Public Disclosures

(as of 1^st November, 2024)

About this page:

This page provides information about the Entrepreneurship Development Center (Venture Center).

Organizational information and fact file

Information	Details
Company name	Entrepreneurship Development Center (Venture Center is the registered trademark of the company)
Mission	o To nucleate and nurture world-leading inventive ventures emerging out of India that solve the globes most pressing problems with science and technology-led interventions.
Vision	o To be credited with creating a leading and vibrant deep tech or inventive startup cluster for India that will be rated: -- top 2 in India by FY2031-32 (25 year mark) -- top 50 in world by FY2031-32 (25 year mark)
Aims and objectives	o Nucleation of new business by creating the environment and opportunities for know-how providers, entrepreneurs and financiers to meet each other and form business teams o Nurturing businesses through their start-up phase by creating and running an efficient business incubator offering not only space but also access to technology support, business mentoring, networks, scientific and information resources, and a generally conducive and supportive environment. o Promoting and running an active program for identification, creation, acceleration and translation (into practice) of technology ideas suitable for new venture creation. o Run an active program in building and sharing resources, networks, competencies and special expertise in select areas at the interfaces of technology and innovation, business and entrepreneurship, and government and policy.
Trademarks owned	o Venture Center o IPFACE o NCL Innovations o Lab2Mkt o Exciting Science o CAMS o Cell Studio o Incubation Practice School o MH12 o Protoshop o Tinkering Lab o Venture Base Camp o PRIME o CanDid o Mentor Pool
Registered address	100, NCL Innovation Park, Dr Homi Bhabha Road, Pune- 411008, Maharashtra, India.
Websites	www.venturecenter.co.in www.vcenterlibrary.org www.ipface.org
Company Identification Number (CIN)	U73100PN2007NPL129455
Incorporation Date	10 January 2007
Company registered under	Section 25 of Companies Act, 1956 (India) (Section 8 of Companies Act, 2013)
Nature of company	Private Limited Company Non-profit Company Limited by Guarantee
Founders	o Swaminathan Sivaram o Premnath Venugopalan
Members of the Company	o Vidya Gupta o Guruswamy Kumaraswamy o Ashish K Lele o Sanjay Nene o Anuya A Nisal o BLV Prasad o Vivek Ranade o Swaminathan Sivaram o Nitin S Tewari o Kadhiravan Shanmuganathan o Premnath Venugopalan
Board of Directors	o Ashish Lele (Chairman) Director, CSIR-NCL o AT Kusre, Professor, IIT-Bombay o HK Mittal, Former Adviser & Head , NSTEDB, DST, Govt of India o Satya Prakash Dash, Ex-Director Impact Lab at PATH o Srikant Sastri,(Experienced entrepreneur, investor & startup mentor) o Premnath Venugopalan, Head, NCL Innovations, CSIR-NCL o Sanjay Kanvinde, Angel Investor and Advisor, Lavni Ventures o Vilas Sinkar, Ex-Vice President R & D Unilever o Manisha Premnath, Executive Director & COO, Venture Center
Permanent Board Invitee	o Rajan Srikanth, Co-President, Keiretsu Forum; Chairman and MD, SmartKapital
Sub-committees of the Board	o Incubator Facilities and Services Oversight Committee o Investment Committee
Institutional Committees and Advisory Boards	o Advisory Board o Incubator Facility and Services Oversight Committee o Investment Committee o Advisory Committee for Biosafety and Bioethics
Head, NCL Innovations	o Premnath Venugopalan
Head of the executive team (COO)	o Manisha Premnath
Approvals and affiliations	o Incubator created under the CSIR scheme titled "Scheme for setting up incubation centers in CSIR laboratories" o Approved TBI of DST-NSTEDB o BIRAC BioIncubator
Recognitions	o Recognized “Scientific and Industrial Research Organization” (SIRO) by DSIR; Regn no F.No.11/522/2011-TU-V
Accreditation	o Accredited by CREDAL under Desirable Norms (highest category). This accreditation provides an independent, respected and credible recognition of the high standards of accountability, transparency and governance followed by Venture Center o Equivalency Determination certified status from NGOsource certifies that our organization is equivalent to a US public charity
Registrations	o Section 12AB–Regn 12A(1)(ac)-AADCE4846JE20217 (valid till AY 2026-27) o Section 80 G - Regn 80G (5)- AADCE4846JF20215 valid till AY 2026-27) o FCRA registration (under section 6 (1) (a) of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act): FCRA Reg. No. 083930543. The Bank account under which FC funds are received is with SBI, New Delhi Main Branch o DARPAN Id- MH/2016/0097322 o GSTN-27AADCE4846J1ZE o Registered with Guide Star: GSN 1339
Exemptions/ concessions	o Exempt from Income Tax o Exempt from GST on taxable services rendered o Concessions for Customs Duty
Auditors	C. V. Chitale & Co. Chartered Accountants,3, Gurukrupa, Sathe Colony, Near Bajirao Road Telephone Exchange, 1317, Shukrawar Peth, Pune- 411 002
Bankers	o ICICI Bank o Axis Bank o State Bank of India o Union Bank of India o Canara Bank
Professional memberships	o ISBA (India) o APIN (Asia) o PIC (Pune International Center)

