Venture Center

Kemin Industries South Asia - Venture Center
CSR Collaboration

Venture Center and Kemin Industries South Asia Pvt. Ltd. have teamed up to support entrepreneurs & startups working on promising ideas in the domain of sustainable ingredients/materials for feed, food and nutrition.

Grant Funding for Proof of Concept / Prototype Development / Prototype validation

Grant funding upto Rs. 4.5 lakh.

Focus Areas: Sustainable ingredients/materials for feed, food and nutrition

  • Sustainable
    Plant Based, Sourced from any living system - microbes, algae/seaweed, insects etc in a sustainable way, Biosynthesized, Low Carbon, Made via climate saving / resilient agriculture
  • Ingredients
    Actives, Nutrients, Additives, Excipients,
    Flower, texture, colour, odour ingredients,
    Rheology modifiers etc.
  • Feed, food and nutrition
    Ingestible for human, animal, cattle, poultry, pets, fish etc.

Program

Kemin Industries South Asia Pvt Ltd – Venture Center CSR Collaboration aims to support entrepreneurs / start ups working on technologies with potential social impact.

Under its Corporate Social Responsibility activities Kemin Industries South Asia Pvt. Ltd.  has provided funding for promising ideas in the domain of sustainable ingredients/materials for feed, food and nutrition at Venture Centre. This collaboration was launched in F.Y. 2023-2024.

 Objective

  • To support technology incubation and technology entrepreneurs associated with Venture Center, an incubator approved by the Central Government (DST-NSTEDB and DBT – BIRAC of Ministry of Science and Technology).
  • Promote innovation of modern/advanced technologies to socio-economic problem solving

 Scope

Kemin CSR Grant will enable an entrepreneur / startup  to conduct Proof of concept (POC) studies/ prototype development or prototype validation and adoption of appropriate technologies to address social needs.

Without limiting scope unduly, the projects and technology entrepreneurs chosen shall be:

  • Focused on a leveraging science and technology/ inventions
  • Focused on building a sustainable and scalable entrepreneurial venture
  • Theme of sustainable ingredients/materials for feed, food and nutrition

There shall be no restriction on the background of the entrepreneur. However, preference may be given to:

  • Women entrepreneurs
  • First generation entrepreneurs
  • Social enterprises
  • Any other criteria suggested by the Project Oversight Committee (POC)

Monitoring and reporting

  • Venture Center shall constitute a Program Oversight Committee (POC) for selection of grantees and to oversee the implementation of the project.
  • The scope and extent of support to the grantee shall be decided on a case-to-case basis by POC
  • The  Project Leader shall periodically review projects and report the progress to the POC

Eligibility

NATURE OF PROJECTS SUPPORTED

Eligible

  • The project needs to define a technology solution to a well-defined problem
  • The technology should be innovative/ novel
  • Project should be focused on conducting POC studies / prototype development / prototype validation or conducting pilot studies

Not eligible

  • Pure software development with no IP potential
  • Pure academic research

 FOCUS AREAS : Sustainable ingredients/materials for feed, food and nutrition

ELIGIBILITY OF APPLICANTS AND PROJECT LEADERS FOR PROJECTS

  • Every project proposal will need to identify a Project Leader and an Applicant/ Grantee
  • The Project Leader (PL) will be an individual who will take responsibility for executing the project.
  • The Applicant or Grantee can be either of the following:

