We plan to bring eChai across 100 cities in India. It starts with eChai Startup Demo Day on 26 September, all in person. 13 cities confirmed, 688 founders registered. Any city that reaches 20 interested founders is on too. See your city

Raise money

Grants & non-dilutive funding

Free money: schemes, grants, and competitions.

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What exactly is non-dilutive funding, and why should an early founder chase it before raising VC? Non-dilutive funding is money you get without giving up equity or control, grants, government schemes, competitions, R&D subsidies, and revenue. In... Beginner 2 resources → What is DPIIT / Startup India recognition, and what do I actually get from it? DPIIT recognition is a free certificate from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade that officially labels your entity a 'star... Beginner 2 resources → How do I apply to the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), and how much can I get? SISFS gives DPIIT-recognised startups (incorporated under two years at application) up to INR 20 lakh as a grant for proof-of-concept/prototyping a... Intermediate 2 resources → What government schemes and grants can an early Indian startup actually get? Beyond the Seed Fund, the real menu is: BIRAC's BIG grant (up to INR 50 lakh, non-dilutive) for biotech/life-sciences, DST's NIDHI-PRAYAS (up to IN... Intermediate 3 resources → What tax benefits and exemptions do DPIIT-recognised startups actually get? Two big ones: the Section 80-IAC tax holiday (100% profit deduction for any 3 consecutive years out of your first 10, if approved by the inter-mini... Intermediate 2 resources → How do I write a grant application that actually gets funded? Grant reviewers fund clarity, not hype: state the problem, the specific innovation, why it can't be done cheaply off-the-shelf, and exactly what th... Intermediate 3 resources → BIRAC vs SISFS vs a state grant: which non-dilutive scheme actually fits my startup? Match the scheme to what you're building, not to whichever form you found first. BIRAC (BIG, SEED, LEAP) is the right door for biotech, healthtech,... Intermediate 3 resources → How long does a government grant actually take to hit my bank account, and how do I survive the wait? Assume 3 to 9 months from application to first disbursement, and often longer for tranche two, because release is tied to milestones, utilization c... Intermediate 3 resources → Are startup pitch competitions and grand challenges worth entering for the prize money? Enter them for the deadline, the deck reps, and the network, not the cheque. Most competition prize money is small and the odds are long, so treati... Beginner 3 resources → Which incubator or accelerator should I join purely to unlock grant money, and what do they take in return? Choose the incubator by the grants and infrastructure it unlocks, then read the fine print on what it costs you. SISFS money flows only through app... Intermediate 3 resources → How do I get free credits and non-cash support (AWS, Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA) that stretch my runway like a grant? Cloud and tooling credits are the fastest non-dilutive money most founders ignore, and they can be worth lakhs in real burn saved. Apply to AWS Act... Beginner 3 resources → How do I claim R&D and innovation support (patent fee rebates, SIDBI, technology development funds) beyond the headline grants? The headline seed grants get all the attention, but there's a second layer of R&D and IP support that quietly saves you real money. DPIIT-recognise... Advanced 3 resources →

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