Bhamashah Techno Fund, Rajasthan

What is the Bhamashah Techno Fund?

Bhamashah Techno Fund is the soft loan window that the Department of Information Technology and Communication (DoIT&C), Government of Rajasthan runs for startups registered on the iStart Rajasthan platform. In the department's own words, the Techno Fund "has been introduced to give an open sky to the potential startups of the state", and the fund is to be used for the growth and overall development of startups, with the stated intent of raising Rajasthan's startup community to the highest position in the country.

The name is worth explaining, because it causes confusion. Bhamashah Techno Hub is the state's flagship startup hub at Sansthan Path, Jhalana Gram, Malviya Nagar, Jaipur 302017, a physical building. The Techno Fund is the money instrument associated with the same programme. A founder who goes looking for the fund at the hub's reception will simply be pointed back to the iStart platform, which is where applications actually live.

What makes the Techno Fund distinct from the state's grants is that it is repayable. The Ideation Grant of Rs 2,40,000 under Rajasthan Startup Policy 2022 is money you keep. Techno Fund money is money you return, on stated terms, and the terms are deliberately gentle.

What are the terms of a Techno Fund loan?

The department publishes the loan terms as a set of conditions, and they are the most concrete thing about the instrument:

Two of these deserve emphasis. First, no securitisation is the reason the instrument exists at all: an early-stage software company has nothing a bank would accept as collateral, and a state loan without a security requirement fills exactly that gap. Second, the rule that an early instalment goes entirely to principal is unusually favourable, because it means prepayment reduces the interest base immediately rather than being absorbed into a scheduled interest charge.

Who is eligible for the Techno Fund, and who is not eligible?

You can apply if:

• Your startup is registered on the iStart Rajasthan platform.
• Your entity is a private limited company under the Companies Act 2013, a registered partnership firm under section 59 of the Partnership Act 1932, or an LLP under the LLP Act 2008.
• The entity is within ten years of incorporation or registration.
• Turnover in no financial year since incorporation has exceeded Rs 100 crore.
• The entity is working towards innovation, development or improvement of products, processes or services, or is a scalable business model with high potential for employment generation or wealth creation.
• The startup can show a repayment plan, since this is a loan.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• The entity was formed by splitting up or reconstructing an existing business, which the department expressly excludes from the startup definition.
• You are an individual founder with no registered entity.
• Your entity has crossed ten years from incorporation or Rs 100 crore turnover in any year.
• You are unwilling to execute the bond in the prescribed format. The loan is not released without it.
• You are looking for non-repayable money. That is the grant track. The Ideation Grant, Viability Grant, or the Scale Up Fund's debt-convertible-to-grant structure; not the Techno Fund.

Which startups does the fund prioritise?

The department names a proposed allocation of funds across three groups:

1. Potential and emerging startups, the general pool.
2. Women startups. The department defines a women-led startup as one with a woman as Founder, Co-Founder or CXO, and cites the Government of India's 2006 definition of a women entrepreneur as an enterprise owned and controlled by women with a minimum 51 percent financial interest in the capital and giving at least 51 percent of the employment generated in the enterprise to women.
3. Green startups — ventures working on environmental and clean solutions.

Within these groups, loans are allocated as per Q-Rate ranking, the assessment score the programme assigns to a startup. A higher Q-Rate is what improves both the chance of sanction and the size of the loan; there is no published fixed entitlement.

How to apply for the Bhamashah Techno Fund

1. Register your startup on iStart Rajasthan at istart.rajasthan.gov.in. Nothing under the programme can be applied for before this.
2. Complete the entity profile with your incorporation certificate, PAN, founder details, shareholding and financials. Record women founders' shareholding here if you are claiming against the women startups allocation.
3. Apply for the funding instrument on the platform, attaching your business plan, pitch deck and financial projections.
4. Complete and correct the application when the platform or the nodal institution flags gaps. The department's stated procedure is that on completion and correction of the application, the startup is invited to present.
5. Present the idea or project before the Evaluation Committee.
6. On approval, the nodal institute approves or rejects the case and disburses the funds in the stipulated time, after you have executed the bond in the prescribed format.
7. Begin repayment six months after disbursement, in six monthly instalments.

How the Techno Fund fits with Rajasthan's other startup money

A founder should read the Techno Fund as one rung, not the whole ladder. The full set of instruments run by DoIT&C through iStart is:

• Sustenance allowance of Rs 10,000 per month for one year to eligible startups at idea or prototype stage, after approval by the committee and the nodal institution.
• Seed funding at idea or prototype stage, to mature a product or service and prepare the startup for a subsequent round.
• Ideation Grant under Rajasthan Startup Policy 2022 to Rs 2,40,000, plus Rs 60,000 where more than 50 percent of founders are women.
• Marketing and commercialisation assistance of up to Rs 10 lakh at Minimum Viable Product stage, given as loan or convertible equity. This is available where the startup has secured at least 25 percent funding from a known and registered angel investor, venture fund or reputed incubator, or as matching assistance to reputed incubators set up by institutions such as IIMs, IITs and NITs.
• Scale Up Fund at growth stage, up to 50 percent of the total amount raised, as debt convertible to grant.
• Startup Equity Fund at growth stage: government matching through an Alternative Investment Fund, up to Rs 5 crore per startup. A startup chooses between this and the Scale Up Fund.
• Techno Fund, the soft loan described on this page.

Non-cash support runs alongside: iStart Nest, described by the department as the only centralised incubator in the country offering free incubation, with centres in Jaipur, Kota, Udaipur and Bharatpur through which more than 650 startups have been supported, and Techno Hub, offering free space, connectivity, mentorship and investor exposure.

Common reasons a Techno Fund application fails

• iStart registration incomplete or lapsed, so the application does not reach the committee.
• No credible repayment plan. This is a loan; a pitch that treats it as free money does not survive evaluation.
• Low Q-Rate ranking, since allocation is made against that ranking.
• Entity outside the startup definition: over ten years old, over Rs 100 crore turnover, or formed by splitting or reconstructing an existing business.
• Bond not executed in the prescribed format, which stops disbursement even after approval.

Help and contact

• Funding support help desk: 0141-2922286
• iStart help desk: 0141-2922373 and 0141-2929831
• Email: startups.doit@rajasthan.gov.in
• Platform: istart.rajasthan.gov.in
• Bhamashah Techno Hub: Sansthan Path, Jhalana Gram, Malviya Nagar, Jaipur 302017

Applying is free. No consultant is required, and no payment should be made to any person offering to secure a sanction.