Announcing the cKinetics iDiya investment corpus 
Rs 10,00,000 for the best Environmental Sustainability business idea at the ISB iDiya bootcam

cKinetics, a venture accelerator in the sustainability space, has offered to provide seed funding of up to Rs 10 Lakhs for the best environmental sustainability idea at the ISB iDiya boot camp. To be eligible, teams must have a viable idea for a profitable business venture with social and environmental impact. Only teams that are selected for the iDiya boot camp are eligible for this opportunity. The investment decision is at the sole discretion of cKinetics and is subject to the team and the idea meeting the investor’s investment criteria.

The evaluation of the ideas by cKinetics will be mainly on the following parameters:
(a) Must be market-based,
(b) Leverage technology to be able to scale.

Some representative areas include:

• Clean-Informatics
• Energy management solutions, Demand response management (between energy consumer and distributor)
• Eco-tourism
• Alternative transportation (car sharing, fuels, etc.)
• Green construction materials and products
• Off-grid electrification
• ESCOs for SMEs
  
  

ISB iDiya winners to be considered for incubation at WCED

Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development will consider the iDiya Winners for incubation under the Entrepreneurship Development Initiative (EDI). The decision to accept any particular team into the EDI program is at the sole discretion of the WCED selection committee and is subject to the team and the idea meeting the requirements of the EDI selection committee.

Announcing the Villgro iDiya Partnership
The best business idea that can transform rural households will win a chance to receive Rs. 25,00,000 through the Villgro Incubation Programme.

• All iDiya applicants will automatically be shortlisted* for incubation support from the Villgro Innovations Foundation, which includes up to $60,000 in seed funding and other support services.
   
• All iDiya boot-camp participants will automatically be screened for the closed-door Investor Forum to be conducted at Uncovention 2011.

(*The decision to provide seed funding and incubation support is at the sole discretion of Villgro and is subject to the entry meeting Villgro’s screening criteria.)

Villgro and ISB iDiya have partnered to provide incubation services for the best business ideas in Agriculture, Energy, Water and Dairy sector which have the potential to impact rural households. Incubation services include Seed funding, Pilot marketing services, Support in Board Formation, Providing Talent, Support in Raising External Investments to name a few.

Only teams that are selected for the iDiya bootcamp are eligible for this opportunity. The decision to provide seed funding and incubation support is at the sole discretion of Villgro and is subject to the entry meeting Villgro’s criteria.
 

Villgro transforms rural lives by identifying and incubating innovative product and service ideas. Since inception in 2001, Villgro has activated close to 2000 innovations and impacted more than 3.6 lakh rural lives. Villgro actively promotes social entrepreneurship and works with different stakeholders to create and support an eco-system that enables this. The mass transformation movement spawned by Villgro, has a singular objective: to create a prosperous rural India, buzzing with ideas for growth.

For more on Villgro visit: http://www.villgro.org 

To view evaluation criteria on Villgro’s website, Click here

• Target Market: Base of the Economic Pyramid (BoP) – People who earn about $4.- a day or less
• Geographic Region: Rural and urban areas in India
• Sector Focus: Core sectors are food, energy, health, education and water and Aligned sectors are companies supporting the core sectors (e.g. rural supply chains)
• Definition of Innovation: Innovative products, processes, services and business models that address challenges of sustainability at the BoP in developing countries.
• Enterprise Type: Indian or foreign for-profit enterprises working or planning to work in India. We do not invest in funds, NGOs or lending institutions
• Impact of Enterprise: Triple Bottom Line Returns - social, economic and environmental impact - at the BoP in India
• Enterprise Size Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs)
• Stage of Operation: Early-stage: Short to medium-term operating history (not seed stage). The enterprise should have proof of concept and at least partly proof of market.
• Capital Commitment: Per enterprise: $100,000 to $2,000,000 in equity and quasi-equity (not grants) over several tranches
• Capital Utilization :Scale-up, growth or expansion (no repayment of pre-finance or deficit reduction)
• Investment Period: Payback or exit in five to seven years