WaveX & IICT Mumbai Kickstart Media Tech Incubator for AVGC-XR Startups
- WaveX and IICT Mumbai start a media tech incubator for AVGC-XR startups.
- Provides mentorship, infrastructure, testing, co-working spaces, cloud credits, and investor connections.
- Two-phase model – Phase 1 focuses on business and product development; Phase 2 on global showcasing and industry partnerships.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B), in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) Mumbai, has launched a new media tech startup incubator under its WaveX accelerator platform. The initiative aims to provide a dedicated support ecosystem for startups working in the AVGC-XR sector, which covers audio, visual, gaming, comics, animation, and extended reality technologies.
According to the ministry, the incubator will help promising media and entertainment startups grow through structured mentorship, access to advanced infrastructure, strategic advisory, and real-world testing opportunities with government media units. The programme is designed to make it easier for startups to scale their operations and commercialise their innovations effectively.
The incubator will operate in two phases. In the first phase, startups will receive intensive guidance on business modelling, product development, fundraising, branding, pitching, and navigating media regulations. They will also get sandbox testing opportunities in areas like OTT, VFX, VR, gaming, animation, publishing, and post-production.
In the second phase, the focus will shift to global exposure through WaveX’s Waves Bazaar platform, lighter mentorship, investor engagement, and industry partnerships. Participating startups will have access to co-working spaces, AV and digital labs, hosting servers, high-speed internet, cloud credits from AWS and Google, and India AI compute services in the near future.
The programme will also feature masterclasses by global technology leaders from companies including Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. Startups can attend bootcamps, policy clinics, and investor connect sessions. WaveX will oversee the incubator’s governance, with quarterly reviews under the guidance of the Ministry of I&B.
The first batch will include 15 startups, which will be housed at IICT Mumbai’s campus. The monthly fee is set at Rs 8,500 plus GST. Applications for the first cohort are open until September 7 and can be submitted online at wavex.wavesbazaar.com.
Launched in July by Union I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, IICT is a Section 8 joint venture supported by the Central Government, Maharashtra government, and industry bodies like FICCI and CII. The institute aims to build a strong talent pool for India’s creative economy and position the country as a global leader in immersive and digital content technologies.
