IIMA Ventures, in partnership with SAP, has launched the North East Growth Lab (NEGL), a new initiative aimed at strengthening entrepreneurship and innovation across the eight northeastern states. The programme is designed to support over 90 startups and social enterprises over the next three years, with the goal of fostering inclusive economic development and enterprise growth in the region.
NEGL builds on the earlier Assam Agribusiness Growth Lab (AAGL), a World Bank-supported initiative led by IIMA Ventures. While AAGL focused on agribusiness in Assam, NEGL expands its scope to include enterprises across Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim.
The programme will offer catalytic capital—through grants and optionally convertible debt—alongside business training, customised mentoring, and access to markets. Over the next five years, North East Growth Lab aims to generate Rs 100 crore in enterprise value and reach over 500,000 individuals, with particular focus on those from low- and middle-income backgrounds. The initiative also seeks to advance ten high-potential ventures towards securing Series A funding.
In addition to supporting individual enterprises, NEGL will also act as a platform for regional economic development. It will run a yearly schedule of activities such as outreach events, investor-focused demo days, and bootcamps, both within the Northeast and in metropolitan centres. The initiative is also expected to collaborate with key government and financial bodies, including NABARD, NEDFi, NEHHDC, NERAMAC, and the Ministry for Development of the North East Region (mDoNER).
Among the early-stage ventures already receiving support under NEGL are Dream Hives, which is developing honey-based mead products from the region; Chezfresco, a ready-to-eat B2B food brand; Greengen, which has created a biofertiliser for tea plantations; Fuloni, focused on sustainable home gardening with plantable and biodegradable pots; and Pustikor Foods, which produces cookies made with Assam’s GI-tagged Joha rice.
NEGL combines IIMA Ventures’ experience in enterprise incubation with SAP’s commitment to enabling innovation-led growth. The platform aims to contribute to long-term economic transformation in the Northeast by addressing capital, capability, and connectivity gaps for emerging entrepreneurs.
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