IncubatIng Success

Academic institutes provide fledgling startups with the money, know how and guidance they need to become world-ready

- Pranit Sarda

A lot of eyes widened when Stanford University sold its stake in Google for $336 million in 2005. In 1996, Larry Page and Sergey Brin had begun a research project as PhD students at the university. Started as google.stanford.edu (now google.com), the search engine giant had, in its initial days, used the domain expertise of the university’s professors and the much-needed cash to survive.

This essentially is the idea of academic incubation, where the incubation cell of an academic institute provides the space for an idea to breathe, along with the required resources, training and infrastructure in exchange for a small stake in the company, or other conditions.

Various academic institutions identify startups at an early stage, before they have even received seed funding. They provide resources such as initial funding (usually between 5 lakh and 20 lakh), infrastructure, training and technical knowhow, in exchange for equity or at a marginal cost. Ventures looking for this initial support apply to these institutions, and are selected through an extensive process, which includes vetting from entrepreneurs and alumni members.