Investor Profile: Nasscom 10,000 Startups

Nasscom 10,000 Startups is the start-up programme of Nasscom, India's apex software and services industry body. Launched in 2013 by then-Nasscom president Som Mittal, it set out with a deliberately audacious ambition: to incubate and fund 10,000 technology start-ups over ten years, giving India's product start-up ecosystem the structured support the IT services industry once enjoyed.

What the programme offers

At launch, the programme shortlisted around 500 entrepreneurs for funding of Rs 25 lakh to Rs 2 crore through leading angel investor networks, alongside three to four months of incubation and affordable co-working space. Every selected start-up also received a start-up kit worth Rs 10 lakh — free business tools and cloud credits from the likes of Microsoft, AWS and Google — plus mentoring, investor connects, and access to more than 7,000 events across 30 cities.

Launch partners included Google, Microsoft, Kotak and Verisign, with Zinnov as consulting partner, Hyderabad Angels as funding partner, and TiE and IIIT Hyderabad as incubator partners. A second phase drew 4,000 applications, of which 332 were shortlisted and roughly 80 companies received structured support, with pitch sessions held across the country.

The deep-tech pivot: Accelerate 10X

The programme has since pivoted decisively toward deep tech. Under Nasscom president Debjani Ghosh, it launched Accelerate 10X with venture partners Saif Partners, Inventus Capital Partners and Axilor, targeting start-ups in health tech, climate tech, agri-tech, energy and mobility. Nasscom DeepTech Council chair Ramkumar Narayanan has set a target of 10,000 Indian deep-tech start-ups by 2030.

The programme also runs international market-access cohorts. Its first InnoTrek UK 2026 cohort named start-ups including MySellerCentral, NeoSapien, OpenTurf Technologies, Catalytics Datum Solutions, Pazo, CogitX AI, IntentDI and Roadzen.

Fund size

As an industry programme rather than a fund, its corpus is not publicly disclosed — its capital flows through partner angel networks, VCs and corporate sponsors rather than a balance sheet of its own.

Beyond capital, the programme's real currency has been distribution: 7,000+ events across 30 cities gave early-stage founders stage time long before demo days were fashionable, and the Rs 10 lakh start-up kit — free tools from Microsoft, AWS and Google — materially extended runways. With the original 10000startups.com portal now defunct, founders should track current cohort calls on nasscom.in and through the Nasscom DeepTech Council.

The second phase showed the model's selectivity: 4,000 applications narrowed to 332 shortlisted ventures, with around 80 companies receiving structured support and pitch sessions staged across India — a funnel that made selection itself a credibility signal for follow-on investors.