Samunnati Foundation, the non-profit subsidiary of Samunnati Financial Intermediation and Services Pvt Ltd has partnered IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) to encourage innovative technologies in agriculture and allied areas, promote agritech startups and sustainable agriculture.
The partnership will provide incubation support to entrepreneurial ventures, prepare position papers and propose policy recommendations, Samunnati Foundation said in a statement.
The key areas and technologies to be explored by the partnership include promotion of alternative crops like millets, adoption of green agricultural machinery, solar pumps, finance related technology products, electric vehicles for agri transport among others.
Both entities will also focus on developing and promotion of food processing technologies and support services for agricultural community through enabling purchase and sale of produce, finance, insurance against price & weather fluctuations, agricultural advisories, transport & agricultural machinery hire and labour hire among others.
“We are excited about this partnership with IIT Madras which as an incubation centre has been the cradle for very many start up entities that have scaled successfully. With IIT Madras incubation centre focussing on agriculture, we are confident that the eco-system will see a huge fillip to start ups in agriculture.” said Anilkumar S G, Founder and CEO, Samunnati.
Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala, President, IITMIC and IIT Madras Research Park said, “This partnership focusses on encouraging innovative technologies in agriculture and allied areas and to work together in developing the ecosystem necessary to support entrepreneurs, and jointly incubate startups in this space. This partnership will offer mentoring support for product development, advisory services, networking for business development, training, funding assistance and technological support and will focus on strengthening the agriculture entrepreneurial ecosystem.”