              Case 1: Applicant is an individual

              Case 2: Applicant is a company

  • PL has to be an individual (one person).
  •  PL is required to be at least 18 years of age as on the date of call for applications.
  • PL is required to be Indian Citizen. An Indian citizen is defined as one who is in possession of a government approved proof of nationality such as a valid passport, voter’s id etc. Exceptional cases of foreign nationals with potential for impact in India will be considered.
  • PL has to pursue the project or startup full time with no other concurrent commitments during the project duration.
  • PL cannot be pursuing a long-term academic/research project (like doctoral students) with significant obligations during the project duration.
  • PL must have completed basic undergraduate training in natural sciences/engineering/ medicine. Essential qualification is PhD/ MTech/ BTech/ BPharm /MD/ MBBS/ BDS/ MSc / MPhil/ M Des/ MPH /MBA / MSW and equivalents, with under graduate training in Science, Medicine, Engineering. Applicants with a BSc degree with at least 1 year of full-time work or research experience shall also be eligible
  • If Applicant is a company, the Company/LLP should be registered under the Indian Companies Act, 1956/2013
  • The company should be owned by resident Indian citizens i.e. minimum 51% of the capital is beneficially owned by resident Indian citizen(s) and / or Indian companies, which are ultimately owned and controlled by resident Indian citizens

Guidelines

SELECTION CRITERIA

  • Technical soundness & do ability
  • Potential for social impact
  • Potential business opportunity
  • Team capabilities & background
  •  Knowledge intensity or novelty or IP potential
  • Exceptional cases may be considered on its merit by the committee
  • Any others as decided by the committee

ADDITIONAL CRITERIA

  • If selected, the applicant will become an incubatee of Venture Center after fulfilling the admissions criteria. Venture Center will execute appropriate agreements with the grantee.
  • The applicant should be an incubatee of Venture Center for the entire duration of the Project.
  • The applicant should be engaged in the projects related to focus areas of sustainable ingredients/materials for feed, food and nutrition 
  • The PL and Applicants should not have received another grant for the same objective and scope of the project.
  • Maximum grant support will be Rs 4.5 lakhs per grantee.
  •  Project duration: Maximum of 6 months
  • Release of funds: Venture Center shall release funds in tranches of 90% and 10% against specified milestones


The grant can be used for the following indicative heads:

  • Outsourcing charges for R&D/ design engg/ consultancy/ testing/ experts
  • Raw materials/ consumables/ spares
  • Fabrication/ synthesis charges of working model or process
  • Manpower (Max 20% of approved project cost)
  • Patent filing costs, PCT (Max 10% of approved project cost)
  • Contingency (Max 10% of approved project cost)

The grant cannot be used for the following heads:

  • Pay/ repay any loans/commitments made before signing the project agreement
  • Pay rent or related costs for own accommodation
  • Creation of new infrastructure facility, shed etc
  • Expenses incurred before the start date of the project


The Grantee has to ensure that he/she/they have all required IP rights (if applicable) (including any license or assignment) to take the technology ahead.

The Grantee may also be required to ensure that they will have Freedom to Operate. This requirement may be a Condition Precedent to release of the Grant. Grant funds cannot be used to seek/procure a technology license/assignment.

How to Apply

 

  •      Venture Center announces the Call for Application for start-ups & entrepreneurs for the Kemin CSR Grant
  • CALL OPEN : 15 JULY to 31 JULY 2024 !! APPLY NOW!!

  • The maximum support that can be provided per project is upto Rs.4.5 lakhs
  • Duration of the project should be only upto 6 months.
  • Applicants are requested to go through the guidelines and eligibility criteria before applying.
  • All applicants will apply by filling the online application form and mailing the necessary documents.
  • Click on the following link to fill the online application form :  https://forms.gle/FSjZMgobxafTyZnK6
  • Documents to be submitted : 
      • Appendix 1 : Attach CV or Resume
      • Appendix 2 : Presentation introducing your business venture
      • Appendix 3 : Proposal describing the specific project for which you require funding and the milestone breakup for 6 months (please include budget details)
        Mail all the following documents to the following Email Id : csr_edc@venturecenter.co.in
  • Kindly note that your application will be rejected in case of failure to submit the above mentioned documents.
  • The selection of the grantees shall be done by Venture Center through a Project Oversight Committee and certain qualifying criteria’s.
  • The shortlisted candidates have to present their project proposal in front of the Project Oversight Committee.
  • The selected grantees shall be informed by the Venture Center.