Deadline: 31-January-2026
The AIC RAISE Business Incubator, in collaboration with Startup India (DPIIT), has launched a national-level challenge to support DPIIT-recognized startups with MVP or market-ready solutions in climate tech, circular economy, water resilience, and social impact through incubation, mentorship, and seed funding support of up to ₹5 Lakhs.
The focus areas of this challenge include climate tech, clean energy, circular economy, waste management, water tech, environmental sustainability, green livelihoods, environmental intelligence, and social impact, with eligibility extended to validation-stage, early-traction, and scaling-stage startups operating in agriculture, AI, green technology, renewable energy, IoT, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and waste management sectors.
India’s transition to clean energy faces high deployment costs, limited rural access, grid inefficiencies, and a lack of scalable financing models, creating a need for MVP-stage, decentralized, and affordable clean energy solutions that enable reliable energy access, efficient storage, monitoring, and financing for underserved communities and small enterprises. Rapid urbanization and consumption have created pressing challenges in plastic, agro, and e-waste management, with limited material recovery and inefficient reverse supply chains, highlighting the need for ready-to-deploy waste-to-value technologies, circular business models, and digital platforms that promote resource efficiency and sustainable waste management.
Water scarcity, poor water quality, and climate-induced variability pose risks to households, agriculture, and industries, necessitating market-ready water conservation, recycling, monitoring, and climate-resilient solutions that support efficient water use and community-level implementation. Inclusive green livelihoods are also critical, and technology-driven platforms and tools are required to enable green skilling, job matching, climate-adaptive livelihoods, and sustainable income generation, particularly for rural and vulnerable populations. Accurate environmental data is essential for informed decision-making, compliance, and sustainability planning, calling for scalable AI-, IoT-, and data-driven solutions that provide real-time intelligence for air, water, soil, biodiversity, and emissions to support governments, enterprises, and communities.
Selected startups will receive seed funding of INR 5 Lakhs each to support pilot deployment, technology validation, and early market adoption. In addition, the program provides incubation support including mentorship, working space, training workshops, networking with CSR partners and investors, demo day exposure, pilot support, and national-level visibility.
For more information, visit Sayuj.
