residence fellowship), NIDHI-EIR, NIDHI-PRAYAS and the Engineers India Limited startup scheme EngSUI.

TIDES also runs three shorter programmes that are not funding or residency: SAKSHI, a knowledge-sharing and networking programme that ends in a closed-door pitching session for selected startups; the TIDES Ignition Program (TIP), an ideation-stage workshop; and NEENV, a startup orientation programme.

Most of the funding schemes are run on behalf of a government department or agency, so their rules come from that scheme. For the scheme-specific eligibility, read the programme entries on this page and then the official programme page.

Who can apply

TIDES is not limited to IIT Roorkee students or alumni. For the main incubation programme, both individuals and registered startups can apply, and individuals who are selected have to register a company within three months of selection. The BioNEST programme is open to any Indian citizen, alone or with a team.

The schemes have their own conditions. The Seed Fund Scheme asks for at least 51 percent shareholding by Indian promoters at the time of application to the incubator. The TIDE 2.0 grant asks that the applicant has no source of income, and the TIDE 2.0 fellowship asks that the applicant is not a promoter or shareholder of another company. NIDHI-EIR is for Indian nationals, and NIDHI-PRAYAS needs a government-approved proof of nationality and does not cover pure software, e-commerce, service or app-based projects beyond the prototype level. EngSUI asks for a valid DPIIT recognition certificate. SAKSHI asks for prior registration.

TIDES's own pages are not consistent about the sector focus of TIDE 2.0. The brief description speaks of support for ICT startups using IoT, AI, blockchain and robotics, while the eligibility section on the same page names startups in MedTech and Biotechnology. Check with the TIDE 2.0 desk before you put an application together.

SAKSHI and NEENV share the same eligibility text, which lists registered startups from across India at MVP to growth stage. NEENV is described as an orientation programme for students, so the two statements do not match. Ask TIDES who it is meant for before applying.

Facilities

TIDES states that it has 23,500 square feet of dedicated incubation space. Several of its programme pages list TIDES co-working space as a benefit, including NIDHI-EIR and NIDHI-PRAYAS. The bio-incubator, BioNEST, sits on the second and third floors of the Multi-Activity Center on the IIT Roorkee campus. The programme pages also mention lab support and lab access, but they do not describe the labs in detail.

The main incubation programme lists legal, accounting and intellectual property support, technical lab support, mentoring and networking among its benefits.

Scale

These are TIDES's own homepage counters and have not been checked by us. They show more than 320 startups supported, more than 550 mentors associated and more than 3,000 jobs generated. They carry no date, so read them as a rough size of the incubator rather than a current count.

Who runs it

TIDES is hosted at IIT Roorkee and is described on its own pages as a business incubator hosted at the institute. Its main incubation programme sits under the Technology Business Incubator scheme of the NSTEDB at the Department of Science and Technology, and its bio-incubator is supported by BIRAC, a Government of India body. TIDES's pages also expand the society name in a second way on the BioNEST page, as Technology Incubation and Entrepreneurship Development Society, so you may see either form.

Locations

The main address is the TIDES Business Incubator, Hafiz Ibrahim Building, IIT Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand 247667. BioNEST has its own address on the same campus, in the Multi-Activity Center. TIDES also lists an address at the IIT Roorkee Extension Centre in Knowledge Park 2, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh 203106.

Programmes marked closed or past

Several programmes that TIDES lists are marked closed or show an old call. The HDFC Bank Parivartan SmartUp Grants programme, launched in 2017 for social-sector startups, and the HDFC Bank Venture Capital Program for agri-tech startups are both marked closed on TIDES's pages. The iDEX call listed there, for the Defence India Startup Challenge, closed in December 2022. NIDHI-EIR is marked closed at the time of writing, and its page still sets out what the fellowship offers. NIDHI-SSS, a seed support scheme for incubated startups, shows a 2022 deadline and is marked closed, so it is not listed as a current programme here.

How to apply

The main incubation programme and BioNEST both take applications all year, with no deadline, through an online form on each programme page. Each programme has its own contact inbox. The general inbox is tides@iitr.ac.in. The bio-incubator uses bioincubation.tides@iitr.ac.in, and TIDE 2.0 enquiries go to tides_meity@iitr.ac.in.