Look for some NASA/US Gov RFPs and open contracts for some low level manufacturing/sub-contractor work on their space missions(or sub contract work from prime contractors). Get the necessary certifications. When you do win bids, hire the right people, then provide the services, and money starts coming in. I'm sure there is a banker or financial institution out there that'll hand out funding to someone that actually holds a contract to NASA or a big defense contractor.
First time I heard about this was on the Indian movie "3 Idiots". Never did any research on it but the movie explanation just made sense to me. I didn't know there's some history behind it.
This also happens in the Philippines. Sometimes the reason why students outsource projects isn't exactly related to how good they are academically. Some students(both good and bad) finish projects themselves and some outsource because they'd rather focus on a more important subject or project. Some even have part time jobs and really doesn't have the time.
Even the really smart students sometimes outsource, these students have already been training and specializing on one field and if their project happens to be on a different field they'd rather have someone else do it than have bad marks.
And about the project making companies, they're more like "teams" here in the Philippines. Mostly undergrads or graduates that haven't found jobs or programmers that have jobs but wants some extra-income.