Two days after the massive power outages highlighted the pressing need for sustainable energy growth in the country, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-) on Thursday announced a first-of-its-kind accelerator program that aims to build future clean technology start-ups.
According to a Planning Commission report, India, the world’s fifth largest energy consumer, will see its energy demand grow 41% by 2017. This demand can be fulfilled and managed by the clean technology sector, the IIM-A said in a statement here.
In view of this, INFUSE (Indian Fund for Sustainable Energy) Ventures, has launched the Infuse Venture Accelerator (IVA), an initiative aimed at catalyzing the growth of early stage clean-tech start-ups through access to seed capital and an enabling clean-tech ecosystem. “IVA is a six-month long intensive accelerator during which the IIM-A team and ecosystem will work actively with early stage clean-tech start-ups, helping them identify and bridge gaps, define roadmaps, build strong teams and speed-up their market entry.”
IVA would shortlist clean-tech start-ups through an evaluation process and help them find their feet. The applicants will have access to seed equity investment of up to USD 50,000 (Rs. 25 lakh) and follow-on funding of up to $2 million (Rs 10 crores) from INFUSE, apart from access to other potential investors. The process will be completed by March 2013.
INFUSE is an India-focused early stage venture fund and ecosystem created through a public-private-academia collaboration. Managed by the IIM-A’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), the partners for INFUSE include Government of India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Technology Development Board.