Citi, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur), and T-Hub, a technology incubator, have announced the launch of the Social Innovation Lab by Citi to identify and nurture startups with unique solutions that have a positive impact on society across agriculture, healthcare, and financial technologies.
Early-stage and growth-stage startups across India are being invited to share their proposals during December 2021. The selected applicants will be provided support from Citi, IIT-K and T-Hub by way of mentoring, business model development, go-to market strategy, funding, and scaling opportunities. Approximately 25 early-stage startups will be provided a grant for incubation and five growth-stage startups will be provided a grant for scaling their business further, the company said.
“As Citi embarks on its 120th year in India, we continue to invest in the business growth of institutions, corporates, and the startup ecosystem in the country through innovative solutions and partnerships. This collaboration with IIT-Kanpur and T-Hub reaffirms our commitment to economic growth and enabling progress across communities in India by supporting grants towards the incubation and acceleration of innovative startups in key areas – health, agriculture and financial services”, said Mridula Iyer, Head of Treasury and Trade Solutions, Citi South Asia.
Social Innovation Lab
Social Innovation Lab by Citi complements the bank’s existing efforts to make a positive impact in the markets it serves through its efforts across philanthropy and business. The grant will be primarily given to companies that have demonstrated proof of concept, built an existing customer base, and exhibited the potential for scale across the country. IIT Kanpur will nurture agritech and healthtech startups, the company added.
“Capital is an active enabler that unlocks startups’ growth to newer levels. We are dedicated to supporting tech startups by leveraging the network of partners that believe in our mission and provide opportunities to access funding or grants to startups. It is initiatives like these that clearly showcase the benefits of corporate’s collaboration with startups. With T-Hub joining forces with Citi and IIT Kanpur unleashes a host of opportunities for startups that are shaping the technological landscape of agriculture, healthcare and financial sector,” said MSR, Chief Executive Officer, T-Hub.
The startups will also get access to T-Hub’s vast ecosystem for networking, and collaboration opportunities.
“We have a strong outreach approach as we are committed to attracting applications from interested entrepreneurs across opportunity statements, which have been co-created with Citi. This guarantees the development of solutions that are extremely relevant to the marketplace,” said Prof. Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, Prof-In-Charge, Incubation & Innovation, IIT Kanpur.
The three key societal areas that the Social Innovation Lab by Citi will focus on include. HealthTech: Focusing on integrated health stack, improving access to healthcare services, women-centric solutions, tech driven diagnostics and current challenges due to Covid-19. AgriTech: Bringing in transparency in agriculture, farm mechanisation and modern farming, full-stack agri-services and farming-as-a-service and FinTech: Financial Inclusion, identity and security, organised credit in rural India, next-gen payments for inclusivity, sustainability and platforms which support ESF flows.
