Social media giant Facebook and T-Hub, a Hyderabad-based global start-up catalyst, on Wednesday announced the 10 start-ups they have selected for the second edition of their "India Innovation Accelerator" programme.
Announced in May, the programme will support the growth of start-ups focused on finding solutions for social challenges using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in areas of good health and wellbeing, agriculture, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic opportunities, industry, innovation & infrastructure, climate change and peace and justice and strong institutions.
"At Facebook, we believe Artificial Intelligence will be key to finding disruptive solutions to address societal challenges like access, affordability, and skill shortage. We are excited to champion next generation of tech start-ups applying AI for social good and accelerate their development by giving them access to expertise," Manish Chopra, Head and Director of Partnerships, Facebook India, said in a statement.
The final cohort of 10 AI startups was selected from over 140 applications received from across India and after an exciting pitch session held at Facebook Office in Gurgaon. The participants were reviewed based on quality of technology-based solutions, product/solution market readiness and social impact among other relevant parameters.
The 10 cohort start-ups include Mumbai-based ftcash which aims to empower micro-merchants and small businesses with the power of credit using digital payments.
While another start-up, StaTwig, is building Blockchain based solutions to ensure that every child is vaccinated with high quality vaccines, Signzy has built a digital trust infrastructure which enables completely secure digital on-boarding using the AI assisted on-boarding (RealKYC), Algorithmic Risk Intelligence (ARI), and Blockchain technology to store and verify consumer information.
Blue Sky Analytics, a geospatial data intelligence start-up, and Pensieve that aims to democratise legal data and make it accessible to the common man were also selected.
The other start-ups that were shortlisted include Greenturn Idea Factory, Sensegrass, Marut Drones, Shortlist Professionals and Innerhour.
The India Innovation Accelerator will support the growth of these start-ups in many ways. A panel of mentors, industry experts, investors, will provide hands on operational support and mentoring with specialised training on product development, marketing, partnerships, management.