Villgro and Cisco Celebrate Success of TVARAN Accelerator Program, Aimed at Empowering Women-led Green-Tech Innovators

Within six months, the selected seven enterprises managed to expand to new geographies, increase in revenue, and influence 400 farmers to adopt climate-smart practices.

Villgro and Cisco India Cash Grant Program has announced the successful conclusion of the TVARAN Acceleration Program. The program was designed to support early-stage women entrepreneurs and amplify the market presence of women-led startups in renewable energy, water and waste management, and climate-smart agriculture.

Dr. Renu Swarup, Former Secretary, the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology honoured the first cohort of exceptional startups, including Climate Sense, Green Grahi, Green Delight, MOWO Fleet, Swachha Eco Solutions, KNP Arises Green Energy, and Bharat Krushi Seva, during the closing event.

The event was dedicated to spotlighting the startups’ remarkable entrepreneurial journey, acknowledging their outstanding achievements, and recognizing the challenges they overcame during the program. Moreover, it provided a valuable platform for them to articulate their strategies for future expansion and sustained growth.

During the six months of this acceleration program, these startups received invaluable support, including a financial grant of 20 lakh rupees per startup to execute their Go-To-Market (GTM) strategies. Furthermore, the startups also had access to Cisco mentors, who offered expert insights into technology and strategic planning. The program also facilitated connections with market and channel partners, leveraging the extensive networks of both Villgro and Cisco to aid in commercializing and scaling their ventures. In addition, the startups were connected with potential investors and venture capitalists to secure funding for their innovative initiatives.

In just six months, these startups have expanded their operations into new geographical areas, experienced substantial revenue growth, secured investments from venture capitalists, and successfully launched commercial pilots of their products in collaboration with various businesses and channel partners.

Bharat Krushi Seva, through the support from the program, expanded to two new geographies and has onboarded 400 farmers to embrace climate-smart agricultural practices. GreenGrahi Solutions is starting a commercial pilot of their insect-based fertilizer in Karnataka in partnership with ESSMART (A B2B e-commerce platform for rural networks) through the program. With the support of TVARAN, GreenDelight is launching its first commercial B2B pilot with a commercial bank in Bangalore, which has over 3000 women employees. Collectively, the startups have raised funding of 3.05Cr in the form of grants & equity investment.

While sharing about the achievement of the program, Harish Krishnan, Managing Director and Chief Policy Officer, Cisco India & SAARC, shared, "As a technology company, we recognize the tremendous potential of digital technology and the transformative impact of data and emerging technologies. Throughout TVARAN, we observed these attributes playing a pivotal role in shaping the strategic direction of each startup. We take immense pride in the achievements, growth, and refinement demonstrated by each cohort participant during their engagement with the program. Together, we are making significant strides towards a truly inclusive future for all."

Kalyani Krishna, Manager, Gender Inclusion, Villgro, expressed enthusiasm for the successful conclusion of this program, “Villgro has had the privilege of supporting seven women-led startups through this initiative. With over two decades of incubation experience, we recognize that startups, particularly those led by women, require vital support in terms of market connections and access to finance, and that has been the focal point of our program. This program aligns seamlessly with two of Villgro's core priorities - climate action and gender equality. Our partnership with CISCO has been invaluable, with their support playing a pivotal role in mentoring the startups within this cohort."

The application for the program, which was initiated in October 2022, received 140 applications from various regions across India. After careful evaluation, 11 startups were chosen to receive one month of dedicated support focused on go-to-market strategies and scaling. This support included four essential masterclasses covering topics like finance for scaling, the strategic value of impact data, customer understanding through design thinking, and effective pitch building. By March 2023, an expert Jury evaluated the startups on their business, readiness for the market, role of technology & impact to arrive at the first cohort of 7 startups.

About Villgro

Villgro is India's foremost impact-first incubator with expertise in 4 sectors – Healthcare, Agriculture, Climate Action, and Gender Inclusion. Our mission is to make innovative, impactful businesses succeed. Since 2001, Villgro has supported 387 social enterprises that have raised over INR 4.7 billion in investments, created 8175 jobs and impacted over 20.8 million lives. Villgro was recognized as the “Top Incubator” in India by Invest India (DPIIT, GoI) in 2020 and won the DivHERsity awards in 2022 and ‘23.

About CISCO

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that securely connects everything to make anything possible. Our purpose is to power an inclusive future for all by helping our customers reimagine their applications, power hybrid work, secure their enterprise, transform their infrastructure, and meet their sustainability goals. 

DPIIT, along with Villgro, Announce 25 Selected Incubators for the National Incubator Capacity Development Program

• Villgro will commence their 3-month-long National Incubator Capacity Development Program with 25 incubators.
• Leading experts and industry stalwarts will provide intensive mentorship and advisory support to the incubators.
• The program adopts a cohort-based hybrid approach which includes expert-led virtual and physical sessions, exposure to national and international best practices, and donor networking
• The program aims to build sustainable incubators and create an enabling ecosystem for entrepreneurs to thrive.

The National Incubator Capacity Development Program, by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has announced the selection of the Top-25 incubators that will go through an intensive 3-month mentorship, advisory, and capacity-building program. The initiative, in association with Villgro, is part of the Start-up India campaign. It is dedicated to nurturing social startups and entrepreneurs and propelling the rapid expansion of India's thriving startup ecosystem.

The program, over a period of 12 weeks, adopts a cohort-based hybrid approach to enhance the skills and abilities of the incubators. It includes a comprehensive set of self-learning modules, virtual and physical boot camps, exposure visits, and customized learning for incubator heads and sessions dedicated to efficiently managing the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS). These sessions will be provided by a distinguished group of incubator business advisors, including PR Ganapathy, Chand Das, Rama Kannan, Sandeep Jain, etc.

Additionally, participants will gain access to VITALS (Villgro Information Tracking and Learning System), a technology-based information system designed to track enterprise incubation progress.

Speaking about the program, Srinivas Ramanujam, CEO of Villgro, said, "Incubators play a pivotal role in nurturing social enterprises and transforming India's vibrant startup ecosystem. Over the last 22 years, we have observed this first-hand and have been perfecting our incubation model. We aim to strengthen the capacity of the incubators by sharing our expertise and wide networks through intensive mentorship and advisory support. We hope to catalyze their growth and create a thriving ecosystem for social innovation.”

