The Centre for Research on Startups and Risk Financing (CREST) at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, in partnership with YNOS, an IIT Madras incubated startup, has developed an 'Intelligence Platform on Government Funding Schemes for Startups'. This platform is designed to bring together all the government startup funding schemes and make them easily accessible to entrepreneurs. The primary goal of this initiative is to boost the Indian startup sector.

The platform has been developed based on several years of research and data from a team led by Professor Thillai Rajan, Principal Investigator of CREST, and the Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras faculty. The portal will help entrepreneurs to get a comprehensive understanding of the government funding landscape for startups. The product integrates information on central government schemes, central public sector companies, and various state governments. There are more than 100 different schemes by different agencies.

During the event, Amitabh Kant highlighted, "At the click of a mouse, the entrepreneur can get to know about all the government schemes in a single location. Furthermore, the platform also provides detailed analytics such as the startups that have benefitted from the scheme, average financial investment received, age of the startup at the time of getting funded, number of founders in the startup, and the age of founders at the time of getting financial support".

"The information platform on government funding for startups contains comprehensive information on more than 100 schemes of various ministries and departments. Close to 10,000 startups have benefited from these schemes. Many of the startups that receive government support undergo rigorous verification and diligence. Prominently showcasing the startups that have received government support also helps to get the attention of private sector investors such as Angels and VCs, for subsequent funding. Consolidating information of all government schemes helps to communicate the aggregate impact of these schemes in a compelling manner," adds India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant.

Speaking about this platform, Professor A Thillai Rajan, Principal Investigator of CREST, and faculty, Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, said, "The motivation for developing this platform was driven by the information challenges faced by entrepreneurs and other stakeholders of the Indian startup ecosystem. Information was scattered, not easily accessible, and did not address the needs of the stakeholders. CREST, an Institute of Eminence Research Centre of IIT Madras, chose to demonstrate its global research leadership by addressing this national challenge. The result was the creation of a global standard intelligence platform in the Indian startup ecosystem that addressed the information challenges faced by early-stage entrepreneurs".

The Government of India launched the Startup India initiative in 2016. This is a unique initiative that has no parallels in independent India. No other major policy intervention has had such a level of policy convergence and contribution from multiple departments and ministries. Strong policy support has made India one of the largest startup ecosystems globally. No other country in the Global South has achieved such a distinction.