AIC ALEAP We Hub ( Innovative manufacturing incubation for startups supported by AIM, NITI Aayog, Gol )

About AIC ALEAP We-Hub:

In collaboration with NITI AAYOG, the apex public policy think tank of the Government of India, ALEAP is scaling up its incubation facilitythrough its ATAL INNOVATION MISSION (AIM). Its state-of-the-art incubation center, Atal Incubation Centre– AIC ALEAP WE-HUB, is housed at ALEAP INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, Pragathi Nagar, Gajularamaram, Hyderabad. Over the past 25 years, the organization has put in concerted efforts and created an ideal platform for incubating women-led startups in the manufacturing sector (MSME).

AIC ALEAP WE-HUB provides co-working spaces, equipment/machinery/tool labs/design labs, common facility rooms, high-speed internet access, research/education resources, etc., to nurture women-led startups and help them sustain and thrive. AIC ALEAP WE-HUB helps build strategic partner connections, trains the startups with business basics, provides technology transfer, advisory services, networking with industry peers, marketassistance and research, accounting/financial management, mentorship, and technology commercialization assistance. It helps with regulatory compliance, intellectual property management, and angel investors or venture capital access. It conducts entrepreneurship training, seminars, events, accelerator programs, and capacity-building programs, creates a network of incubators to share best practices, and organizesstartup summits for knowledge-sharing, industry visits, etc.

The major focus sectors of the AIC ALEAP WE-HUB incubator are:

A standalone self-operating machinery unit (20,000sq.ft) as a common facility for innovations was created to provide access to the startups to perform R&D;, prototyping, and production to test the samples in the market. We have a Baking and Biscuit Manufacturing lane(30 tons/month production), solar dryers (15 tons/month), freeze driers, spices/grains processing machinery (3 tons/month), biotechnology with fermenter (15 tons/month), biodegradable unit (20 tons/month), printing machine for jute products, socks manufacturing machinery with 1 lakh pieces per month and electronics sector for R&D; and prototyping. IT and ITES with advanced software and applications, nine 3D printers, and industrial-scale printers for rapid prototyping are also available.

Currently, our incubation facility has 70 innovative startups at various stages, including Ideation, Proof of Concept (POC), Prototype, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), or early, mid, and growth stages.The incubation center runs programs like Pre-Incubation (25 startups), Incubation (47 startups), Acceleration, and Hyper Acceleration. We have successfully raised 4.5 Cr funding to 12 startups in the form of Grants, Schemes, Banking Loans, B2G, and B2B businesses with success stories within one and half years of operation. We recently received the TIDE 2.0 Scheme as a G2C (Group 2 Centre) to support Electronics and IT sector startups from MEITY, GOI. Currently, we have 15 startups under this category.

Grant of Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS)

There is a need for Startup India Seed Fund Scheme because the easy availability of capital is essential for entrepreneurs at the early stages of the growth of an enterprise. Funding from angel investors and venture capital firms becomes available to startups only after the proof of concept has been provided. Similarly, banks provide loans only to asset-backed applicants. Providing seed funding to startups with innovative ideas to conduct proof of concept trials is essential.

Startups must be DPIIT registered to be eligible for incubation at our facility. Once a startup is selected by the incubation center's Seed Fund committee, it is expected to adhere to the facility's guidelines strictly.

AIC ALEAP WE HUB has recently been allocated with SISFS to support several innovative business ideas brought in by women. Most startups fail to take off due to the absence of critical capital required at an early stage for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market-entry, and commercialization. Seed Fund offered to such promising cases can have a multiplier effect in the validation of business ideas of many startups, leading to employment generation.

It is a great opportunity for startups struggling in these pandemic times and to support the entrepreneurs with potential, viable, scalable innovations that would be commercialized. ALEAP WE HUB is the only incubator from both the states of AP and Telangana that got sanctioned with SISFS (Ref: August 2021). We have been calling applications from pan India to apply for the seed fund, and our Accelerator will facilitate and cater to the needs of the startups applying for the seed fund support.

Pre-incubation Support to Startups

The Pre-incubation program of Atal Incubation Centre ALEAPWE HUB nurtures enthusiastic entrepreneurs and startup aspirants with complete end-to-end preparation, skill development, and training for one's venture to quick-start the entrepreneurial journey. This program introducesstartups to our incubation program, explains the eligibility for incubation, and teaches how incubator services can be utilized in an incubation program.

AIC ALEAP WE HUB offers this Pre-incubation program to prospective entrepreneurs and startup aspirants for 6 months. Any Indian citizen (18 years and above) can apply through our website any time during the year. The call for applications stays open throughout the year and can be submitted on our website simply by filling up a Google form. There are no particular eligibility criteria except that the product in its Idea/Prototype/POC/MVP stages should be an innovative one.

The startups enrolled in our Pre-incubation programwill have

Each stage proposal would receive the following services based on the maturity stage of their products

An idea-stage startup will get access to:

A POC/Prototype Stage startups will get access to:

A Product/MVP-stage startup will get:

MEITY TIDE 2.0 Scheme

AIC ALEAP WE HUB has received a grant from MEITY as a G2Cente of the TIDE 2.0 scheme. Under this scheme,AIC ALEAP WE HUB will support Electronics and IT-based startups with 4 LakhsEiR, 7 lakhs in grants, and 40 lakhs of investments. Startups eligible to receive the support must have innovations enabled with any of these technologies:

The areas of focus are from the 7 sectors of national concern:

The call to apply is open to all Indian citizens throughout the year. A screening committee is in place to evaluate and select the applicants based on the given eligibility criteria.

We also conduct low-engagement programs, workshops, and seminars to raise the applications. Regular hackathons and ideathons, including boot camps for TRL stages and mentoring, are conducted to facilitate applications.

Startups enrolled with us will have complete access to all services and amenities, like co-working space, infrastructure, facilities, training, seminars, support services, networking, business connections, and financial advisory.

The selected startups would be funded using the grant amount. We will also conduct evaluations to track and map the status of fund utilization and RoI achieved by the startup as per the projections and timeline approved.

ALEAP WE HUB