Udhmodya Foundation

Pick the right route in

Udhmodya Foundation runs three routes and they are not the same application. Pre-incubation is for an idea or an early prototype and runs six months to a year. Incubation is for a venture ready to be built out, runs 24 months and can be extended to 36. Virtual incubation is the remote version for founders who cannot be on campus. If you are not sure, say what stage you are at in the application and let the committee place you — pre-incubation is designed to graduate into incubation.

You do not need to be from Delhi University

The Innovation and Startup Policy 2023 puts outside founders in Category IV, alongside University alumni. Students, faculty and staff are Categories I to III. State your category in the application; it decides which specific rules apply to you.

Get the incorporation question right

Applications are accepted on behalf of registered unlisted businesses. If you have not incorporated yet, you can apply as promoters or founders, but you must register the firm within three months of your application being approved. For seed support the venture has to be a partnership firm, LLP, private limited company or one person company. The majority of your founders, shareholders or core team must be Indian citizens.

What to put in the application

The policy lists what a submission should contain: your business idea, your team, market research and financial projections, and often a business plan or a pitch deck. If you are applying to the incubation stage after pre-incubation, add the progress you made during pre-incubation. Be specific about what you need from the Foundation — space, mentoring, legal and accounting help, IP support — because the equity stake is set against what you actually use.

How selection works

For pre-incubation, the Foundation screens and evaluates applications, then invites a shortlist for interviews, mentor meetings and a presentation to a selection committee. Reviewers look at whether the business idea is viable, how committed and skilled the team is, how clear the goals are, and whether there is a plan for funding and revenue. Staying in the programme, and any release of funds, is subject to a quarterly performance review, and promotion to incubation comes on the recommendation of a performance review committee.

For incubation, screening is followed by interviews and due diligence, which can include reference and background checks. Selected startups get an offer of acceptance and sign a contract setting out the terms, including the exit terms.

Understand the equity and IP terms before you sign

The Foundation takes a minority stake, set by its Finance Review Committee. There is a three-month cooling period where you can use the services on a rental basis before deciding. Anything you develop using the Foundation's facilities, funds or support is jointly owned with the Foundation and can only be licensed jointly, though inventors have the primary say and license fees are waived for the first three years if you license into your own incubated company. Read these clauses in the policy document on the site before you apply.

If you are a faculty member or staff

You will need a no-objection certificate from your institution, and an undertaking on conflict of interest. Holding an executive or managerial role in the startup for more than three months means going on sabbatical or leave without pay. You cannot use the University's research resources in the startup, and you cannot accept gifts from it.

How to apply

Apply through the online application form linked from the UDIT page on the Foundation's site. Questions go to operations@uf.du.ac.in. Check the events page first — the Foundation also runs special calls, hackathons and seminars that can be a lower-commitment way in.

Udhmodya Foundation is the business incubator of the University of Delhi. The University set it up in 2022 as a Section 8 not-for-profit company, and it works out of the 5th floor of Maharishi Kanad Bhawan on the University's North Campus in Delhi. Its own pages explain the name: the word Udhmodya stands for the rising Sun setting out on a journey to success through innovation.

The Foundation runs incubation, pre-incubation and virtual incubation, and it is open to people from outside the University as well as to its own students, faculty and staff. Its stated mission is to support and nurture innovators and new and early-stage enterprises so they become successful and sustainable.

How incubation works

The incubation programme is called UDIT, short for Udhmodya Incubation and Training. It is described as a hub for people who want to ideate, collaborate and turn an idea into a sustainable venture, with mentorship, networking events and access to capital behind it. You apply through an online application form linked from the UDIT page on the Foundation's site.

The University's Innovation and Startup Policy 2023, published in full on the site, sets out how the rest works. There are three routes. Pre-incubation runs from six months to one year and is meant for founders who arrive with an idea or an early prototype. Incubation runs for 24 months and can be extended to 36 months on the Foundation's recommendation. Virtual incubation follows the same steps remotely, with an online interview or pitch session and an onboarding and orientation stage, for founders who cannot be on campus.