“The National Incubator Capacity Building Program is launched to help build quality incubators across the country with an emphasis towards Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and encourage cross-learning from larger cities and lighthouse incubators to address the needs of startups building for Bharat. The training program with industry veterans and experts will provide valuable insights and expertise that will be instrumental in shaping the dynamic cohort of 25 incubators, empowering them with the necessary support and mentorship to create an enabling ecosystem for entrepreneurs to flourish,” said Prashanth Prakash, Member of the National Startup Advisory Council and Partner at Accel.

Given the presence of over 99,000+ DPIIT-recognized startups nationwide, coupled with hundreds of incubators across the country, the imperative to establish and bolster new incubators has become paramount. However, there remains a limited level of training, sensitization, and knowledge building for new incubator managers and their teams, especially in emerging cities and beyond India's metros. The National Incubator Capacity Development Program seeks to bridge this gap by providing hands-on training and growth hacks for incubators to ensure their sustainability.

The Startup India Platform hosted a call for applications, inviting incubators from all over India to participate, that attracted 83 applications. After initial screening, the jury panel, comprising experts from various industries, conducted a rigorous evaluation of Top-35 applications. Out of these, 25 exceptional incubators were selected to be part of the program. The final incubator cohort support startups from diverse sectors, including Women Entrepreneurship, Education, Mobility, Agriculture, Rural Innnovations, and Climate Action among many others. The 25 incubators participating in the Incubating Incubator program are —

1. Pilani Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Society,
2. AIC ADT Baramati Foundation,
3. AIC - SKU Confederation,
4. AIC BV Foundation,
5. AIC Raise Foundation,
6. BSC BioNEST Bio-Incubator,
7. RCB Faridabad,
8. Agri Business Incubation Foundation,
9. IIT Kharagpur,
10. IIMV Foundation for Incubation Entrepreneurial Learning and Development,
11. AIC-JKLU (Atal Incubation Center-JK Lakshmipat University),
12. Crescent Innovation and Incubation Council,
13. MOTION CoE, AIC-RNTU Foundation,
14. EdVenture Incubation Foundation,
15. AIC BAMU Foundation,
16. IIT Bhubaneswar Research And Entrepreneurship Park,
17. AIC Banasthali Vidyapith Foundation,
18. AICNIFTTEA Incubation Centre,
19. PDEU Innovation and Incubation Centre,
20. ANGRAU R Agri Business Incubator,
21. FOUNDATION FOR CfHE,
22. K L Technology Incubators Foundation,
23. Centre for Incubation and Business Acceleration, 
24. BioNEST-BHU InnoResTech Foundation,
25. IIM Kashipur Foundation for Innovation & Entrepreneurship Development, STEP (Shakti-The Empathy Project).

The National Incubator Capacity Development Program represents a significant milestone in the development of India's startup ecosystem. NICDP will empower and equip a pathway to the incubators' sustainability. By empowering incubators with the necessary knowledge and resources, the program also aims to foster an environment conducive to innovation, job creation, and social impact. 

Cisco and Villgro Launch Accelerator Program ‘TVARAN’ to Support Upcoming Women-led Climate Solution Startups in India

Winners will get up to 1 crore financial support, and access to Villgro & CISCO’s network of technology, industry and business experts and investors

Villgro and CISCO India Cash Grant Program have jointly announced the launch of TVARAN, an initiative that will support the growth of India's women-led social enterprises in climate action. One of its kind in design, the program aims to expand the market presence of women-led start-ups innovating in renewable energy, water and waste management and climate-smart agriculture.

According to the World Economic Forum (source), women are more affected by climate change than men, and yet greentech is currently a male-dominated field. Moreover, it is well documented that the participation of women in climate response actions leads to better outcomes overall. However, one of the largely unaddressed challenges for women entrepreneurs remains access to markets. TVARAN aims to overcome this problem, through a focused market-entry and market expansion program to help five of the country’s upcoming women-led climate solutions.

“Powering an inclusive future for all is CISCO’s purpose. Through our partnership with Villgro, we are announcing our commitment to supporting women entrepreneurs driving climate resilience through their business. We are excited at this unique opportunity and look forward to staying closely engaged with the startups,” Harish Krishnan, Managing Director & Chief Policy Officer, CISCO India & SAARC said.

The 6-month targeted acceleration is a high-engagement initiative that is designed to finance and implement the go-to-market strategies of women entrepreneurs. Through the acceleration program, Villgro and CISCO will deploy support mechanisms in the form of financial support of INR 1 crore (up to INR 20 Lakhs per start-up), as well as support the capacity building, business planning, mentorship and peer learning, focussed towards the implementation of go-to-market strategies.

Jenaan Lilani Bhargava, Chief Operating Officer, Villgro Innovations Foundation said, “Villgro's work with women entrepreneurs has had a steadfast focus on market access enablement. That is where we believe ecosystem support is yet inadequate, and where Villgro can add the most value. TVARAN has been born out of this belief, with the objective of increasing the market presence of women-led solutions to climate change. We are grateful to have found a committed partner in CISCO towards this mission.”

Call for applications is now open for TVARAN. Start-ups in the climate action sector that are founded/co-founded by women with at least 50% shareholding, playing an active decision making role are eligible to apply.

To participate in the program, visit: https://villgro.org/current-programs/#cause-1

About Villgro

Villgro is India's foremost and one of the world's largest social enterprise incubators. Established in 2001, Villgro’s mission is to make innovative, impactful businesses succeed in Health, Agribusiness, and Climate Action. Since 2001, Villgro has supported 340 social enterprises that have raised over INR 4.28 billion in investments, created 5646 jobs and impacted over 20.8 million lives. Villgro was awarded the Top Incubator Award by the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (GoI) in 2020 and the DivHERsity awards in 2022.

About CISCO

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in technology that powers the Internet. Cisco inspires new possibilities by reimagining your applications, securing your data, transforming your infrastructure, and empowering your teams for a global and inclusive future. Discover more on The Newsroom and follow us on Twitter. The India Cash Grant program uses innovation to identify new ways to solve challenges and partners with civil society agencies and key stakeholders to collaborate effectively. Our partners help create technology-based solutions that improve lives and enable an inclusive future for all. Reflecting Cisco’s global CSR efforts, our purpose in India goes beyond profits to benefit our employees, communities, and the planet. You can learn more via this link: https://www.cisco.com/c/en_in/about/csr/india-cash-grants.html

Villgro and Habitat for Humanity Partner to Support Sustainable and Affordable Housing Innovations

Villgro, in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter is providing funding and incubation support to affordable housing startups and entrepreneurs in India. The partnership is an outcome of Villgro’s flagship startup deal discovery event, iPitch, which seeks to connect social entrepreneurs with impact investors across the globe for funding opportunities.

