Who manages the ASPIRE Fund of Funds?

Solution

Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises also entrusted SIDBI with the management of ASPIRE Fund with corpus of Rs.310 crore (augmented by Rs.250 crore from Rs.60 crore earlier) to support various AIFs, which in turn would invest twice of SIDBI’s contribution in various MSME / startup businesses, including rural and agro space. ASPIRE FUND shall target to achieve the below objectives through its contribution to Funds: (a) Support start-ups / early stage enterprises in the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship, forward backward linkage with multiple value chain of manufacturing and service delivery. (b) Accelerator support in the agro-based Industry verticals and sectors which would galvanize the rural economy. The AIFs should invest at least twice the amount of contribution received under ASPIRE Fund in Start-ups / early stage enterprises under Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) category, of which 1X shall be invested in the agro and rural focused Start-ups/ early stage enterprises under MSME category. Exclusive IT based application / intervention in the agro and rural based industry verticals shall not qualify for this compliance.