STPI, Wadhwani Foundation organise Investors Meet in Bhopal

STPI along with Wadhwani Foundation had organised an Investors Meet in Bhopal at RGPV University Auditorium on 14th and 15th of September, 2022. The Investors Meet was organised for the start-ups selected under Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS).

In endeavour of promoting entrepreneurship through Innovation of indigenous products & to make India “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”, STPI implemented Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) - a scheme by MeitY to promote start-ups working in Product development in the  field of IT/ITES/ESDM sector where they are being supported with seed funding of upto Rs. 25 Lakh & various other benefits under a common umbrella.

NGIS is an initiative by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India to promote the start-ups through seed funding and stipend. The main aim of NGIS is to promote the Tier-II and Tier-III locations of the country and hence NGIS is being rolled out in 12 locations viz. Agartala, Bhilai, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Dehradun, Guwahati, Jaipur, Prayagraj, Mohali/Panchkula/Chandigarh, Patna & Vijayawada.

The selection of the start-ups under NGIS are done through a Challenge Program named CHUNAUTI wherein the start-ups demonstrate their pitch to the Regional and the Central Committee constituted for the purpose and comprising of members from Industry, Academia and State Governments who are the right mix of people to judge the products and services provided by the start-ups as per the prevailing market conditions.

The start-ups are selected under two categories which are Seed Fund Category and Stipend Category. The start-ups whose products are in the advance stages are provided with the Seed Funding up to Rs.25 lakhs which supports them to market their products and attract more investors for their start-ups.

The start-ups whose ideas are found innovative and as per present market conditions are provided with the stipend amounting to Rs.10,000/- per month  per Intern up to 3 interns for a period up to 6 months based on the progress of their ideas. This stipend helps the start-ups to convert their ideas into products.

Till now NGIS has completed 3 rounds of CHUNAUTI Challenge and 4th Round has been launched. Over 234 start-ups have been selected through the 12 NGIS locations with respect to the completed rounds under stipend as well as seed fund categories.

As far as Bhopal is concerned 17 start-ups have been selected from 3 NGIS CHUNAUTI Round out of which seed funding of Rs. 25 lakhs has been disbursed to 6 start-ups and stipend has been disbursed to all the 17 beneficiaries of NGIS Bhopal.

Total number of 11 start-ups and 12 to 15 Investors attended the Investors Meet organised by STPI and Wadhwani Foundation.

Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidalaya (RGPV)- State Technical University has provided a big support for organising the Investor Meet of NGIS Beneficiaries. The main aim of implementing the scheme with collaborative effort of STPI, State Government, Academia and Industry has been ascertained for the smooth execution of the Investors Meet.

Eminent personalities from State Government, Academia, Industry and the Start-up Ecosystem of the State of Madhya Pradesh graced the event with their presence and encourage the start-ups for the Investors Meet.

The likely outcome of the Investors Meet would be to provide ample of opportunities to the Start-ups so that they can raise investments for their ventures thereby contributing to the vision of promoting entrepreneurship through Innovation of indigenous products & to make India “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”.