WISE SNDTWU Incubation Centre

Check the centre is taking applications

The documents we read do not publish an intake window, a fee or an equity term. Ask the centre what applies to you before you spend time on the form.

Check you fit the form

• You must be a woman applicant living in India. You do not need to be an SNDT Women's University student.
• You need a startup at the right stage. A prototype or proof of concept, a customer or market survey, or less than a year in business all qualify.
• Your idea should sit in a listed focus area. The form and the brochure give slightly different lists, so check both ideas against the area you are applying under.
• You must own the IP. You will be asked to transfer it to your company.
• You cannot be in another incubator or accelerator while you are incubated here.

How applications work

The application is a paper form. Print it, fill it in and send it with the supporting documents to the Director of the centre at the Juhu campus address. Say on the form which services you want, such as business consulting, marketing consultancy, prototype development or CA and legal advice.

How selection works

Shortlisted applicants pitch. A founder who reaches the pitching stage has to commit to the startup full time, so be ready to say how you will do that.

What the centre asks for

• A clear idea inside its focus areas.
• Evidence of progress: a prototype, a proof of concept, or survey work.
• Ownership of the IP behind the idea.
• Full-time commitment once you reach the pitch.

Keep the form current

The application form we found is dated to 2022, and part of its declaration text names a different incubator. Ask the centre for the version it is using now.

WISE SNDTWU Incubation Centre is an incubator for women-led startups, based at the Juhu campus of SNDT Women's University in Mumbai. WISE stands for Women Innovation Startup Entrepreneurship. The centre is its own Section 8 company, registered on 24 March 2021, and the university hosts it rather than running it as a department.

How the centre works

The centre's route in is an application for pre-incubation and incubation. Women applicants send a filled form with supporting documents to the Director of the centre, and shortlisted applicants pitch. The centre lists these services: pre-incubation, R&D labs, fab labs, co-working space, mentoring, workshops, training programmes and institutional collaboration. The application form also lets an applicant ask for business consulting, marketing consultancy, prototype development and CA or legal advisory.

The centre has also run events around the incubator. These include a national ideathon, run in 2021-22 and again in 2022, and a demo day in February 2023 where companies pitched to a committee to be selected for the centre's facilities. Neither is an open call now, and the pages we read do not publish a calendar of intakes. Check with the centre before you plan around a date.

Who can apply

The centre is for women applicants who live in India. It is not limited to SNDT Women's University students: the form asks for a university affiliation only "if any", and the centre's brochure invites women innovators and entrepreneurs from across the country.

The form accepts a startup that has a prototype or proof of concept, has done a customer or market survey, or has been in business for less than one year. An applicant who reaches the pitching round must commit to the startup full time. The applicant must own the intellectual property and be ready to transfer it to her company. A selected startup cannot be incubated in another incubator or accelerator at the same time.

Focus areas

The application form lists the areas it accepts: social entrepreneurship, ICT, health tech, biotechnology, agribusiness, clean tech, fintech, non-conventional energy, food technology, AI, ML, robotics and IoT. The centre's brochure gives a slightly different list. It adds education technology, water technology and fashion design, and leaves out ICT and food technology.

The two documents also disagree on how strict this is. The form says ideas outside its areas will be disqualified. The brochure says other related areas are also welcome. If your idea sits at the edge of these lists, ask the centre before you apply.

Facilities

The centre names co-working space, R&D labs and fab labs among its services. It is on the fifth floor of the Usha Mittal Institute of Technology building on the Juhu campus. The documents we read do not describe the labs in more detail, so ask what equipment is open to incubated startups.

Scale

The centre's report for 2021-22 says three startups were being incubated and 21 applicants were being assessed. The same report says more than 56 innovation and startup events and programmes were held on campus. For the 2022 ideathon, the centre's annual report says 47 participants took part and 25 were shortlisted for the final round. For the February 2023 demo day, 19 companies responded and 12 attended and pitched. All of these are the centre's own figures.

Who funds it

The university's page on the centre says it has received funding from the Maharashtra State Innovation Society, Startup India and the Small Industries Development Bank of India. Its 2022-23 annual report names the Maharashtra State Innovation Society alone as its funding partner. That funding supports the centre itself. Neither source describes a grant that a startup can claim from the centre.

Location

WISE SNDTWU Incubation Centre, fifth floor, Usha Mittal Institute of Technology, SNDT Women's University Juhu Campus, Juhu Tara Road, Santacruz (West), Mumbai 400049. Applications go to the Director at this address.