The two organizations will support the incubation and launch of high‐impact, highly scalable, innovation‐based affordable and sustainable housing enterprises in India that improve shelter for low-income families. Selected startups will receive technical guidance and mentorship to improve their product, service offerings, commercial viability and business model. Startups will gain access to platforms connecting them with investors and other experts in the market.

Habitat’s Terwilliger Center will provide catalytic grants and technical support for up to 7 startups, to pilot promising ideas that can enable their business growth.

The following companies have received up to 45 lakhs (US$ 57,934) of funding collectively so far:

• GreenJams is an award-winning social enterprise that manufactures Agrocrete, a carbon-negative building material made from crop residues, such as paddy straw, wheat straw and cotton-stalk, and industrial by-products (slags, sludge and fuel ashes). Agrocrete is available in the form of blocks and replaces conventional building materials, reducing construction costs by up to 50%.
• Zerund manufactures recycled bricks, known as Plastic Embedded Lightweight Brick, which are 50% lighter than traditional red clay bricks, provide thermal and noise insulation and are pest and fire resistant.
• Bandhu is involved in the design, development and deployment of software and other IT solutions tailored to solving problems for low-income migrant workers in India. Through its digital marketplace, Bandhu connects workers with jobs and housing by matching workers, employers, landlords and middlemen.

"Social enterprises can bring in the innovation needed to make housing affordable, without losing track of social and environmental impact. At Villgro, we are excited to be part of this partnership and bring our two decades of experience in startup incubation to scale these solutions, as we learn from the deep sector expertise of Habitat’s Terwilliger Center," said Ananth Aravamudan, Sector Lead, Climate Action at Villgro Innovations Foundation.

"Innovative products and services from startups are an important part of our strategy to make housing markets more efficient and inclusive in India. We are delighted to partner with Villgro, a pioneer in social innovation, to identify and support impactful enterprises in the affordable housing space,” said Anoop Nambiar, Country Director for the Terwilliger Center in India. The Center works across the housing value chain, by facilitating promising companies to enter the incremental homebuilding market. Its hands-on technical advisory and support has guided over 150 partners, globally, to serve low-income families with affordable housing products and services.

Selected startups will also join Habitat’s ShelterTech, the world’s leading platform for affordable housing innovation, which brings together impactful and cutting-edge housing-related technologies and practices from around the world.

“ShelterTech has already supported more than 70 innovative ventures with knowledge, network, connections and capital since 2017,” said Lizan Kuster, global lead for ShelterTech. “We are now partnering with leading accelerators to run affordable housing tracks and leveraging our expertise to support even more entrepreneurs.” Habitat also invests in promising startups through its Shelter Venture Fund. Three of the Fund’ About Habitat’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter s investments, which was launched in 2017, have been in Indian startups: ECOSTP with its sustainable sewage treatment system; waste-based roofing startup ReMaterials; and India’s 3D-printing construction startup, Tvasta.

About Villgro

Villgro is India's oldest and one of the world's largest social enterprise incubators — creating impactful, innovative, and successful enterprises in Health, Agribusiness, and Climate Action. Since 2001, Villgro has supported over 323 social enterprises that have raised over INR 4,388 million in investments and impacted over 20 million lives. Villgro was recognised as the “Top Incubator” in India by Invest India (DPIIT, GoI) in 2020. To learn more, visit: https://villgro.org/

About Habitat’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter

The Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter, a unit of Habitat for Humanity International, works with housing market systems by supporting local firms and expanding innovative and client-responsive services, products and financing so that households can improve their shelter more effectively and efficiently. The ultimate goal of the Terwilliger Center’s market systems program is to make housing markets work more effectively for people in need of decent, affordable shelter, thereby improving the quality of life for low-income households. To learn more, visit habitat.org/tcis.

How A Start-up Discovery Platform is Bridging a Crucial Gap in India’s Startup Ecosystem

Bangalore, 24th August: The Indian start-up ecosystem has been growing at an exponential rate. According to StartUp India — India has emerged as the 2nd largest startup ecosystem in the world, with an expected year-over-year growth of 10-12 %. These startups are playing a pivotal role in the socio-economic growth of the country, and their presence has also spurred a growing number of entrepreneur-support organizations.

Challenges such as gaining access to markets and finding the right kind of financing are faced by a majority of startups. Startup Incubators like Villgro pitch in to address these challenges presented in the Indian startup ecosystem through its pioneered Incubation model.

Founded in 2001 by Paul Basil—Villgro makes an impact on under-served communities by strengthening and scaling innovative social enterprises. iPitch, Villgro's flagship deal discovery platform, was conceptualised to bridge the investor-entrepreneur gap by connecting social entrepreneurs with a large network of investors and incubators across the globe. Since its inception in 2017, iPitch has successfully supported over 31 startups and deployed around 11 crore funding. Learn how winners have benefitted from the platform:

Ameliorate Biotech founded by Dr. Binita Tunga and Dr. Rashbehari Tunga in 2015 which works towards the development of novel platform technology to manufacture and market early-stage rapid diagnostic kits with high quality yet affordable biosimilars — emerged from a personal loss. Dr. Binita Tunga, Co-Founder & CTO - Ameliorate Biotech candidly shares, “The demise of my eleven-years old niece due to undetected malaria, despite all available resources, drew our attention to those who do not have even the most basic access to medical facilities. This touched a visceral nerve, ultimately leading to the conception of now what is - Ameliorate Biotech. An iPitch 2019 Winner herself, she exclaims, "Winning an amount of ₹ 65,00,000 at iPitch was an affirmation to the idea and objective of Ameliorate. It not only enabled us to streamline our marketing strategy and finance, but also helped us refine our focus."

Archana Stalin is the Co-Founder & Growth Champion, myHarvest Farms. Her entrepreneurial journey materialised from her passion towards the agricultural sector - which she began when she quit her nine-to-five job. She started by attempting to create self-sustainable villages by planting trees and restoring water bodies — and eventually found her footing in agribusiness.. Re-tracing her growth trajectory, Archana shares, “In the last 6 months, we have moved to a larger warehouse, added 500 new families and started collecting more farmer-specified data. This has transpired post emerging as one of the iPitch 2020 winners; which sure has been pivotal in our organization growth — a stepping stone."

