Agriculture Grand Challenges Program aims to identify promising innovations to address problem areas and gaps in Indian agriculture., identified through the Agri Immersion Program. These innovations will have strong potential to transform key aspects of Indian agriculture in a disruptive manner. The challenge is a unique opportunity for Agri-tech start-ups with a commercially viable solution to solve defined problems at the grassroots level through deep-science innovations.
In this call, the problem statements have been classified into two groups of Agriculture and allied.
1.Agriculture:
1.1 Technology to increase shelf life and minimise post harvest losses.
1.2 Technologies for plant pest and disease detection, monitoring and mitigation. Target Crops: Tomato, Pomegranate, Cotton & Coffee
1.3 Technology for on-site drying and grading of cash crops.
2.Animal Husbandry/Allied:
2.1 Novel artificial insemination techniques for cattle (for enhanced fertilization rates)
2.2 Cost-effective on-farm pregnancy detection kits for cattle to detect PAB/AGA/other hormones
2.3 Affordable farmer-level mastitis detection
2.4 Fast and accurate method for detection of contaminants in milk
We are looking for startups that have strong potential to transform key aspects of Indian agriculture in a disruptive manner. These startups should be able to solve one of these problems with a commercially viable and deployable solution at grass root level through deep science innovations.
Details of the scheme:
Applications are invited from participants that meet the following eligibility criteria
1. Start-up registered in India.
2. Start-up must be <10 yrs. old
3. Beneficiary has to be an Indian start-up.. This support is not meant for Indian Subsidiaries of MNCs/foreign companies.
4. The shareholding by Indian promoters in the beneficiary startup should be at least 51%.
5. Startup must develop deep-tech/deep-science solutions limited to the above defined problem statement(s).
6. Selected startup will be incubated at C-CAMP and should develop and deploy MVP within 18 months of time.
Scope of Support:
1. Incubation and access to technology platforms at C-CAMP
2. Mentorship and hand-holding by Indian and International Agri experts
3. Networking opportunities with Govt. of Karnataka and Agri stakeholders
4. Support with field trials through collaborations with Agriculture Universities and Organizations
5. Funding opportunities:
• For startups incorporated in Karnataka: Investment of 25-50 L from GoK Funds
• For other Indian start-ups: Investment of up to 50 L through other C-CAMP schemes (lateral entry)
• For International start-ups: Connects with VCs and Angel Investors