At a time when startups are experiencing “funding winter,” the International Financial Service Centre Authority (IFSCA) will begin awarding Fintech grants to Indian innovators early next year.
According to IFSCA Chief Technology Officer Joseph Joshy, Indian Fintechs have begun to apply for the IFSCA Fintech Incentive Scheme, 2022, which includes six types of grants.
“These applications will be reviewed by an external committee. The grants will most likely begin to flow early next year “He made the remarks on the sidelines of the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF), which will take place from November 2-4, 2022.
At a time when startups are facing “funding winter”, the International Financial Service Centre Authority (IFSCA) will start giving Fintech grants from early next year to Indian innovators.
IFSCA Chief Technology Officer Joseph Joshy said Indian Fintechs have started applying for the IFSCA Fintech Incentive Scheme, 2022, which has six types of grants.
“We have an external committee which will be looking into these applications. Probably, from early next year, the grants will start flowing,” he said on the sidelines of Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF) held 2-4 Nov 2022.
The grants are for bootstrap innovators, and range between Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh, Joshy said, adding that the grants are timely but cannot be compared to Venture Capitalists’ investment sizes that run into millions of dollars.
Hopefully, the impact of this funding winter would not be as bad as the Dot.com crash of 2001, they added.
Julie Fergerson, CEO and Co-Founder of the Seattle-headquartered Merchant Risk Council, believes the startup network will go through a correction.
“There is an industry-wide correction as some of them are overvalued, she told PTI at SFF, referring to the funding winter, a term widely used by the industry on funds slowing down for the widely encouraged and promoted startups.
However, Fergerson pointed out that startups, which provide maximum value, rose to the top quicker from the past recession.