Based out of the tranquil haven which is Kochi, Navalt - a startup, is combating climate change.

There are over 2.5 lakh small fishing boats, and about 1.13 tonnes of CO2 are released per tonne of live weight of marine fish netted. Moreover, residues from the motors cause water pollution. Sandith Thandasherry - CEO, Navalt, shares, “We believed there was a lot of work to be done in this space, and our belief was reaffirmed by the US$185,000 funding we received as one of the iPitch 2020 winners. When I attempted to re-imagine our entire journey with Navalt, while Shell Foundation fueled confidence to think beyond constrictive silos, iPitch provided access to mentors and industry experts — helping strategize and refine our thesis.” Navalt aims to build energy-efficient solutions and reduce pollutant emissions for the marine and offshore industries. After establishing themselves with innovations like India’s first water taxi and India’s first solar ferry, Navalt aims to make things easier for the fishing community with a solar fishing boat.

Rohan Singh, Founder, Ziptrax, is promoting clean energy — creating smart and affordable second-life batteries for e-rickshaws. Singh exclaims, “We noticed there exists a gap between the Lead-acid and Lithium-Ion (New) battery packs for e-rickshaws, both, in performance & economically. Through our work at Ziptrax we aim to plug this gap with smart and affordable second-life batteries, which can be of both types, swappable or non-swappable.Winning an amount of ₹ 25,00,000 at iPitch 2020 helped us to get back on track post-pandemic by launching a pilot to deploy our products in the market and setting up the Battery R&D centre. Moreover, according to Rohan, the invaluable network of investors, mentors and industry experts which iPitch allows access, has been critical to Ziptrax’s journey.

This year, Villgro’s iPitch 2021in partnership with Artha Impact has a Coalition of 11 international funders with access to USD 5 Million in funding. Artha Impact’s network of over 1200 impact investors & incubators will be opened up to all enterprises that are shortlisted by any of the Coalition Partners. If you believe your innovation resonates with social impact and building A Billion Strong India, Apply to iPitch.

In case you have queries, please write to us at ipitch@villgro.org

Villgro Announces $5 Mn Funding Availability for India's Social Start-Ups through iPitch

Villgro, India’s pioneering incubator for social enterprises, has announced its fifth edition of the social start-up discovery platform – iPitch 2021. This year, iPitch brings together its largest coalition of impact investors and incubators to channel its highest ever pool of funding, amounting to an unprecedented USD 5 million.

Villgro and Switzerland-based Artha Impact are jointly launching iPitch with an aim to connect hundreds of social entrepreneurs with impact investors; this is beyond the 30+ entrepreneurs that stand to win funding. This year’s coalition is seeking a wider range of enterprises right from prototype stage to revenue generating enterprises that are creating innovative and scalable solutions in Agriculture, Climate Action, Healthcare, Shelter-tech & Housing, Education and Livelihood among other sectors. Social entrepreneurs will have access to grants, equity and debt solutions with ticket sizes ranging from USD 25,000 to USD 1 million.

The iPitch 2021 Coalition comprises Blue Ashva Capital, Shell Foundation, Upaya Social Ventures, Lavni Ventures, Beyond Capital Fund, 3i Partners, Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter: Habitat for Humanity, Caspian Debt, and CVRCE Technology Incubator Foundation(CVRCETIF). Artha Impact and Villgro too will be scouting for their next investments through this pipeline.

Sharing her thoughts on this year's iPitch, Jenaan Lilani Bhargava, Head, Diversity and Inclusion, Villgro Innovations Foundation said, “The pandemic has no doubt affected communities indiscriminately, but as with all economic, climatic or health shocks, the bottom of the pyramid bears the biggest brunt. We wanted to make sure that we are maximizing the leverage of iPitch to the fullest, which is why we doubled the strength of the coalition and worked hard to increase the funding availability by 5x. Moreover, our partnership with Artha Impact will give hundreds of entrepreneurs a direct entry point to one of the largest networks of impact investors across the globe. Equally important, is to ensure that under-represented entrepreneurs have an opportunity to be discovered through iPitch, and we are doing this by working closely with other ecosystem players. We are hopeful that these collaborations will significantly increase the pace of innovations being deployed to under-served communities in India.”

The Coalition Partners of iPitch will invest in start-ups from prototype to growth stages. The winning startups will get access to grant, equity, or debt funding ranging from USD 25,000 to USD 1 million. Additionally, all enterprises that are invited to Virtual Pitches will receive access to the Artha Impact Platform - a network of 1200 impact investors and incubators.

Timeline

Call to Applications: 1st August till 31st August 2021

All startups will be screened by the funding partners. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to Virtual Pitches and will also be part of pitch preparation meetings with the investors they are shortlisted by. . Virtual pitches will be conducted in October and the winners will be announced by March 2022.

Additionally, Villgro will be conducting knowledge and training sessions for all iPitch applicants.

Notably, over the last four years, iPitch has received over 4400 applications from enterprises based in 200+ cities of India, funded 30+ start-ups and deployed around ₹11 crores in funding.

Apply Now: https://villgro.org/ipitch/

About Villgro

Villgro is India's foremost and one of the world's largest social enterprise incubators. Established in 2001, Villgro creates impactful, innovative and successful enterprises in Health, Agribusiness, and Climate Action. Since 2001, Villgro has supported 323 social enterprises that have raised over INR 4,388 million in investments, to create 4922 jobs and impact over 20 million lives. Villgro was awarded the Best Incubator Award by the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (GoI) in 2020. Apart from India, Villgro also has a presence in the USA, Kenya and the Philippines.

For further information, please contact: ipitch@villgro.org

Villgro announces Investments to the tune of Rs 4 Crore through iPitch at Unconvention 2019

This year’s iPitch investees include Flexmotiv, Cultyvate, Kritsnam, BeAble Health, among other social sector start-ups

Villgro, India’s oldest and foremost social enterprise incubator, today announced its 2019 investees for iPitch. This year, iPitch has facilitated funding of over Rs 4 crore for innovative start-ups across the Agribusiness, Health, and Renewable Energy domains. 

