The Department of Space’s Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) on Tuesday announced a seed fund scheme aimed at promoting space technology in the country.
Under the new scheme, IN-SPACe which has been formed to promote, enable, authorize and supervise non-government entities to undertake space activities will provide a grant upto ₹1 crore to select start-ups on milestone basis, in three or more installments.
As per the Guidelines for IN-SPACe Seed Fund Scheme for Indian Start-ups, only Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) registered start-ups are eligible to apply for the seed fund.
Besides, the shareholding in the start-up by Indian’s (employees, promoters and angel investors) should be at least 80% and the company should not have gone through a funding round. “However, investment from venture capitalists is permitted,” the guidelines said.
The guidelines further stated that the start-ups should not have received more than ₹50 lakh of monetary support under any other Union or State government schemes.
“This scheme will enable space start-ups to demonstrate their novel idea and move to the next level, where they can seek loans from commercial banks or financial institutions or funding from investors,” the guidelines added.
The exact quantum of grant and installments for each start-up shall be decided by the Experts Committee (EC) based on the progress of the project.
The EC, constituted by the Chairman IN-SPACe, shall consist of members from IN-SPACe Board, IN-SPACe, senior government officials, industry and venture capitalists.
