There are a lot of discussions with entrepreneurs that I am meeting lately, looking for access to capital, and not much that would involve a typical VC Firm. Most of the time, the need is to build the prototype, ramp up the team and figure out the business model – which is quite early to turn to conventional investors. I thought I’d collate some of the info that I am aware of to help this lot.
If you are a startup that is product focused, there are quite a bit of funds that are floating around for those looking for the sub INR 50,00,000 range, and with some lenient terms and equity distribution.
NRDC, the National Research Development Corporation has called for nominations for their Innovation Award and are giving Rs. 5 lakhs for the finalists. This is not a business plan competition but a way to provide seed grants for companies that are prospective. Do take a look at it and apply. They seem quite liberal with their terms and during my interaction came across as an organization that is keen on fulfilling the gap in the very early stages of a company. For More Information.. They do have a strong bias towards Patentable technology.
LRAMP, The Lemelson Research and Mentoring Program, has access and provides funding for companies that are looking to develop and build on their idea. It could be looked upon as a seed loan (has to be returned eventually). They have a board that approves each of the applications, but the loan is interest-free and is upto INR 25,00,000.
TiE Bangalore EAP Program: The EAP (Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program) of TiE bangalore is devised in such a way that the entrepreneur can find access to money and mentors in the same place. Given the limited pool of mentors, the candidates are filtered and selected, but on ventures that are very promising, there are individual angels within the chapter who have funded them. Rarefind, a Proto.in company, was funded in this similar Manner. Redbus.in is also a company which is in their mentorship programme.
The Chennai Fund: The Chennai fund, is a fund put together for entrepreneurs looking for seed money upto INR 50,00,000. The chartered members of TiE chennai, including Ramaraj (Co-Founder of Sify), KB Chandrasekar, and the likes have pooled in money and do invest on personal capacities on ventures they find to be of interest. This is applicable only to startups based out of Chennai, as of now.
