Bengaluru: The/Nudge Centre for Social Innovation has called for applications from nonprofit startups ready to scale up their solutions for India’s economically disadvantaged communities. This marks the third round for The/Nudge’s 5-year Accelerator Fund has enabled 10 exceptional nonprofits to touch over 10 million lives to date.
Selected nonprofits will receive grants up to Rs 2 Crore and mentoring by some of India’s most admired change leaders. The/Nudge CSI Partners such as KR Lakshminarayana, Chief Endowment Officer of Azim Premji Foundation, Sanjay Purohit, Chief Curator – Societal Platform, and Surendra Kumar Jain, Co-Founder and Former Managing Director of WestBridge Capital, will invest their time and expertise to provide hands-on support to the entrepreneurs throughout the 12-24 months of acceleration. In addition to the founders, CXOs will benefit from training and mentoring by renowned subject matter experts.
The accelerator portfolio currently includes some of India’s fastest-growing and deeply impactful startups such as Intelehealth – a telemedicine platform extending the reach of quality healthcare to underserved geographies, Saarthi – an educational technology platform enabling parents from low-income families to participate in their children’s education and Transform – A remedial programme driving secondary school readiness and excellence in four States, to name a few.
Akshay Soni, Managing Director for The/Nudge Accelerator, said, “We are excited to work with some of the best entrepreneurs working to solve pressing developmental issues. The pandemic has set India back in the progress we had made in alleviating poverty. It is important more than ever before to invest in audacious nonprofit founders and teams with the potential to solve problems at a large scale.”
The/Nudge Accelerator, supported by StateStreet Foundation, Skoll Foundation, Facebook CSR and Mphasis F1 Foundation will induct up to six startups in this round. Startups working to improve the employability and economic empowerment of women and youth will have an added advantage. Applications will remain open till May 26, 2021.