STPI Invites Start-Ups To Apply For Funding Assistance Under LEAP Programme

The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) informed on Monday that the body will choose 75 start-ups under the initiative this year and help them with funding of up to Rs 1 crore per venture. 

The state-owned STPI is seeking applications from start-ups under its Leap programme to provide funding to entrepreneurs in collaboration with venture capitalists and other private investors. The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) informed on Monday that the body will choose 75 start-ups under the initiative this year and help them with funding of up to Rs 1 crore per venture. 

The organisation will facilitate this funding for the start-ups in collaboration with venture capital firms and angel investors, a senior official with the body said, reported PTI. Arvind Kumar, STPI’s director general, said, “We have already invested Rs 25 lakh through NGIS. We have already made investment in about 100 startups from the total fund that we have. Through Leap we are looking to nurture the next 100 startups.”

Elaborating about the initiative, he said that Leap (Launchpad for Tech Entrepreneurs towards Accelerated growth and Pioneering ahead) will be organised in regions closer to the start-ups in cities such as Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, and Vijayawada. These setups will be organised with the idea that entrepreneurs should not ‘be required to leave their city for growing their business’. 

Under the programme, the businesses will be eligible if they meet certain criteria. These include the start-ups which are registered in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and have raised a minimum of Rs 25 lakh from external investors or are bootstrapped. Kumar added that the venture capital partners of the organisation have agreed to invest up to Rs 50 lakh in the chosen start-ups. 

The official further informed that STPI has set aside Rs 15 crore from NGIS (Next Generation Incubation Scheme) for the Leap initiative. The government has provided Rs 95 crore to the body for extending support to up to 300 start-ups, and the organisation has already invested in 100 start-ups. 

S Krishnan, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and IT, said, “Venture capitalists and incubators should look at reaching out to startups beyond metros and tier-1 cities. If the providers of the capital look at different location, kind of hunger that is there then not only will you find innovation, more innovative opportunities to invest in, equally on other hand you will be doing larger service that you will be doing to not just India but to the world as well.”