As part of the ACT Grants Initiative, stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, investors, founders and other members of the Indian startup sphere have come together to fund companies and projects.
The initiative has seen 1,500 applications from startups so far, with 32 having received funding, as reported by TechCrunch. Selected startups are chosen by a team formed within the initiative.
“As governments across the globe started to take measures to combat this pandemic,” Dev Khare of Lightspeed Venture Partners said to TechCrunch. “One thing that came up in our conversations with other investors, startup founders and startup employees was this urgency to not sit and watch what the government does but help and pitch in as an industry.”
Among investors and founders involved in the group of over 150, are Nandan Nilekani, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Ritesh Agarwal, Sujeet Kumar, and Girish Mathrubootham
Startups which have participated in the initiative include Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Matrix Partners India, Kalaari Capital, Eight Roads Ventures, 3One4Capital, Sequoia Capital India and Tiger Global, among others.
The grant initiative has also partnered with United Way in order to faciliate any international contributions. United Way Worldwide is a community-focused organization, based in Virginia with a presence in 45 countries so far. The organization has also started the Covid-19 Community Response and Recovery fund to aid in the pandemic.
The initiative has raised $13 mn from the investor group since its creation at the end of March. They have also developed a partnership with Amazon’s Web Services to assist in the chosen projects’ needs.
“Anyone who wants to help India, one-sixth of the world’s population, fight COVID-19, is welcome to contribute,” Khare said.
Seven of the chosen projects have been regarding testing kits and developments, including MyLab. The Pune-based company has developed up to 300,000 kits as needs have risen, Urban Company’s Abhiraj Singh Bhalof said to TechCrunch.
Chosen startups range from companies developing medical tools, hardware, masks, testing kits, mental health aids and new developments to prevent the spread of Covid-19, among others.
(Picture courtesy: Getty Images)