Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), an incubator of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), has partnered with Habitat for Humanity' India for the ShelterTech Accelerator which will focus on startups creating solutions for the affordable housing sector in India.

Atlanta, US-based Habitat for Humanity is an international, non-governmental, and nonprofit organization (NGO), which was founded in 1976. The NGO already has ShelterTech Accelerator in Mexico and Kenya with other partners, along with CIIE, aims at identifying and supporting innovative and scalable for-profit housing startups that can solve challenges affecting low income households, material suppliers, construction labor, developers and other key stakeholders in this sector.

The Accelerator, in addition to providing access to seed funds of up to Rs 75 Lakhs, offers selected startups intensive support in the form of customized problem solving, mentoring, access to global networks, along with the possibility of investments and an Investor Demo Day.

ShelterTech is designed as 4-month long support program and will support startups in two batches. The first batch of the top 5 to 6 startups will begin in December 2018. The second batch of 5 to 6 startups will begin by April 2019. The program ends in a demo day that will be organized in July 2019 for all startups of both the batches together.

The Accelerator will invite application in two phases; the first phase will remain open till the end of October. After the closer of first phase, a cohort of 4 to 5 startups with high potential to deliver disruptive changes in this sector will be selected for acceleration.

Interested startups can apply here - https://sheltertech.ciie.co/register




“The need in India matches the opportunities we see in such a large and diverse market. Through the ShelterTech Accelerator we hope to identify and support promising startups with the potential of transforming affordable housing markets in India,” said Patrick Kelley, Vice President of Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Housing.

“Affordable housing is both a tough and a complex problem that requires multiple partners to collaborate in innovative ways. Our partnership with Habitat for Humanity positions us to offer an unparalleled support system for founders working in this space. Founders will be able to avail financial support through seed funds, engage with the top domain experts and industry partners; and get access to global affordable housing ecosystem,” said Ashwin Joshi, Senior Vice President - Ecosystem, CIIE.

The accelerator has been launched on Saturday, at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi, where ecosystem players and sector experts from BrickEagle, Brigade REAP, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Atal Innovation Mission, Micro Housing Finance Corporation, Habitat for Humanity International, CIIE and others, gathered to share their insights and brainstorm on the challenges that constrict the housing sector in India.

In August, CIIE had also partnered with J.P. Morgan, a global banking and financial services provider, to set up a Financial Inclusion Lab (FIL) that will focus on early-stage fintech startups with innovations that address the unique needs of the lower and middle income (LMI) segment.

Besides ShelterTech, Brigade REAP is also real estate focussed startup accelerator in India, touted as Asia's first to focus on Real Estate. The accelerator, in May this year, on-boarded 5 Real Estate startups for its fourth Cohort. With over 80 start-ups having applied to the program, 11 Start-ups were shortlisted out of which 5 were inducted into the program.

Source - Economics Times

[Top Image - Proptiger.com]
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