Chip maker Intel deepened its start-up engagement in India with the close of the second edition of Plugin Start-ups Demo Day. This is part of the Intel India Maker Lab programme in Bengaluru, in which 11 start-ups showcased innovative products and solutions.

Plugin is a unique collaborative incubation programme between Intel India, Department of Science and Technology (DST), the Government of India, and Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) - Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

The 11 start-ups have raised ₹22 crore funding in total. Five start-ups with revenue generating products and three which are doing paid customer trials have collectively generated a revenue of ₹24 crore. Three are in final stages of product development.

Since its inception in January 2016, Intel India Maker Lab, which was branded as Plugin in 2017, has incubated 23 hardware and systems start-ups and supported 60-plus start-ups with infrastructure, technology, mentorship and business connect support in the areas of manufacturing, retail, healthcare, agriculture, BFSI and e-governance, across AI, Cloud, IoT and client compute.

Jitendra Chaddah, Senior Director, Operations & Strategy, Intel India, told BusinessLine, “We provide the infrastructure for the Plugin start-ups with space and equipment to design and test their products and solutions. We also provide access to our Principal Engineers who mentor them on technology and business.”

He added, “Intel, along with the government, pools in money to give ₹10 lakh to reach prototype stageand ₹25 lakh at the final product delivery stage. Then SINE, which plays a programme management role, connects them to VCs, trains them and handholds them through the one-year programme.”

Entropik Tech, SkinCurate Research, Kaaenaat, Combat Robotics, Cyrrup, NOOS Technologies, Uber Diagnostics Pvt Ltd and Maxerience, were among the start-ups who participated in the second edition of Plugin. Applications to participate in the third edition of Plugin will open in September.

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