NSRCEL, IIM Bangalore

NSRCEL, the N.S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, serves as the entrepreneurship and innovation hub of IIM Bangalore. Established in 2000, it operates from the institute's Bannerghatta Road campus in Bengaluru and ranks among India's earliest academic incubators. Over its 25-year span, the centre has incubated 585+ ventures fully and guided 1,300+ more through its Launchpad pre-incubation track, creating over 6,900 direct jobs. Several portfolio companies have been acquired by global firms such as Qualcomm, Pegasystems, Brillio, and Freshworks.

The centre runs a range of programmes tailored to different stages and sectors. Launchpad supports idea and prototype-stage founders, including a Campus Founders track for students. The Women Startup Program offers full incubation for women-led ventures with corporate backing, while Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women provides free online business education to women entrepreneurs worldwide. Impact Orbit focuses on social enterprises in skilling, livelihood, AgeTech, and tech-enabled social innovation. Other tracks include the Velocity – Kotak BizLabs accelerator for growth-stage startups, the Circular Bharat Accelerator and Climate Incubation Hub for sustainability and climate-tech, a Mobility Incubation Program with Maruti Suzuki, a Fintech Centre of Excellence covering lending, wealthtech, insurtech, payments, and embedded finance, and a Healthcare Incubation Program for health-tech and medtech ventures.

NSRCEL connects founders to a network of 400+ mentors and corporate partners, including Goldman Sachs, ICICI Securities, Capgemini, and Maruti Suzuki. It generally does not provide direct equity funding but helps facilitate access to investors and grant programmes. Applications are open to idea-stage students, early-stage founders, women entrepreneurs, social enterprises, and growth-stage companies, with sector focus varying by programme. Founders outside IIMB's alumni network are welcome across all open programmes, and Launchpad is especially suited for pre-incorporation founders with a validated idea.