Social enterprise incubator Villgro announces $5M funding for startups through iPitch
With an aim to connect hundreds of social entrepreneurs with impact investors, Villgro joined hands with Switzerland-based Artha Impact to launch iPitch.
Social enterprise incubator, Villgro, announced its fifth edition of the social startup discovery platform – iPitch 2021. Bringing together its largest coalition of impact investors and incubators to channel its highest ever pool of funding, iPitch will provide an unprecedented $5 million to India’s social startups.
With an aim to connect hundreds of social entrepreneurs with impact investors, Villgro joined hands with Switzerland-based Artha Impact to launch iPitch.
This year’s coalition is seeking a range of enterprises — right from the 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.
Sharing her thoughts on this year's iPitch, Jenaan Lilani Bhargava, Head, Diversity and Inclusion, Villgro Innovations Foundation said, “We wanted to make sure that we are maximising 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.”
She added, “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.”
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 looking for their next investments through this pipeline.
iPitch's coalition partners will invest in startups from prototype to growth stages. The winning startups will have access to grants, equity, and debt solutions, with ticket sizes ranging from $25,000 to $1 million.
Additionally, all enterprises that are invited to Virtual Pitches will receive access to the Artha Impact Platform — a network of 1,200 impact investors and incubators.
“We want 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 startups can apply from August 1 to August 31 2021, after which they will be screened by the funding partners. The shortlisted applicants will be invited to Virtual Pitches, and also be part of pitch preparation meetings with the investors that shortlist them. The pitches will be conducted in October, and the winners will be announced by March 2022.
Edited by Kanishk Singh