IIT Bombay’s startup incubator SINE (Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship) is planning to launch a Rs 100-crore venture capital fund to invest in deep tech startups. The fund, once finalised and post regulatory approvals, will raise subscriptions from IIT Bombay alumni. The institute said the startup fund will focus on science, biotech, space, defense, and other national priority sectors. 

The new fund is part of IIT Bombay’s aim to support around 1,000 startups over the next 10 years, growing over four-fold from 245 startups supported so far over the past 20 years with over 80 per cent survival rate of startups. 

“To have a scale impact, India needs to go from 100 start-ups per million population to 1,000. By leading the way, SINE hopes to emerge as an innovation and entrepreneurship powerhouse focussed on democratising entrepreneurship and providing quality access to coaching, capital and connects to customers and the ecosystem,” said Shaji Varghese, CEO, SINE.

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According to SINE, the 245 incubated startups have collectively raised $942 million and are valued at $3.56 billion. Some of the notable startups incubated at SINE are AI-backed messaging platform provider Gupshup, drone maker IdeaForge, fan manufacturer Atomberg, Sedemac (control products for two-wheelers), ImmunoACT (genetically modified cancer immunotherapy), SAFE Security (cyber risk management), etc. 

“SINE has incubated startups that have generated over 300 intellectual properties across critical sectors like ICT, Healthcare, Cleantech and Industrials. Several of these startups have grown into industry-leading companies,” said Professor Santosh J. Gharpure, Professor-in-Charge, SINE.

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SINE works with different government departments including Department of Science & Technology (DST), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Technology Development Board (TDB), Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) – Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Ministry of Power (MoP) for implementation of their various startup schemes.