Villgro India was the lead investor for start-ups in the health sector. It focused on tech-backed assistive technologies that can provide freedom to individuals with disabilities. BeAble Health, a manufacturer of rehabilitation and medical devices received INR 25,00,000. Flexmotiv Technologies, which creates anti-slip, all-terrain crutches, received INR 25,00,000 as well. 

Villgro, in partnership with Hindustan Unilever Foundation (HUF), funded 4 start-ups dedicated to the conservation and management of water in agriculture. Kritsnam Technologies is building IoT solutions – which is a data driven water management solution, manage water resources - lakes, rivers, canals and reservoirs. The start-up has received INR 50,00,000. Oscillo Machines is working to build farm equipment for challenges that have not been solved yet. Their first product is an electric paddy seedling transplanter for use in traditional small fields. It is designed for use by women, who dominate the workforce in transplanting. It has bagged INR 30,00,000 from HUF and Villgro. 

Cultyvate integrates IoT, Artificial Intelligence, Remote Sensing and Machine Learning to create smart irrigation services to improve crop yield. The start-up has received INR 50,00,000. Urdhvam has been awarded INR 30,00,000 from Villgro and HUF for its innovative ‘BoreCharger - a robotic drill that helps rejuvenate dried borewells. Further, Villgro USA is actively considering an additional two investments, which are expected to close in the near future.

In a noteworthy development, existing Villgro incubatee - Lal10, which offers mobile handheld CRMs, helping thousands of artisans to connect with global inventors - has received USD 100,000 from Upaya Social Ventures & Beyond Capital Fund. Villgro has announced investment in Ameliorate Biotech for INR 65 Lakhs, along with SINE, IIT Bombay. 

Speaking on the funding, Paul Basil, Founder and CEO, Villgro, said, “The amount of funding offered to these disruptive early stage start-ups through iPitch is truly a cause for celebration. We need more such start-ups that solve real problems and hold the potential to truly revolutionize the start-up landscape of the country. On our part, we will continue to empower such paradigm-shifting start-ups with funding, mentoring, go-to-market strategies and much more in order to steer them towards resounding success.”

As always, the iPitch investees were announced at Villgro’s annual Unconvention conference - one of India’s largest gatherings of leading social entrepreneurs, CSR professionals, investors, policymakers, and academia, to discuss the present and future of the India social sector. The investments will truly accelerate the growth of the winning start-ups, giving a fillip to India’s fast-growing social sector. 

Villgro is India's oldest and one of the world's largest social enterprise incubators. Established in 2001, Villgro creates impactful, innovative and successful enterprises in Education, Health, Agribusiness, and Energy.

Since 2001, Villgro has supported 300+ social enterprises that have raised over INR 1270 Million in investments, to create more than 3500 jobs and impact over 20 million lives. Apart from India, Villgro also supports social enterprises in Kenya, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Driving the message of Innovation for All, Villgro set to Host 10th Edition of Unconvention

• The annual conference will witness the culmination of iPitch – Villgro’s annual deal discovery platform, with investments of over INR 4 Crores being announced


• Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and Villgro to launch ‘Powering Livelihoods’, a multi-million dollar programme to support large-scale commercial deployment of clean energy-based livelihood solutions


• ‘Farming Futures: Emerging Social Enterprises in India’ to be released at the event


• Invite-only donor roundtable comprising foundations, CSR and other funders to be hosted

Villgro, India's oldest and one of the world’s largest social enterprise incubators, is set to launch its annual Unconvention conference. Slated to be held at Taj Yeshwantpur, Bangalore on 6th-7th December 2019, the event will witness the confluence of over 700 delegates comprising social entrepreneurs, CSR professionals, impact investors, policymakers, and academia, to discuss the present and future of social entrepreneurship in India and globally. Themed ‘Innovation for All’, this year’s event will highlight the power of low cost innovations and making them accessible to the next billion. The two day conference’s second day is focused on parallel sector tracks of Education & Employability, Agribusiness, Healthcare, and Energy & Cleantech and deep dive into innovations in technology, partnerships, financing and policy for start-ups across agribusiness, health, education and energy domains. 

This year, the Unconvention conference will be an eventful gathering that will witness some major developments that will reshape India’s social sector. It will provide the backdrop for the launch of the joint initiative of Villgro and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW)  – ‘Powering Livelihoods’. The multi-million dollar programme will focus on bridging the commercial valley of death by providing financial, capacity-building, and sectoral growth support to enterprises deploying clean energy-based livelihood solutions. . The unique, paradigm-shifting program will be launched by Arunabha Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer, Council on Energy, Environment and Water. 

Numerous innovative and interactive sessions including Investor Speed Dating, Mentoring Forum, Innovation Hallway, and masterclasses on Being Compliance Ready by SpiceRoute Business & Data Protection Law by Gamechanger Law Advisors will make Unconvention a hard-to-miss opportunity for entrepreneurs looking to connect, network and grow. More than 20 groundbreaking innovations will also be displayed at the venue.

The conference will also mark the culmination of Villgro’s iPitch – a unique investment discovery platform that identifies and invests in for-profit social enterprises across sectors of medtech, edtech, employability, cleantech, and agritech. Upto 10 investments, to be announced at the event, will receive a total of over INR 4 crores in investment along with capacity-building support. 

Speaking on the event, Mr. Srinivas Ramanujam, COO, Villgro Innovations Foundation, said, “We are thrilled to unveil the 10th edition of Unconvention, which is arguably one of India’s largest gatherings of social sector entrepreneurs, mentors, investors and other key stakeholders of the industry. Villgro has been championing social innovations for 20 years now, and the theme of this year’s conference, therefore, came from our approach and will focuses on insightful conversations about the need for holistic innovation – technological, financial, value chain and policy – to help promising start-ups across sectors thrive in the competitive Indian and subsequent global markets. With continuous support of Unconvention’s Knowledge Partner Accenture, we have several interesting sessions lined up through the two days, and are anticipating the conference to be an interesting iteration of the much sought after event."

Unconvention will also feature insightful keynote sessions by Dr. Devi Shetty, (Founder - Narayana Health), NK Chaudhary (Chairman & MD, Jaipur Rugs), Bindu Ananth (Chairperson, Dvara Trust), Shobhini Mukerji (Executive Director, J-PAL), Varun Jhaveri (Officer on Special Duty to CEO, Ayushman Bharat - PMJAY, Government of India), Sridhar Venkat (CEO, The Akshaya Patra Foundation), Sharad Sharma (Co-Founder, iSPIRT), Reshma Anand (CEO, Hindustan Unilever Foundation)  and Joe Madith (Chairman & Founder, Gram Vikas), among 80+ other key names. It will also witness a book launch - Farming Futures: Emerging Social Enterprises in India – by Ajit Kanitkar and C. Shambu Prasad. The event will present a unique opportunity for new and established entrepreneurs to catalyse the ecosystem through exhibiting and networking with potential partners, investors, mentors or even customers. 

