Transform your business idea into a successful startup through Nidhi PRAYAS
Objectives
- To enable translation of an innovative idea to a prototype.
- To provide a platform for faster experimentation and modify approaches in the idea to market journey.
- To generate innovative solutions relevant to the local and global problems.
- To attract a large number of youth who demonstrates problem solving zeal and abilities
- To work on their new technology/knowledge/innovation based startups.
- To enhance the pipeline in terms of quality and quantity of innovative startups to the incubators.
- To build a vibrant innovation ecosystem, by establishing a network between innovators, academia, mentors and incubators.
NIDHI- PRAYAS Program as the scheme suggest is to help – young and aspiring innovators. The focus is to provide support/funding from idea to prototype.
The priority areas for supporting innovations under NIDHI PRAYAS program are manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, clean-tech, energy, water and Internet of Things (IOT) and other technology areas.
The maximum support can be provided per innovator/incubatee is upto Rs. 10 lakhs.
Eligibility for Innovators for PRAYAS support
The PRAYAS program is focused to provide funding support to individual innovators. Innovators should use the PRAYAS grant, primarily to convert their ideas into prototype. The IP generated if any, should vest with the Innovator / Start up.
It cannot, however, be used for supporting: –
- Innovators / Start up who do not / will not own the Project know how/ IP
- Funding research / student internship in Academic institution or R& D organisation
- Innovators /Team/ Start up who is already supported once under NIDHI PRAYAS
- Innovators who do not have the necessary NOC on IP, granting sufficient time to work on PRAYAS project from their respective organisation / institution
- Innovator supported under NIDHI-EIR in parallel with NIDHI-PRAYAS
- Innovators who do not have a roadmap / will towards commercialization
The eligibility criteria for the applicants are as follows
Any individual applying for PRAYAS has to be an Indian Citizen with a government approved proof of nationality such as a valid passport, voter’s id etc. The applicant should be in the age group of minimum of 18 years, as on date of application.
1. Individual Innovator OR Team of Innovators: –
The innovator should have the knowhow of the PRAYAS project. For team of innovators there has to be –
- An agreement among the team about the lead innovator who would apply, and the funds will be transferred to the lead innovator’s account (after selection)
- IP generated would vest with the innovator / team and it would be further taken for commercialization
2. In case of Founders, Co -founders of Start up applying for PRAYAS:-
- At the time of application, the period of existence of a start up and its operations should not exceed 7 years from the Date of Incorporation,
- Wants to develop the prototype for a new product, for which they may have not received similar kind of support.
- Company should have annual turnover not exceeding Rs. 25 lakhs for any of the financial year since its inception
- IP generated would vest with the start up
3. Innovators in employment OR Students with any R& D organisation / Academic Institution:-
- It is mandatory that the innovators pursuing PRAYAS should have the Project know how and own the IP.
- The innovator has to seek the NOC from their organisation / institution. The NOC should have the following
- Permission to apply for PRAYAS and the innovator will be granted sufficient time to work on the PRAYAS project,
- IP generated would vest with the innovator / team and it would be further taken for commercialization
4. Preference may be given to those innovators
- Who have bootstrapped or have got co-investment commitment.
- Who have clear road map for commercialization or start up creation.
- Women innovators
- Young innovators
5. The NIDHI-PRAYAS grantee should be registered for the pre-incubation or incubation program at the TBI for the entire duration of the program, after going through the TBI’s selection process.
6. NIDHI-PRAYAS grantee should be fully committed to work towards the prototype development for which the support is being sought and should not treat this as a stop gap arrangement to support any other pursuits.
7. The innovator can avail the NIDHI-PRAYAS support only once and they should not have sought the similar support previously, from other Government of India organisation/Institution for the same innovative concept as proposed in the application form.
Restrictions for PRAYAS
- Student applicants pursuing long term research projects like doctoral research projects or similar projects will not be supported
- Professors or Academicians engaged in teaching with any academic or R&D institute.
- The projects relating to software development and those involving pure academic research are not eligible.
List of Innovative Ideas Supported in First Year
S.No. | Name of Innovator | Company name | Title of the project | Domain of the Project | Amount Sanctioned |
1 | Srinivasan Yagnanarayanan | Square comp Solutions (Proprietary) | Virtual Reality Headsets for Smartphones | Manufacturing | 9.5 Lakhs |
2 | Raghuveer Ramachandra | GaloreTX Phamaceuticals Private Limited | Discovery of a selective and orally bio available small molecule inhibitor of CTLA-4 for immunotherapy of cancer | Health Care | 10.0 Lakhs |
3 | Aadhitya | Fearless thinkers (Partnership) | Bio-Combin | Clean | 8.10 Lakhs |
4 | Rudresh Karn | O Print(Partnership) | O Print (Low cost 3D printed cosmetics) | Manufacturing | 30K |
5 | Hemalatha.P | Smart Dustbins (Proprietary) | Smart garbage Monitoring System | Manufacturing | 30K |
6 | Manova L.M | Haastofix (Partnership) | Aquatic Drone | Water | 5.0 Lakhs |
7 | Singaravelan V | Kaveri Aerospace (Partnership) | Production of Low Cost Portable Brown’s Gas Torch | Energy | 7.30 Lakhs |
8 | Santhosh Muralidharan | Blinkeyelabs Electronics Private Limited | AI based IoT Automotive Solution | IoT | 10 Lakhs |
9 | Kaviyarasu P | Virtual Sapiens (Proprietary) | Development of Virtual Reality based Teleportation bot for remote access | Manufacturing | 5.0 Lakhs |
10 | Preetha.T.S | Electric solar vehicle (Partnership) | Electric Solar Vehicle-Car Frame Design and HUB Motor Driving System | Energy | 30K |
11 | Sathyanarayanan A R | Embright Infotech Private Limited | Auticare – An Autism Diagnosis & Therapy Module | Health Care | 10.0 Lakhs |
12 | Lakshana Krishnan | Lak’s Handloom Creations (Proprietary) | Laks Handloom Creations | Manufacturing | 3.0 Lakhs |
13 | Parithi Govindaraju | Okulo Aerospace Private Limited | Solar Powered High Endurance Aircraft for Remote Operations (SPHEARO) | Energy | 9.0 lakhs |
14 | Murugesh Kumar SK | SCERMLIND Healthcare Innovation Private Limited | URUFIT | IoT | 4.0 Lakhs |
15 | Deepak Kumar D.R | GreenPod Labs Private Limited | GreenPod Active Packaging | Agriculture | 5.0 Lakhs |
16 | Manasa Gonchigar | PureScan AI Private Limited | Pure Scan AI | Agriculture | 4.20 Lakhs |
17 | Siddharth D | MedMorph3D, Pris3D smart technologies LLP | Surgical Simulator using virtual reality & haptics technologies | Health Care | 9.0 Lakhs |
Contact Us
Dr. P. Chandrakumar,
Dean – Industry Relations / TBI,
Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr.Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science and Technology.
Contact Number: 96000 40254
Email Id: nidhiprayas@veltech.edu.in
For More details about Vel Tech Nidhi Prayas Scheme contact,
Mr. Shaju N S,
Manager – Nidhi Prayas
Contact Number: 9600040252