N/Core, an incubator for non-profit startups working towards poverty alleviation, has invited applications for a six-month-long accelerator programme for early-stage non-profits.
The first cohort will comprise around 10 non-profits. N/Core will provide each of them a seed fund of Rs 10 lakh, it said in a statement.
The Bengaluru-based incubator will accept applications for the programme till August 6 from startups that are trying to tackle problems related to poverty in India.
Select startups will be mentored by N/Core’s partners, including Sanjay Purohit, former chairman of Infosys Consulting; Maneesh Dhir, partner at Social Venture Partners and former managing director of Apple India; K R Lakshminarayan, chief endowment officer of Azim Premji Foundation; and Ujwal Thakar, former CEO of Pratham and GiveIndia.
N/Core has also formed a corporate social entrepreneurship (CSE) council with leaders from several organisations to support its incubatees and promote innovation-led problem-solving in the non-profit sector. The CSE council members include Anil Kumar, CEO, Axis Bank Foundation; Namita Vikas, group president and MD, Yes Bank; and Biren Bhuta, chief of corporate social responsibility at Tata Steel.
N/Core plans to mentor 100 non-profits over five years by incubating around 10 startups twice every year.
In April this year, N/Core concluded its 14-day accelerator programme which attracted 583 applications from across India, the US and Kenya, of which 20 non-profits were selected.
N/Core was started in January this year by Nudge Foundation, which is backed by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani and Tata Trusts, among others.
Nudge Foundation was founded in July 2015 by Atul Satija who was earlier chief revenue officer at InMobi. The foundation runs Gurukuls, a residential school for underprivileged men and women where they are taught livelihood and life skills.
Several incubators and accelerators have been trying to help fledgeling startups find their feet. Most of them, however, focus on for-profit startups.
In January, Yes Bank launched Yes Fintech, a business accelerator programme, in collaboration with startup incubator T-Hub, speed scaling platform Anthill and fintech platform Let’s Talk Payments.
In December 2016, early-stage venture capital fund advantEdge launched a six-month-long incubation programme for startups at its facility in Noida. It also tied up with IBM, Amazon, Zendesk and Razorpay to provide various services to startups.