Company documents and Annual Reports:

· Company formation documents: Available on request with justification (Restricted access website)

· Founding agreements and approvals: Available on request with justification (Restricted access website)

· Registrations, recognitions: Available on request with justification (Restricted access website)

· Annual Reports: Previous annual reports available on request (Restricted access website)

Impact and achievements:

· Venture Center received the National Entrepreneurship Award for 2019 under the Ecosystem Builder Category on 9 Nov 2019 from the honorable Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey.

· Venture Center also received the Certificate of Merit as a Smart Incubator of the year in 2019 from India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF).

· Venture Center has also received the AABI (Asian) Incubator of the year Award for 2018.

· Venture Center received the National Award for Technology Business Incubation 2015 from the Honorable President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, on 11th May 2016 at Vigyan Bhawan, Delhi on the occasion of National Technology Day.

· Venture Center has also received the AABI (Asian) Incubator of the year Award for 2018. EDC won the Certificate of Merit as a Smart Incubator of the year in 2019 from India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF).

· Venture Center won the National Entrepreneurship Award under the Ecosystem Builder Category for 2019 from the Government of India.

· BioSpectrum Magazine has rated Venture Center as the number 1 Bioincubator of the country based on the data for FY 2020-21.

· Venture Center also received the National Award for Incubators Nurturing IP for 2021 & 2022.

· Venture Center tracks a variety of indicators of activity and impact via the Impact Portal. See following sites for details:

o Impact portal

o Report of various indicators

o Incubatee news and achievements

Governance:

Here is the list of corporate governance policies that we adhere to at the current time:

· Board of Directors: Venture Center board members have vast industry knowledge and technical experience to contribute effectively to management of the company.

o Currently our Board has 9 members.

o Our Board meets at least once a quarter to review the progress of the company.

o Minutes of Board meetings are well documented and circulated.

o Our Board reviews the budgets, activity reports and audited financial statements and ensures compliance with regulations and laws governing the company.

o Currently, none of the Board members have remunerative roles in our company.

o A Board Composition and Refreshment Policy exists and implemented.

· Details of board meeting and AGM/EoGM held in the last 3 financial years:

Financial year	Nature of the meeting	For the quarter	Date of the meetings	Number of directors/ members present	Total Number of directors/ members

2021-22	Board Meeting	Q1	29.05.2021	6	6
	Board Meeting	Q2	14.09.2021	7	7
	Board Meeting	Q4	12.02.2022	7	7
	Annual General Meeting		30.09.2021	8	11

2022-23	Board Meeting	Q2	29.07.2022	6	7
	Board Meeting	Q2	14.09.2022	4	7
	Board Meeting	Q4	04.03.2023	6	7
	Annual General Meeting		30.09.2022	6	11

2023-24	Board Meeting	Q2	26.08.2023	5	7
	Board Meeting	Q2	13.09.2023	5	7
	Board Meeting	Q3	18.12.2023	8	8
	Annual General Meeting		29.09.2023	8	11

· Policies / Procedures:

o Procurement: We have proper policies in place that define the complete procurement procedure, roles of various employees in procurement of various items, signing authority of various management personnel and so on. Our procurement documents are available on our intranet site for the reference of all the employees.

