The Nadathur S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL), the startup incubator of IIM Bangalore, said Monday it has floated a deeptech-focused pre-seed startup accelerator fund.
NSCREL, which was established in 2000, established the fund in collaboration with government-owned lender Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
Both SIDBI and NSCREL have signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the deeptech focused accelerator, it said in a statement. The corpus of the fund was not disclosed.
“We aim to cultivate a robust ecosystem for deeptech and emerging ventures. With this initiative, NSRCEL is not only marking its dedication to supporting startups but also venturing into direct investment,” said Anand Sri Ganesh, chief executive officer, NSRCEL.
SIDBI was set up in 1990 and acts as the principal financial institution for the financing and development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as well as for coordination of functions of institutions engaged in similar activities. It manages a Rs 10,000 crore fund-of-funds for startups and has backed VC firms such as Blume Ventures, Chiratae Ventures and Omnivore, among others.
In 2023, SIDBI contributed Rs 20 crore to the deeptech-focused accelerator fund of the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE.CO), IIM Ahmedabad's startup incubator. CIIE.CO‘s accelerator fund has a corpus of Rs 40 crore.
Around the same period, the government-backed lender invested Rs 50 crore in Chennai-based alternative assets manager Anicut Capital’s Grand Anicut Capital 3 Fund from its flagship Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) initiative.
