NEW DELHI: Villgro has announced its fourth edition of social startup discovery platform -iPitch. THis brings together the country’s incubators and investors to gain access to India’s innovative and impactful startups. Social entrepreneurs can benefit from a platform for funding, incubation, and mentorship through a single application form.
The funding partners of iPitch will invest in startups from the prototype to revenue stages in sectors such as agriculture, livelihood and job creation, healthcare and clean energy. This year, iPitch is keen to fund women entrepreneurs. The selected enterprises will receive seed funding of upto Rs 2 crore, in the form of various types of financial instruments such as grants, equity funding, and debt funding.
This year Upaya Social Ventures, Beyond Capital Fund, Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter: Habitat for Humanity, Shell Foundation and Caspian Debt are participating in iPitch.
In a statement, Srinivas Ramanujan, CEO, Villgro Innovations Foundation said, “In the aftermath of Covid-19 and the economic downturn in our country, we are going through difficult times at the moment. Now more than ever, our country needs social entrepreneurs who are developing resilient and sustainable solutions to build our economy back. At the same time, these startups need guidance and capital to grow rapidly.”
Over the last three years, iPitch received over 3400 applications, funded 23 startups and deployed around Rs 7.44 crore in funding.
The call for applications for this year’s iPitch opened on September 1, 2020, and shortlisted applicants will be informed by the end of October 2020. The final list of startups being funded will be announced in March 2021.
Since inception, Villgro has incubated over 300 such enterprises, which have generated around 4500 jobs, secured Rs 4,164 million in follow-on funding. Apart from India, Villgro also has a presence in the USA, Kenya and the Philippines.