o HR: We are equal opportunity provider and we are committed to promote diversity in the workforce. We have a formal organizational structure which clearly demarcates the roles and functions of various employees. We also have a comprehensive HR policy for hiring, compensation, increments, promotion, termination, etc. We provide appointment letter to all our employees with detailed terms of employment.

o Finance: Our accounts are prepared on accrual basis and audited by both internal as well as external auditors. We comply with applicable law and statutes.

o All our financial policies and procedures are well documented and all are available for employees to refer to at any time. We also circulate our Annual Report to our stakeholders at the end of year.

o Marketing: Detailed description of all our services is available on our website. The description also includes the pricing information, what each particular service includes, any discounts available to different kinds of customers etc.

o Donations: Since we accept donations towards our activities, we provide timely and relevant feedback to all the donors regarding our activities and how the funds were utilized. This feedback includes information regarding expenses incurred, outcomes and achievements and any other information that may be asked for.

o Incubatees: As an incubator, we have formal entry process for potential companies / clients to adhere in order to be incubated by us. Venture Center has published an Exit Policy for incubatees on its website. We also evaluate our policies yearly to fill any gaps in services and increase the potential benefit that an incubatee can get from us.

· Annual Returns :

FY 2021-22

FY 2022-23

FY 2023-24

Operations:

Here is the list of corporate governance policies that we adhere to at the current time:

· Management:

o The organization periodically reviews progress of programmes.

o The organization follows consultative decision-making processes.

o The organization complies with applicable laws and regulations of the country.

o The accounts of the organization are regularly maintained and are audited by a chartered accountant

· Human resources:

o Roles and responsibilities are defined for Personnel (Staff and Volunteers)

o All personnel are issued letters of contract/ appointment

o An appropriate HR/Personnel Policy is in place

· Organogram: The organization is structured as illustrated below

Accountability and transparency:

· Accountability:

o Signed audited statements are available: balance sheet, income and expenditure statement, schedules to these, notes on accounts and the statutory auditor’s report.

o Statement of accounts indicates whether constructed on a cash or accrual basis. We use an accrual system.

o There are no serious adverse notes on any material point

o There are no material transactions involving conflict of interest between a Board or staff member and the organisation.

· Transparency:

o The organisation’s Annual Report is distributed and communicated to the stakeholders and others and is made available on request every year, within eight months of the end of the organisation’s financial year.

o The Annual Report contains a description of the main activities, a review of the progress and results achieved in the year; and information on the Board members' names, position in the Board, remuneration or reimbursement and contains brief financial details.

o Distribution of staff according to salary levels and gender breakup is disclosed below (Based on gross pay including benefits as of 31^st March, 2024 ; Fellowship under various programs/ projects is not included in the table; Some of the Venture Center staff work pro bono as volunteers) :

Slab of gross monthly salary (in Rs.) plus benefits paid to staff & consultants	Male Staff & consultants	Female Staff & consultants	Total Staff & consultants
< 25000	1	5	6
25001- 50000	2	12	14
>50,000	12	30	42
	15	47	62

o Venture Center discloses the total cost of international travel by all personnel (including volunteers) as provided below :

Name	Designation	Destination and Year	Purpose	Expense incurred by EDC (Rs)	Sponsored by
Poorvashree Joshi	Assistant Manager-IP services	Denmark, 2023	Fostering Innovation & Commercialisation of Intellectual Property Rights	NIL	Department of Strategy and Innovation, Copenhagen Business School
Neha Jacob	Head-Operations	Germany, 2023	Incubators Connect: Innovation and Internationalisation	73,960	DAAD (unit German Centre for Research & Innovation – DWIH)
Shruti Devashthali	Head - Funding and Investment	Malaysia, 2023	DST Delegation to the India ASEAN Startup Summit 2023	NIL	Department Of Science & Technology

Financial:

o Sources of financing of recurring expenditure: Grants to incubator; Income from incubation services for entrepreneurs/ start-ups; Events/ workshops; Sponsored Projects; Investment income of corpus / reserves; Donations towards expenses ; In-kind contributions by organizations and individuals; Equity Returns