IIT Madras, Samunnati foundation to tie up to support Indian agritech startups

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) has collaborated with Samunnati Foundation to encourage innovative technologies in agriculture and allied areas in India.

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The IITMIC and Samunnati Foundation have signed an agreement to promote agritech startups to improve farmer incomes, reduce waste and encourage sustainable agriculture. The Samunnati Foundation intends to better the lives of entrepreneurs among underserved agricultural communities.

“Through this collaboration with IITMIC, Samunnati aims to provide strategic and operational guidance, training, mentoring, networking, and other necessary resources to help and support Indian visionary agritech startups establish themselves and scale their presence. The organizations will provide incubation support facilities to entrepreneurial ventures, prepare position papers and propose policy recommendations”, reads the press release.

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“India is seeing an increase in entrepreneurial initiatives in agriculture. Many from IITs and IIMs are taking up entrepreneurship in agriculture. Private capital flow is also observed in these young start-ups.” Anilkumar SG, founder and CEO, Samunnati said.

“This partnership’s objective is to encourage innovative technologies in agriculture and allied areas. Our efforts will be towards developing the required ecosystem for entrepreneurs to sustain, and to jointly nurture startups in this space. This collaboration will provide 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.” said Ashok Jhunjhunwala, professor and president of IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) and IIT Madras Research Park (IITMRP).