Dear Entrepreneur,

Catalyst AIC is excited to announce its new impact acceleration program, SRIJAN, in partnership with HDFC Parivartan, the CSR initiative of HDFC Bank. This initiative aims to empower impact-driven startups by providing business and financial support to scale their solutions. With a focus on addressing critical gaps and uplifting last-mile communities, SRIJAN is committed to fostering innovative, sustainable solutions for India’s most pressing challenges.

About catalyst AIC -: 

Catalyst AIC is an innovation center set up by IFMR Society in Jaipur, under a grant from NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission. Catalyst has also been supported by USAID, Ministry of Commerce and several other trusted stakeholders. The center supports and helps scale innovative startups in the inclusive tech domain, which build products focused around unserved and underserved communities in India’s last mile. Catalyst provides support in terms of acceleration cohorts, business mentorship, market expansion and capital.

About SRIJAN :-

SRIJAN is a 3-month acceleration program for startups in climate & sustainability, livelihoods, crafts, and allied impact sectors, focused on solutions for last-mile communities. The program offers tailored acceleration, expert mentorship, market access, grant funding, investor connections, and a demo day to showcase impact ventures. 

Benefits for Selected Startups:- 

1. Business mentorship from domain experts.
2. Upto 5 selected startups get grant capital to fuel growth
3. Opportunities for market access.
4. Investor connections to pitch in front of a curated pool of investors on Demo Day
5. Exclusive Banking support from HDFC Bank, including microfinancing, private lending, collateral-free loans, working capital loans, venture debt, invoice financing, and supply chain financing.

Tentative Program Structure:

1. Selection for Acceleration:- Evaluation and screening by the expert committee to select 8-10 startups for the acceleration program.
2. Selection for Further Grant (after 1 month of acceleration selection): 5 startups will be selected from the cohort for grant funding based on evaluation by an external committee. 

Eligibility Criteria :- 

  Startups that fall under the following eligibility criteria:

1. Working on an innovative product/solution in either of the following sectors: Climate & Sustainability, Livelihoods, Crafts and allied Impact sectors. There needs to be a clearly demonstrated innovation component to the business.
2. Registered as a for-profit legal entity and has been incorporated on or After 31st January 2022.
3. The startup must have demonstrated early traction.
4. Working directly with its target beneficiary community, and not as an intermediary.
5. Startups must prioritize skilling and training their beneficiaries as an integral part of their business model.

Please note, the following:

1. Application Deadline is January 26th, 2025 11:59 PM. 
2. No consideration shall be given to startups reaching out beyond deadline or via email/call.
3. ALL FIELDS IN THE FORM ARE MANDATORY.
4. Please provide accurate data wherever asked for. We will not be doing follow-ups and applications may be rejected in case of falsified data/application.
5. Applications shall ONLY be considered via this Form.