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The STPI has tied up with the NGIS fund which is aimed at supporting start-ups set up in tier II and tier III towns across India

The STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) has said the first tranche of investments into start-ups from the ₹120-crore Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) venture capital fund will be made in the next few weeks.

The STPI has tied up funds for the NGIS fund, which is aimed at supporting start-ups set up in tier II and tier III towns. The fund aims to foster start-ups in smaller towns that don’t find financial resources to support their ventures.

“We have selected 42 start-ups from about 1,820 applications that we received in Chunauti 1.0 after a multi-tier selection process,” Omkar Rai, Director-General of STPI, told BusinessLine. “We have onboarded 38 start-ups working in domains such as fintech, agritech,medtech and edutech. We are hoping to release the first tranche of funds from the ₹120-crore venture capital fund in the next few weeks,” he said.

Focus areas

Pontaq Venture India LLP has been appointed as the manager of the fund. The STPI has committed ₹60 crore towards its contribution to the fund. The STPI, which played a major role in promoting IT exports from the country, unveiled a plan last year to foster the start-up ecosystem in different parts of the country. It has also opened Centres of Excellence (CoE) in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data analytics, blockchain, augmented/virtual reality and IoT. The STPI said its 2.0 version would focus more on non-metros and places like the North-East, where abundant IT talent is available. The NGIS venture capital fund, however, is likely to limit its exposure to not more than ₹25 lakh.

The STPI is planning to hold nationwide ‘challenges’ to select start-ups for offering financial support and mentorship. The seed funding of up to ₹25 lakh would be provided to the shortlisted start-ups. The disbursals would be based on milestones achieved and periodic reviews. The seed funding will be in the form of equity participation by the STPI.

STPI FinBlue in Chennai (FinTech CoE) has selected the second cohort of 20 start-ups for on- boarding from the FinTech domain such as trading, banking and lending. It has signed an MoU with ASEAN Financial Innovation Network Ltd (AFIN) to explore cross border collaboration.

The pact will strengthen the collaboration for leveraging the latter’s expertise and knowledge to empower start-ups incubated at STPI FinBlue, Chennai to develop world class products. 

T Mano Thangaraj, Minister for IT, TN, expressed his confidence on the success and vision of STPI FinBlue start-up ecosystem to develop innovative FinTech products and services and bringing TN and India as the Global FinTech Hub. 

Arun Jain, CMD, Intellect Design Arena and Chief Mentor of FinBlue explained the Operationalisation of FinBlue undertaken based on Six Pillars such as understanding Buyers Needs, Product Ranking, Policies for the Product Business, Funding Ecosystem, Mentoring and International Networking. He exuded confidence “the fintech products developed by the finblue start-ups will reach out to 120 countries”. 

Sopnendu Mohanthy, Chief FinTech Officer, Monetary Authority of Singapore said the combination would make a real impact globally in the fintech sector. 

Omkar Rai, DG, STPI said the MoU would guide and motivate the onboarded fintech start-ups. Devesh Tyagi, Sr Director STPI, said the collaboration would also help in sharing the best practices across the border. 

Neeraj Mittal, Principal Secretary, Dept of IT, TN said STPI FinBlue will herald a new chapter for all the fintech start-ups, besides enabling people to access digital technology. Internet access will be made available in all gram panchayats via Bharat Net contract, he sought to point out. 

Sanjay Tyagi, Director, STPI-Chennai and CEO of FinBlue explained various initiatives taken over the past two years by the STPI-Meity, in association with ELCOT for onboarding the FinTech start-ups, setting up of sandbox and API Exchange, supporting start-ups through mentoring, funding, international networking and go to market strategy.

The MoU is for exploring cross border collaboration

STPI FinBlue, Chennai, on Wednesday signed an MoU with ASEAN Financial Innovation Network Ltd (AFIN) to explore cross border collaboration. The signing of MoU with AFIN will strengthen the collaboration for leveraging the latter’s expertise and knowledge to empower start-ups incubated at STPI FinBlue, Chennai to develop ‘World Class Products,’ says a release from STPI Chennai.

STPI FinBlue, Chennai, is a domain specific facility for start-ups working in financial technology at Chennai. Setup by STPI, the CoE is having incubation centre along with SandBox and API Exchange access and provides the necessary support like training, mentoring, marketing, access to funding resources, IPR/ patenting assistance and other requisite support to the start-ups working in this domain.

Devesh Tyagi, Senior Director, STPI, said that it is very apt for STPI to sign an MoU with AFIN so that both the leading FinTech technology countries can collaborate with each other and share the best practices across the border, the release said.