About Villgro

Founded in 2001 by Paul Basil, Villgro was initiated with the mission of incubating early‐stage, innovative businesses.  The organisation proposed to move away from the traditional form of charity to a more sustainable approach where the poor and marginalised can be stakeholders in their own growth.

Since then, the establishment has been growing an ecosystem that supports social entrepreneurs and businesses that place impact at the centre of their mission. In 2016, it launched its own VC fund Menterra, which takes innovations to the market and enables creation of impactful, innovative, successful, scalable businesses. Apart from India, Villgro also operates in Kenya, the Philippines, Vietnam & the US.

Catering primarily to social entrepreneurs, impact investors, corporates, policymakers and the government, Villgro has successfully incubated over 300 companies since inception, which have secured $1.79 billion follow on funding to create more than 3,500 jobs and impact 20 million lives. Some of the innovative Villgro supported social enterprises that are creating a difference in the country’s rural demographics are Skymet, BookMyBai, Under The Mango Tree, Farm Harvest, 5C Network, Biosense, Vahan, Blackboard Radio, CoolCrop, GARV Toilets to name a few.

Agritech Startup KrishiHub Raises Seed Funding from IIT Kanpur INVENT Accelerator and Villgro Innovation Fund

Bengaluru based agri-tech startup KrishiHub has raised undisclosed seed funding from IIT-Kanpur INVENT accelerator and Villgro Innovation Fund. INVENT and Villgro are leading this round whereas few angel investors and HNIs are also participating in this round.

KrishiHub is building an agricultural ecosystem with the implication of technology, design, and data science for Indian farmers. The vision of the company is to empower farmers across the country by improving their socio-economic status and providing agri-inputs for better farming productivity. Through a demand-driven platform, KrishiHub delivers fresh vegetables to businesses like restaurants/hotels/canteens/hostels/government institutes/cafeterias etc. directly from farmers, who are spread across different districts in Uttar Pradesh. KrishiHub’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered supply chain enables farm-to-doorstep delivery in less than 12 hours along with up to 25% reduction in vegetable wastage compared to the traditional system. This also allows deploying proprietary algorithms for determining delivery routes for each delivery agent for logistics cost optimization and ensuring on-time delivery.

Currently, in the 11th month of the operations, KrishiHub procures vegetables from 200+ farmers across many districts in Uttar Pradesh (Hapur, Agra, Ghaziabad, Noida, Meerut etc.) and adds value through sorting, cleaning, grading and packaging by skilled labors at 2 warehouses in NCR. The company has completed more than 7500 transactions so far on the platform and delivered over 1500 tonnes of vegetables to 70+ businesses in Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida.

Krishihub was founded in 2016 by Bhoopendra Kumar and Jyotiska Khasnabish. Bhoopendra, CEO, is an alumnus of IIT Guwahati and has more than 6 years of industry experience across MNCs and startups such as Taxi For Sure, HP Enterprise, DataWeave etc. Jyotiska, CTO, is an alumnus of IIIT Bangalore and has more than 4 years of experience in research and product development across MNCs, startups and research institutes like GSN Games, DataWeave, Univ of Illinois etc.

KrishiHub with a team of more than 20 people (5 members strong tech team in Bangalore and 15+ members in operations in NCR) has been able to make its huge impact within a short span of time. It has built a mobile app for farmers that includes price and weather forecasting using machine learning, precision agriculture through satellite imagery, marketplaces for seeds, fertilizers and farm equipment and a discussion forum for farmers that support conversations in regional language.

With this round of funding, KrishiHub plans to expand its operations aggressively across Delhi-NCR, add more businesses to its customer portfolio and increase its farmer base in more states.

“Our major target is to build the entire agricultural ecosystem with the inclusion of information and decision support systems for farmers on all agricultural needs. In the coming months, we are going to put more efforts on R&D to improve our technology platform. Soon we are planning to explore possibilities to start operations in Tier-2 cities and collaborate with state governments for better outreach and export Indian agri products to the rest of the world”, said Bhoopendra.

This month only, an another agri-tech startup Farmlink had raised seed funding from Pioneering Ventures, a Swiss-based incubator and investment firm, and Syngenta, a Swiss agribusiness firm. The startup is based out of Mumbai.

Earlier, in August, Gurgaon-based agritech startup Crofarm had raised Rs 5 crore in a pre-Series A round from Rajan Anandan, Google India MD, and Jitendra Gupta, and PayU India MD, among others.

Villgro and Other Incubators Invest in FlyBird Farm Innovations

In a one-of-a-kind collaboration that brings together several key players in the social and agri startup ecosystem in India – Villgro and Rianta Capital’s Artha Initiative join hands with NAARM’stechnology business incubator, a-IDEA, and IIM-Ahmedabad’s CIIE and CIBA to invest in Flybird Farm Innovations, an incubatee of Villgro’s. This investment collaboration marks a step forward in the ecosystem that will benefit social enterprise startups and help them access more resources in the long run.

Founded by Satish.KS, Bengaluru-based FlyBird Farm Innovations is developing an affordable smart irrigation controller that helps farmers irrigate their crops more accurately, increasing yield and improving quality, thereby improving livelihoods. The controller offers a variety of options for control including time, volume and moisture sensors, at a much lower cost than competitive offerings, and can easily integrate into existing systems.

There are over 3.87 million hectares of land in India where micro-irrigation is employed, and this number is increasing year-on-year. There are over 1 million farmers (a majority of them are being small farmers), who use micro irrigation systems. FlyBird’s product is agnostic to the type of crop, landholding size or the method of irrigation, and will immediately benefit farmers with land size in the range of one hectare or more.

Villgro has been working with Flybird Farm Innovations for two years now, providing seed funding, mentoring and close guidance to help the entrepreneur build his business.

“Water management in farms is a necessity as irrigation wateris a precious and scarce commodity. With drinking water already commoditised, we see an emerging trend of irrigation water also being commoditised. Farmers, having realised this, are on the lookout for technologies that help in precise irrigation not only to save water, but also to improve productivity. Flybird’s product fits the bill,” said AB Chakravarthy, Senior Investment Manager, Villgro.

