Startups with Patent Plans can get the Funds Easily

National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) a public sector enterprise of the Department of Scientific Industrial Research, Ministry of Science and Technology has recently encouraged the startups to utilize the office space in their premises. Out of these more than 30 such startups, there are almost 4-5 with the agriculture related technologies.

The future of the agri-entrepreneurers are very bright and they can contribute for the betterment of the farming community.

Patents were generally filed for technology, software, hardware, cleantech, healthcare, agri-tech and processes, among others. Indian start-ups filed a whopping 909 patent applications in 2017, up nearly 15 times from the meagre 61 filed a year earlier, per Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion data.

The rise in filings, which have been rapidly increasing since the announcement of the Startup India programme in 2016, is an indication that these firms are no longer “mere copycats” of successful Western ventures.

To scale up or get funded, start-ups need to differentiate themselves from others and one method is to create IPRs (Intellectual Property Rights), and one mode of creating an IP  is getting a patent. The other method is building a successful product.

“Earlier the laws were rigid, but now most of them have been relaxed for start-ups. The Government had modified patent rules and made them similar to those in the US, which has resulted in most start-ups now filing IT-enabled patents such as in e-commerce and online,” according to a  Director of Einfolge Technologies, a patent analytical company.

Rajesh Kurup from Mumbai documented that “Venture Capitalists (VCs), who are increasingly investing in start-ups, prefer to pump money into start-ups that have filed patents. If a patent has been filed, it means that the project has some innovation, which will result in increased market value. Further, getting a patent would also put these companies in the Ivy League of Silicon Valley start-ups,” he added.

Further added Parthasarathi Guha Patra, founder of Asadel. “A lot of start-ups are not just into inviting something, but looking at making their products and services more affordable. For example, companies are also filing patents for simple processes they have invented.”

Source:https://krishijagran.com/news/startups-with-patent-plans-can-get-the-funds-easily/