The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology recently announced the Startup Accelerator for Product Innovation, Development & Growth (SAMRIDH) programme, which aims to help growing startups in India. 

India is the third-largest unicorn hub, with 63 unicorn startups and a total valuation of $168 billion. SAMRIDH aims to further boost and strengthen this growth. It will provide 300 startups with mentorship, funding, and other necessary support.

“Government will support startups and entrepreneurs in the most challenging phase, which is the initial risk phase, and also stated that to serve 1.3 billion people, India will scale up the network of incubators and accelerators to phenomenal levels,” said IT and Electronics Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

SAMRIDH initiative will not only provide funding support to startups, but will also help in bringing skill sets together to help them become successful by focusing on accelerating startups, providing customer connect, investor, connect, and international immersion in the next three years with an investment of up to Rs 40 lakh will be provided to a startup based on the current valuation and growth stage through selected accelerators.

Accelerators shall be tasked with developing customized acceleration programmes to fit the needs of each startup in the cohort for which they shall be provided a budget of Rs 2 lakh per startup to a maximum of Rs 20 lakh per cohort. In each of the cohorts organised by the shortlisted accelerator, a maximum of 10 startups and a minimum of five startups can be supported under the scheme working in the domain area of software products.

The DPIIT-recognised startups selected by accelerators under the scheme will be provided with expert diagnostics that will understand user requirements, appropriate customer base, and product scale to find the right product positioning, access to partnerships with corporates, and other entities, both domestically and internationally. Sector-specific experts will further guide the entrepreneurs in the product development and business development phases of the startup journey to enable the startup to grow its business. Support in terms of legal matters of corporate compliance and statutory requirements and other matters will be provided by the accelerator.

Moreover, selected startups will get a chance to present their company before a panel of VCs and angel investors to receive funding, with an investment of up to Rs 40 lakh per startup (with an average of Rs 30 lakh per startup per cohort) will be provided. Each accelerator cohort (8-10 startups per cohort) will have a timeline of 6-12 months and needs to commit an investment of up to Rs 40 lakh to the startup (with an average of Rs 30 lakh per startup per cohort) based on the growth stage of the startup.