SBI signs MoU with IIT Bombay to promote startups

India’s top public sector bank, State Bank of India (SBI), has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), (IIT) Bombay’s technology business incubator, to promote innovation by startups in the financial sector.

“This MoU will definitely help in mentoring startups. SBI now has a Rs 200 crore fund for startups and what better place than SINE at IIT Bombay to reach out to startups to use those funds,” Poyni Bhatt, COO, SINE, told HT Education.

“As per the MoU, both the parties will identify FinTech startups that have products or applications to cater to the financial sector and can help SBI explore opportunities to enhance the synergy for their banking services. SBI will provide a platform for testing/ piloting such products/applications and maybe also check for any specific business linkages,” says a statement from the institute.

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Both SINE and SBI aim to address the issues faced by the entrepreneurial community. SBI will interact with the entrepreneurial and research community at IIT Bombay, including e- cell, Desai Centre, startups of SINE to get a better idea of the latest research being done, innovations and also conduct knowledge sessions for mutual benefit.

This MoU also aims to help evaluate startups operating out of SINE or those being promoted by SINE for early stage funding within the bank’s norms. If SBI decides to infuse funds in the start­ups, SINE may help the bank do initial screening for technical competency, product roadmap, innovation subject, impact of innovation etc. If SBI decides to infuse funds in any of the startups at SINE, the funding model will be considered on case to case and merit basis.