Biotechnology Innovation Fund – Accelerating Entrepreneurs
BIRAC's equity fund-of-funds for biotech — daughter funds write cheques of up to ₹7 crore, with ₹3.5 crore of follow-on.
What you get
Ticket up to ₹7 crore per startup, plus follow-on up to ₹3.5 crore
Nodal ministry
Department of Biotechnology (DBT)
Support type
Equity
Best suited for
Growth / Scaling
Typical timeline
Daughter-fund diligence cycle, typically 2–6 months
What this scheme actually is
AcE is the biotech equivalent of the Fund of Funds: BIRAC commits capital to SEBI-registered AIFs, which commit to investing twice BIRAC's contribution into biotech startups. You raise from the daughter fund, not from BIRAC. It is the natural graduation path for a company that has already been through BIG or SEED and now needs institutional venture capital.
Implementing agency: BIRAC
What the scheme sets out to do
Who can apply
What you get
How to apply, step by step
- 1
Reach institutional readiness
AcE daughter funds invest in companies with validated science, regulatory pathway clarity and a route to revenue. If you are pre-proof-of-concept, BIG or SEED is the right door.
- 2
Identify AcE daughter funds
BIRAC publishes the fund partners. Approach the funds whose thesis matches your sub-sector — diagnostics, medtech and biopharma have very different investor sets.
- 3
Prepare the raise pack
Deck, three-statement model, regulatory pathway and timeline, IP position, clinical or validation data, and cap table. Life-sciences diligence goes deep on regulatory risk.
- 4
Run diligence and close
Scientific, regulatory, financial and legal diligence, then term sheet and definitive documents, then the Indian company-law filings on allotment.
What we actually do on a AcE mandate
Services this usually needs
No consultant can guarantee a sanction — that decision sits with the evaluating committee, bank or incubator. We commit to an honest eligibility view, an application built to the evaluator’s format, filing inside the window and a documented follow-up cadence. That is stated in every engagement letter we sign.