New Delhi | 29th September 2020: Villgro, one of India’s leading incubators, is back with its annual social start-up discovery platform-iPitch. iPitch 2020 — the 4th edition–brings together the country’s top incubators and impact investors to gain access to India’s most innovative and impactful startups. Social entrepreneurs will benefit from a unified platform for funding, incubation, and mentorship through a single application form.
The Funding Partners of iPitch will invest in start-ups from the prototype to revenue stages in various sectors such as agriculture, livelihood & job creation, healthcare and clean energy. iPitch this year is keen to discover and fund women entrepreneurs. Each of the selected enterprises will receive seed funding or access to debt solutions upto 2 crores, in the form of various types of financial instruments such as grants, equity funding, and debt funding.
The Funding Partners for iPitch this year are Upaya Social Ventures, Beyond Capital Fund, Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter: Habitat for Humanity, Shell Foundation and Caspian Debt.
Speaking about the initiative, Mr. Srinivas Ramanujan, CEO, Villgro Innovations Foundation says, “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. At Villgro, we have always been committed to supporting startups that are creating innovative, impactful and scalable solutions to pressing social problems, and we will continue to support them through platforms such as iPitch. “
Over the last three years, iPitch received over 3400 applications, funded 23 start-ups and deployed around ₹7.44 crores in funding.
The call for applications for this year’s iPitch opens on 1st September 2020, and shortlisted applicants will be informed by the end of October 2020. The final list of start-ups being funded will be announced in March 2021.
Villgro will conduct a learning session titled “Pitching to Perfection” in October for all the applicants. Before the virtual pitches, Villgro will also organise a training session for the shortlisted applicants to coach them before their final pitch to ensure that their elevator pitch is nothing short of perfect!
Why should entrepreneurs apply to iPitch 2020?
One Application Form that provides entrepreneurs access to:
Investors: Access to investors with a different thesis and different ticket sizes, which increases the chance of finding the most relevant funder for the startup.
Capital: Grant, equity or debt funding ranging from INR 15 Lakhs to INR 2 Crores.
Support for Growth: Incubation, technical assistance and mentoring support via partner groups and organizations.
Last Date to Apply is 30th September 2020.
To apply, visit: https://www.villgro.org/ipitch