SIDBI, Bihar Start-up Fund Trust collaborate to enhance startup ecosystem in Bihar

Bihar Start-up Fund Trust, the Department of Industries, the government of Bihar and SIDBI have entered into an agreement on Friday to administer the Rs 50 crore Bihar Startup Scale-up Financing Fund (BSSFF).

This strategic initiative is aimed at transforming the state into a startup hub, creating a conducive environment for startups to flourish economically while focussing on innovation to solve complex problems of economy and society, SIDBI said in a statement.

The agreement to this effect was signed by Pankaj Dixit, director Department of Industries, the government of Bihar and SIDBI general manager Arijit Dutt.

Bihar Start-Up Fund Trust (BSFT) is a nodal agency constituted by Department of Industries, the government of Bihar for implementation of Bihar Start-Up Policy of the Government of Bihar, it said.

The Policy aims to foster entrepreneurship and promote innovation by creating an ecosystem that is conducive for the growth of start-ups in the state. Under the Policy, the government of Bihar has set-up Bihar Start-Up Fund Trust with an initial corpus of Rs 500 crore, it said.

Out of this fund, BSSFF has been established with an initial corpus of Rs 50 crore for scale-up funding support to startups, it said.

The fund, to be managed by SIDBI, shall be in the form of a fund of funds, it said.

In this model, it said, the fund shall not invest directly into start-up companies, instead it shall contribute to the corpus of SEBI registered alternative investment funds, which in turn shall invest in startups.