“We have, for a number of years, been keen to support enterprise-led interventions in agriculture that would essentially serve the farmer on multiple levels, and the team we have found at Flybird achieves this objective with great success. They’ve developed a solid product, built a compelling service offering around it and found an exciting path to market, so we are very pleased to join in their journey,” said Audrey Selian, Director of the Artha Initiative at Rianta Capital.

“Applying uniform irrigation is actually overwatering parts of a field while under-
watering other parts. FlyBird Farm Innovations's low-cost smart controller optimises and automates this process so farmers can grow more while using less water and also improve crop quality and yield,” said Vipul Patel, AVP Agri Investments, CIIE.

Together, the five organizations are investing over Rs 1 crore in equity and grant funding.

“We are happy to see the collaborative investment in FlyBird. We have planned to utilise the funds for low-cost product R&D focusing on small farmers needs and expand the sales, marketing and distribution channels in selected geographies,” saidSatishK.S, founder, FlyBird Farm Innovations.

“Water has become a scarce resource globally and majority of water usage in done in agriculture, so it is a high time to use the irrigationwater smartly. Flybird Farm Innovations’ smart irrigation controller is one such solution for India as well as global problems,” said Vijay Nadiminti, Chief Operating Officer, a-IDEA.

“India needs innovation in agriculture and the smart move by FlyBird to target water and fertilizer usage will definitely help the farmer to save on water and fertilizer thus playing a role in improving the condition of the smart agri-entrepreneur,” said D.S. Prashant, General Manager, CIBA.

Villgro is India’s oldest and foremost social enterprise incubators, supporting innovators and social entrepreneurs during their early stages of growth. Since 2001, Villgro has incubated 119 such enterprises, who have generated around 4000 jobs, secured Rs 1195 million in follow-on funding, and touched over 6.8 million lives.

Image Source: ShutterStock

Villgro Invests Seed Funding in Ed Tech Startup Vahan

Villgro has announced a new addition to its investment and incubation portfolio – Vahan, a mobile education platform for low- income adults. Villgro has provided the company seed funding; the enterprise will also receive support through senior advisors who will provide strategic guidance to the business.

India adds 12 million people to the workforce every year. However, according to an Aspiring Minds report, it is estimated that around 50% of those people are unemployable due to a lack of English language and cognitive skills. Vahan is building a mobile application for making learning English affordable and accessible to India's massive low-income adult population. By helping people in the workforce learn better English more effectively, the startup will help them find employment in high growth sectors such as retail, hospitality, beauty and wellness, where English proficiency is important.

“After conducting research with people from low-income communities looking to learn English, we found that the lack of resources for practising was one of the biggest reasons why they weren’t able to learn the language effectively. That’s when the idea for Vahan was born – our goal is to mimic language immersion for low-income English language learners through our app,” says Madhav Krishna, founder of Vahan.

Vahan’s application is designed to work on basic, feature phones (75% of all cellphones in India) as well as smartphones, and supports full content customization/contextualization. Its goal is to help solve the skills gap problem in India and reach 15 million learners by 2020. The company is currently running pilots with two organisations in the development space – Magic Bus and LabourNet.

“This company represents the kind of enterprises that Villgro is excited about – a strong entrepreneur who has demonstrated a keen understanding of the sector; a deep commitment to creating impact; and a resolute desire to build a sustainable and scalable social business. We are optimistic about the way Vahan is using technology to reach students from low-income communities and believe this can have scaleable impact over the next few years,” says Kavita Rajagopalan, Investment Manager – Education, Villgro.

“We’re primarily looking for access to Villgro’s network of mentors and advisors which will be invaluable given that we’re a young organization with a focus on creating social impact at scale. They will also be able to help us form partnerships with relevant organizations in the education space,” added Madhav.

The education startup space is fast growing with more companies focussed on tech-enabled learning solutions for the poor, with an eye on scaling impact. Interest in education startups has also grown exponentially. In 2015, there were 18 impact investments in education, eight of them between $100,000 - $500,000 (Rs 65 lakh to Rs 3.25 crore); two-thirds of them in the K-12 segment.

Recognizing the need for investing in education startups, Villgro has been deepening its work in this space by incubating more education enterprises as well as working with partners like the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, which is the anchor funder for Villgro’s projects in the education sector. Villgro was selected by the Dell Family Foundation as part of their strategy to catalyse market based innovations in the education sector to impact learning outcomes for children living in urban poverty.

Villgro Invests Seed Funding in Ed Tech Startup Vahan

Villgro has announced a new addition to its investment and incubation portfolio – Vahan, a mobile education platform for low- income adults. Villgro has provided the company seed funding; the enterprise will also receive support through senior advisors who will provide strategic guidance to the business.

India adds 12 million people to the workforce every year. However, according to an Aspiring Minds report, it is estimated that around 50% of those people are unemployable due to a lack of English language and cognitive skills. Vahan is building a mobile application for making learning English affordable and accessible to India's massive low-income adult population. By helping people in the workforce learn better English more effectively, the startup will help them find employment in high growth sectors such as retail, hospitality, beauty and wellness, where English proficiency is important.

“After conducting research with people from low-income communities looking to learn English, we found that the lack of resources for practising was one of the biggest reasons why they weren’t able to learn the language effectively. That’s when the idea for Vahan was born – our goal is to mimic language immersion for low-income English language learners through our app,” says Madhav Krishna, founder of Vahan.

Vahan’s application is designed to work on basic, feature phones (75% of all cellphones in India) as well as smartphones, and supports full content customization/contextualization. Its goal is to help solve the skills gap problem in India and reach 15 million learners by 2020. The company is currently running pilots with two organisations in the development space – Magic Bus and LabourNet.

“This company represents the kind of enterprises that Villgro is excited about – a strong entrepreneur who has demonstrated a keen understanding of the sector; a deep commitment to creating impact; and a resolute desire to build a sustainable and scalable social business. We are optimistic about the way Vahan is using technology to reach students from low-income communities and believe this can have scaleable impact over the next few years,” says Kavita Rajagopalan, Investment Manager – Education, Villgro.

“We’re primarily looking for access to Villgro’s network of mentors and advisors which will be invaluable given that we’re a young organization with a focus on creating social impact at scale. They will also be able to help us form partnerships with relevant organizations in the education space,” added Madhav.

