What is INVENT?
Innovative Ventures and Technologies for Development (INVENT) is a joint collaboration of the Technology Development Board (TDB), Government of India and the Department for International Development (DFID), Government of the United Kingdom. INVENT aims to make a positive social impact by providing incubation support to technology-oriented start-ups. Through INVENT program, SIDBI Innovation and Incubation Centre (SIIC) at IIT Kanpur aims to incubate 40 start-ups working in social enterprise.
Overview
Significant market opportunity exists to develop sustainable solutions to social and economic difficulties facing low-income communities at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP). Yet, providing relevant products and services to BoP markets is often complex. There is a serious shortage of social venture incubators to provide the capacity building and incubation support needed at idea/pilot/test stage, both in India as a whole and particularly in the low income states. The INVENT will address challenges and barriers across inclusive innovation lifecycle, for the benefit of up to 1 million poor people at the bottom of the economic pyramid. The incubation support is aimed at creating a viable pipeline for impact investments in the 8 low income states of India (Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Orissa and West Bengal).
Why become a part of INVENT?
Seed funding upon basic validation
On-campus as well as virtual incubation available
Dedicated mentors with domain expertise
Monthly inspirational events and dedicated capacity building workshops
Access to SIIC tinkering labs and IIT Kanpur infrastructure
Networking with downstream investors for scaling up operations
Eligibility
Start-ups eager to bring about social change or deliver significant Positive Impact on Bottom of Pyramid (BoP).
Start-ups from any domain impacting the society with a strong plan to work in for-profit mode. The broad areas in which we seek incubates are agriculture and food, healthcare and sanitation, education, energy, information technology, etc.
Start-ups having explicit technology-based innovation or intervention in their products/services.
Social change or impact means either
Increasing the monthly income of low/mid level income families;
and/or
Providing existing services/products at a lesser cost