The Foundation takes a minority equity stake in companies it incubates. The size of the stake is decided by its Finance Review Committee and depends on what the startup actually uses — brand, faculty time, space, infrastructure, mentorship, seed support, accounting, legal and patent help, and any University intellectual property. Where the equity model applies, startups get a three-month cooling period during which they can use incubation services on a rental basis and decide whether to continue, so equity is not issued on the first day of support. Intellectual property developed using the Foundation's facilities, funds or support is jointly owned by the inventors and the Foundation, and is licensed jointly, with the inventors having the primary say.

Who can apply

The policy defines four categories of incubatee. Category I is students enrolled in any University of Delhi programme. Category II is faculty, including former, emeritus and visiting professors. Category III is non-teaching staff, current and former. Category IV is "others" — any individual or group of prospective entrepreneurs who do not fall into the first three, and all University of Delhi alumni. So this is not a students-only incubator: an outside founder with no connection to the University applies under Category IV.

There is an incorporation requirement. Registration requests are accepted only on behalf of registered unlisted businesses as defined by the Companies Act 2013. If the company is not yet incorporated, the promoters or founders can still apply, but they must register the firm within three months of the application being approved. The majority of the founders, shareholders or core team must hold Indian citizenship. At the point of seed support, the venture must be registered as a partnership firm, LLP, private limited company or one person company.

Students get specific concessions. A student can work on a startup instead of a minor or major project, seminar or summer training, can earn academic credit for building a venture, may be allowed to sit examinations with lower than the minimum attendance on the Foundation's recommendation, and may take a break of a year or more to work on the startup and return to their course afterwards.

Facilities

Incubation is offered in hybrid mode. The Foundation provides shared office space and labs in physical mode, and the same support virtually. Startups get dedicated desks and office equipment, private meeting rooms for investor, partner and client meetings, and high-speed internet. Pre-incubation facilities are described as tailored with expert input for the earliest stage of a venture. The policy adds that startups may get access to prototyping labs and testing facilities, depending on the nature of the business and on what the Foundation and the University have free. Incubatees may also use the Foundation's address for their company with prior permission, and on-campus accommodation may be considered for a limited period subject to availability.

Beyond space, the Foundation offers mentorship and coaching, legal and financial services such as accounting, legal advice and tax consultation, and shared services covering IT support, administration and marketing. It says it has partnerships with venture capitalists and angel investors, and that it runs networking events, workshops and ideathons through the year.

Scale and track record

The Foundation's startups page lists 23 ventures: 7 at incubation stage and 16 at pre-incubation stage. They include Riding Rangers in hyperlocal delivery, Bio-Mandii in climate tech, Kabad Hatao in e-waste and waste management, Nirikshakk in IT and health tech, and DU Buddy, an app for college students. The page gives no total and no date, so treat it as the current list rather than a cumulative count.

Wadhwani Foundation is the Foundation's startup training partner and runs a 14-week acceleration programme that Udhmodya startups can apply into to get pitch-ready. ICICI Bank is listed as a startup support partner for banking. The Foundation has also worked with the Delhi Development Authority on a national hackathon, with the Indian Council of Social Science Research on a seminar for startups and faculty, and with the Ministry of Education's Innovation Cell and AICTE on a faculty development programme.

Who runs it

Prof. Yogesh Singh, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi, is the Chairman. Dr. Abhishek Tandon, an Associate Professor in the Department of Operational Research at the University, is the Joint CEO. The board has eleven directors, all drawn from the University's senior faculty and administration. Day-to-day incubation is handled by a small operations team. The Foundation advertises its own staff vacancies as notices on its home page rather than on a careers page.

Events

The events page carries both upcoming and past events, and is the best place to see what the Foundation is running now. Past items include faculty development programmes on innovation, entrepreneurship and design thinking, Startup Accelerator Program awareness sessions run with Samarth Bharat at several Delhi University colleges, a cyber security workshop, an entrepreneurs' summit and a paid internship scheme for University of Delhi students. The internship scheme has run in several rounds, is part-time at 10 to 12 hours a week for up to six months, carries a monthly stipend, and can be taken only once in a student's entire course.