The education startup space is fast growing with more companies focussed on tech-enabled learning solutions for the poor, with an eye on scaling impact. Interest in education startups has also grown exponentially. In 2015, there were 18 impact investments in education, eight of them between $100,000 - $500,000 (Rs 65 lakh to Rs 3.25 crore); two-thirds of them in the K-12 segment.

Recognizing the need for investing in education startups, Villgro has been deepening its work in this space by incubating more education enterprises as well as working with partners like the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, which is the anchor funder for Villgro’s projects in the education sector. Villgro was selected by the Dell Family Foundation as part of their strategy to catalyse market based innovations in the education sector to impact learning outcomes for children living in urban poverty.

Social Enterprise Incubator Villgro Invests In 7 New Startups

Chennai based social business incubator Villgro has invested in seven new startups and all seven startups have secured funding in the range of Rs 10-15 lakh. Villgro has marked its second set of funding this fiscal year. Earlier in September Villgro had invested in 3 startups and this new investments in 7 more new startups takes its investment and incubation portfolio to 10 companies.

"In these companies, we have found the exciting combination of innovation, passionate and motivated entrepreneurs who are committed to social impact and the potential for financial viability and scalability." said Mukesh Sharma, Chief Investment and Incubation Officer, Villgro.

All seven start-ups have prototypes of products that will be ready for the market over the next six-nine months.

Villgro is India's oldest social enterprise incubator, and has supported 103 enterprises, secured Rs 873 million in follow-on funding, and claims to touched over 6.8 million lives.

Villgro will provide mentoring, access to relevant networks & talent to help these seven new startups, working in healthcare, agriculture & education, execute & grow.

By end of this fiscal, Villgro plans to incubate and invest in 25-30 companies. Of these, 11 companies are from The Arthur Venture Challenge platform, which have engaged Villgro to provide incubation support only. The balance is being funded solely by Villgro.

The 7 startups in which Villgro has invested are:

1. Kamal Kisan -The Startup aims to address labour shortage by improving the financial viability of small farmers. Founded by Devi Murthy and Karan Patel, the company is developing a range of agricultural implements that bring the productivity advantages of mechanization to small farmers.


2. Flybird Innovations -Founded by Satish KS, whose affordable irrigation controller helps farmers irrigate their crops more accurately, increasing yields and quality. This device will bring the ability to implement sophisticated water management practices to small and marginal farmers.


3. VectorDoc -This startup is developing an Artifical Intelligence-based mobile phone app that is intended to be used by a low skill resource to triage and return a preliminary diagnosis. Founded by Vincent TP, the company aims to address the shortage of good doctors in rural India by using their time more efficiently.


4. MicroX Labs -This startup was founded with a vision to provide affordable, accessible and quality healthcare to all. Their first device will tackle the issue of providing accurate blood tests at point of care, which will assist physicians with a quick & efficient diagnosis of a variety of diseases as well allow them to treat the patient effectively


5. BEMPU -BEMPU was founded by Ratul Narain, is developing an intuitive neonatal temperature monitor that empowers mothers or other caretakers to better manage their newborn's temperature and be alerted in case of these conditions. Hypothermia and infection are among the top causes of newborn deaths and regular temperature monitoring can enable early intervention.


6. SustainEarth -It was founded by Koushik Yanamandram, Shankar Ramakrishnan, and Piyush Sohani – innovatively addresses issues of livelihood and clean energy in rural India through a low-cost biogas plant for household
   use in rural communities. This converts animal waste into clean fuel solutions integrating issues of
   livelihoods and energy. View IndianWeb2 coverage of SustainEarth


7. SkillTrain -SkillTrain was founded by B.Ganesh, is using audio, video and simulation based learning material for learners to understand and practice vocational skills, SkillTrain aims to bridge the gap between the 15 million youth who drop out of schools each year and the projected need for nearly 150 million skilled employees in India by 2020.

Additionally, Villgro is launching a social impact fund with a corpus of Rs 20 crore by March 2015 we reported in September. It has now sought the formal commitment of Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, which has invested an undisclosed amount in the fund. "Michael & Susan Dell Foundation's support for Villgro's new social impact investment fund is part of its strategy to catalyse mission-aligned, market-based solutions for the urban poor in India.

Social enterprise Incubator Villgro invests in three Indian start-ups

Social enterprise Incubator - Villgro, formerly known as Rural Innovations Network, is a Nonprofit organisation that focuses on spotting, mentoring and incubating innovations that have maximum potential to change lives, in Rural India. The Incubator has invested in three Indian startups - Ujjeewan Healthcare (West Bengal), Aindra Systems (Bengaluru) and Scholowiz Educational Solutions (Mumbai), all are early-stage start-ups.

Ujjeewan is Raniganj, West Bengal based startup which provides telemedicine and primary medical services in West Bengal under the brand 'Healthypariwar'.

Scholowiz is Mumbai-based startup, which provides professional development programmes for teachers, is at pre-revenue stage. It has completed a pilot programme in eight schools and use the fund to strengthen it solutions.

Aindra is Bengaluru-based startup which is developing a device that can be deployed at low cost to assist with screening and detection of cervical cancer among women. The project is at the proof-of-concept stage and Aindra plans.

Villgro is targeting to invest in 25-30 more social startups by the end of the fiscal year. The incubator is launching an early-stage social impact fund by March 2015 with an initial corpus of Rs 20 crore, primarily to support its incubation work. "We've received commitment for a little over 50 per cent of the fund size and looking to make up the balance," said chief operating officer PR Ganapathy.

The new investments range between Rs.6-8 lakh, to be used to scale up businesses. Villgro will work with these startups to build business models and go-to market strategies around their ideas. "If they hit certain milestones, we can fund them with up to Rs 65 lakh over three years," Ganapathy said.

Villgro hasn't taken any equity stake in these startups because of legal constraints on them as notfor-profit with foreign contributions.

Villgro was founded by social entrepreneur Paul Basil, with the backing of 'Ashoka: Innovators for the Public' and support of Rockefeller Foundation, Villgro began its journey in the year 2001 and has till date incubated over 43 innovations.

Villgro has integrated the programmes previously offered (Entrepreneur-In-Residence, SEED) into a more comprehensive incubation service. This allows Villgro to provide longer-term and more strategic support to each enterprise that the incubator incubate. For social startups in India to apply for being incubated at Villgro, apply here.