- Next Bharat Ventures launched a Rs 340 crore fund to support social impact entrepreneurs.
- The four-month program offers early-stage entrepreneurs resources and risk capital for scaling.
- Vipul Nath Jindal, CEO and Managing Director, focuses on creating profitable SMEs, not just unicorns.
Next Bharat Ventures IFSC Private Limited, a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation, has launched a Rs 340 crore fund. The fund's primary aim is to support social impact entrepreneurs who are creating sustainable businesses for rural and informal sectors, concentrating on startups in agriculture, financial inclusion, rural supply chain, and mobility sectors.
It has also introduced a four-month 'Next Bharat Residency Programme' for early-stage entrepreneurs having a clear approach to problem-solving, and are dedicated to supporting the informal sector in India.
Vipul Nath Jindal, an IIT Hyderabad alumnus, will lead this initiative as the CEO and Managing Director of Next Bharat.
“We are embarking on this journey to cultivate an impact entrepreneurship ecosystem that is profoundly community-oriented. The Next Bharat investment framework focuses on horizontal scaling, aiming to create hundreds of profitable SMEs over a fund cycle, rather than concentrating on creating just two or three unicorns per fund cycle," Jindal said.
The program tends to provide social impact ventures with the necessary knowledge, networks, and resources, including risk capital, to help them scale up and become small and medium-sized enterprises. Selected startups will also receive equity funding ranging from Rs 1-5 crore.
Edited by Harshajit Sarmah
