“A startup is a company that is confused about what its product is, who its customers are, and how to make money!”

This is what Dave McClure, the founder of business accelerator 500 Start-ups, has to say about start-ups. The launch journey of a start-ups sees maximum turmoil and therefore a helping hand is required to guide them through the fog. This is where incubators can make a huge difference in helping them navigate the ups and downs of the entrepreneurial world.

Prompt Investor connect, vibrant ecosystem, diverse and constant mentoring, world-class infrastructure, and free credit programmes, these are just a few of the advantages that a dedicated incubation programme like the AIC-NMIMS Incubation Centre offers. Housed in the heart of Mumbai, this state of the art incubation centre brings together the right mix of people, resources, and values, the programme seeks to build an innovative and collaborative ecosystem for young entrepreneurs to thrive.

This Incubation Centre has been set up with the support from 14 different schools under NMIMS University and Niti Aayog (Atal Innovation Mission) with the vision of promoting and creating an entrepreneurial community within the city of Mumbai. The AIC-NMIMS Incubation Centre launched its first cohort in the month of July with an overwhelming response of over 220 applications and started its centre with the first cohort of 10 start-ups.

The Incubation Centre is now calling for application for its second cohort of vibrant entrepreneurs hoping to build sustainable businesses.Click here to apply for the programme

According to CEO Harshal Shah, “We are housed in the heart of a very vibrant multi-disciplinary ecosystem. This is largely because of the 14 colleges (business school, engineering, design, law) around us. All we needed to do, was connect the dots, to allow entrepreneurs, from across India, the benefits of this ecosystem. We want to build a centre, where we understand the pains and toil of starting a business and try to provide as much support as we can, to make this journey smooth and memorable.”

The incubation centre provides participants with access to the NMIMS’ state of the art infrastructure, which includes:
1.Work space– Dedicated area with access to shared office infrastructure, Wi-Fi, etc.
2.Library and knowledge centre – Access to over 50,000 books, 300 journals, 5000 e-journals, 14 databases, technical reports, Bloomberg terminals and digital labs
3.Meeting and conference rooms – Conference Rooms and Meeting rooms for closed discussions
4.Teleconferencing facilities – Conduct telecon meetings with clients and partners
5.Smart Office Infrastructure – High-speed and high-capacity printers, copiers and scanners on a shared basis
6.Lab facilities – Access to laboratory infrastructure for performing experiments in IT/IoT,

Yash Poojary, CEO of Capshun (building a platform, which uses Artificial Intelligence to enable millennials to give automated captions to a photo), an incubatee at the Centre, has this to say. “During our beta testing phase, we came across AIC and were fortunate to get selected in their first cohort. NMIMS AIC not only has great mentor network through which various domain experts are called in, to guide and advise us on a weekly basis. They have also helped us in organizing various live feedback sessions for the app, which helped us immensely in improving our product and getting more insights. All in all, it was one of the best decisions for our start-up to join AIC!”

Dushyant, CEO of Gyanarth Technologies (uses Augmented Reality based 3D learning for education), another Incubatee, shared with us his experience. “We needed to scale our operations and hence we applied to AIC. Currently AIC is helping us by providing Infrastructure to perform our development work and clients meetings, mentorship from Industry people across multiple domains, and network of related organization so that we can accomplish our mission of delivering Immersive learning experience to students across the nation.”

The good news for you young entrepreneurs, is that AIC NMIMS Incubation, is accepting applications again, for its second cohort. This Incubation Centre, is open for all and any entrepreneur, wishing to build a sustainable and innovative business.

The selection process will take place in three stages: application submission and screening, boot camp and business pitch presentation, and selection and incubation offer. If start-ups, entrepreneurs or students are selected to be a part of the programme, they are required to work from the Incubation Centre to avail the above-mentioned services.

So, what are you waiting for? Join the AIC-NMIMS incubation programme if you have an entrepreneurial idea waiting in the wings. This is the chance to take it to the next level.Click here to apply for the programme