SIDBI Innovation Challenge Fund 2026

SIDBI's Innovation Challenge Fund invites AI-enabled solutions that support MSMEs across their lifecycle, with fund support of up to ₹2 Crore.

The SIDBI Innovation Challenge Fund (SICF) is a pioneering digital platform established to foster transformative ideas and achieve significant developmental impact across India. As a competitive mechanism, SICF aims to crowd-source innovative, outcome-oriented solutions that address critical socio-economic challenges, particularly within the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector. Rooted in SIDBI's core mandate as a development finance institution, the Fund is dedicated to inclusive growth and sustainable development, supporting visionary entities capable of translating novel ideas into scalable impact. SICF is designed to empower innovators, enterprises, and changemakers by bridging crucial funding gaps, thereby enabling the successful implementation of breakthrough solutions. At its heart, SICF champions Inclusive, Innovative, and Impactful (I3) interventions. It prioritizes projects that foster sustainable enterprise creation, leverage cutting-edge innovation and technology, and mobilize market-driven ecosystems to unlock economic opportunities for underserved and aspiring communities.

Beyond merely a funding mechanism, SICF acts as an enabler of change, nurturing bold thinking, rewarding ingenuity, and accelerating the journey from concept to measurable impact. By aligning capital with purpose, SICF strives to build resilient, future-ready solutions that contribute significantly to India's development narrative and the vision of a 'Viksit Bharat'. Through various windows, SICF has already supported 28 inclusive, innovative, and impactful projects focusing on capacity building, enterprise creation, market linkage, credit connect, and job creation, transforming over 12,000 lives, with beneficiaries predominantly including Women, Tribals, Divyangjans, Artisans, Disaster Victims, and Manual Scavengers. This cohort specifically seeks Artificial Intelligence-enabled Prototype Solutions for MSME Lifecycle Support, addressing objectives such as improving MSME access to reliable business guidance, simplifying enterprise setup and compliance, enhancing credit readiness and financial management, strengthening sales and market access, and providing inclusive digital assistance. The goal is to reduce information asymmetry and generate measurable outcomes across the MSME lifecycle, identifying proven AI models for wider institutional adoption and contributing to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.