Mumbai, Aug 31 (IANS) The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B), in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) Mumbai, has launched a new media tech startup incubator under its WaveX accelerator platform.
According to the ministry, the incubator will provide a dedicated nurturing ecosystem for startups in the AVGC-XR sector, which includes audio, visual, comics, gaming and extended reality.
The initiative is designed to help high-potential media and entertainment ventures grow with the support of structured mentorship, advanced infrastructure, strategic advisory, and real-world testing through government media unit partnerships.
The ministry said the incubator will make it easier for startups to scale and commercialise their ideas effectively.
The programme will follow a two-phase model. In the first phase, startups will receive intensive support in areas such as business modelling, product development, fundraising, branding, pitching, and understanding media regulations.
They will also get sandbox testing opportunities in sectors like OTT, VFX, VR, gaming, animation, publishing, and post-production.
In the second phase, the focus will shift to global showcasing through WaveX’s Waves Bazaar platform, lighter mentorship, investor engagement and industry partnerships.
Startups will also get access to co-working spaces, AV/digital labs, hosting servers, high-speed internet, cloud credits from AWS and Google, and India AI compute services in the near future.
The programme will include masterclasses by global tech leaders from companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon, along with bootcamps, policy clinics and investor connect sessions.
WaveX will oversee the governance of the incubator, with quarterly reviews under the mentorship of the Ministry of I&B.
The first batch will include 15 startups, to be housed at IICT’s Mumbai campus, with a monthly fee of Rs 8,500 plus GST.
Applications for the first cohort are open until September 7. Interested startups can apply online by visiting wavex.wavesbazaar.com.
The IICT, launched in July by Union I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, has been set up as a Section 8 joint venture company with the support of the Central Government, the Maharashtra government, and leading industry bodies like FICCI and CII.
The institute aims to create a strong talent pool for India’s creative economy and position the country as a global leader in immersive and digital content technologies.
–IANS
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