SRiX gets `5.25-cr Central Govt seed grant

Hyderabad: SR Innovation Exchange (SRiX), Technology Business Incubator in SR University, Warangal on Tuesday announced Rs 5.25 crore NIDHI-SSS seed grant from the Department of Science & Technology (GoI) to nurture early-stage startups.

NIDHI-SSS grant empowers the startups financially in meeting varied needs that include successful positioning of the product in the market, test marketing, acquiring new customers, team building, revenue management, technology and business mentorship, business planning, design & marketing support, and IPR expertise. Seed funding or seed stage funding is a very early investment which aims at helping a business grow and generating its own capital. Investments from venture capitalists/Angels are highly competitive and not every startup has access to the right platform at the right time. Banks also prefer providing loans to companies that show significant traction and sustainable success for a period of time.

"To enable a wider range of startups to be investment ready and nurture them to be eligible for investments, an interim investment like NIDHI-SSS (Seed Support System), that will not put the startup team under pressure, is necessary," said Sreedevi Devireddy, CEO, SR Innovation Exchange, SR University.

"The seed support is positioned to act as a bridge between the development stage of the startup and commercialization stage. Such financial impetus will boost the startups' morale and enable them to race forward with positive motivation and maximum performance. We are typically looking for early revenue stage tech startups that have a market ready product," she added.

"We are thankful to the DST for entrusting us with this responsibility to find passionate entrepreneurs and support them with seed grant. This has come at a crucial time when entrepreneurs are going through tough times due to the pandemic," Dr GRC Reddy, Vice Chancellor, SR University said.

"We have formed a NIDHI-SSS monitoring committee comprising of successful entrepreneurs and technologists to scrutinize and shortlist startups for funding. Last year, we supported eight entrepreneurs with prototyping fund to the tune of Rs 44 lakh received from MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology). In just 3 years SRiX has created a vibrant innovation ecosystem and is fostering entrepreneurship amongst startups, student innovators and rural innovators." Dr Reddy added.