The government of India launched 2^nd cohort of the Startup Accelerators of MeitY for Product Innovation, Development and Growth ( SAMRIDH) on 4^th September 2024. It was launched by Shri S Kishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.   The initiative led by the MeitY Startup Hub aims to select 125 startups and tends to assist potential accelerators such as funding and mentorship. The project is part of the 100-day agenda of the Government of India to achieve the target of nurturing 300 startups.

About SAMRIDH: Facilitating Growth for Indian Startups

The SAMRIDH program conceptualised under the National Policy on Software Products 2019 (NPSP) and launched in August 2021 aims to support 300 Tech Start-Ups over a 3-year duration. In the first round of the cohort, 22 accelerators across 12 states supported 175 Startups.

At first, the accelerators are selected through open calls for proposals. Among the accelerators, there are government-supported organizations, Academic Institutions, Private sector and early-stage start-up funding platforms.  They have to be registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013/ Societies Registration Act (non-profit). These accelerators then select 5-10 Startups through a layered screening process from various domains viz. health-tech, ed-tech, agri-tech, consumer-tech, fin-tech, Software as a service (SaaS), and sustainability. The selected start-ups will receive 6-9 months of acceleration program along with funding of up to 40 lakhs. The aim is to promote an already existing brilliant solution or product by facilitating a platform to enhance the product secure potential investors and connect to an international market.

Success Stories of Cohort 1 of SMRIDH

Few of the notable startups from 1^st cohort went ahead and scaled significantly by securing angel investment. Rang De is a P2P financial service helping millions of farmers, gig workers and poverty-stricken people through its transparent and safe credit services and aiding impoverished citizens in battling poverty by assisting them financially. The Start-up has raised INR 15.76 Crore in Angel Investing. Other notable Start-ups include ONO Ark India Pvt Ltd, Sproutech Solutions Pvt Ltd, Surobhi Agro Industries Pvt Ltd, Pareto Tree Pvt Ltd, Nanoclean Global Pvt Ltd, Kozhnosys Pvt Ltd etc.

Under the flagship of NPSP (2019) Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is actively supporting various Tech Start-ups through various programmes such as the Centre of Excellences, Technological Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE) programme, Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS), ICT Grand Challenges and Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups (GENESIS).