15 social startups join Apple-backed Acumen’s accelerator

Energy for Livelihoods Accelerator’s initiative is to help social entrepreneurs deliver eco-friendly solutions to problems faced in agriculture, e-mobility, and hydropower.

Apple earlier in the year collaborated with Acumen to start Energy for Livelihoods Accelerator for social entrepreneurs. 

The cohort’s initiative is to help help social  startups deliver eco-friendly solutions to problems faced in  agriculture, e-mobility, and hydropower. 

Now, 15 social startups have joined Energy for Livelihoods Accelerator. It is 16-week programme will offer them training on scaling up their business and come up with cost-effective sustainable innovations for betterment of livelihood of low-income people in rural regions.

“This cohort represents a diverse mix of innovators working at the intersection of sustainable energy and poverty reduction. We are excited to support them in partnership with Apple to develop their business models with the ultimate aim of scaling their impact. We also view this accelerator as an opportunity to gather insights directly from entrepreneurs and further refine and shape our work in this area," said Mahesh Yagnaraman, Acumen’s India Director. 

The accelerator will offer virtual Learning Labs, seminars, and self-directed customer experiments to support the development of the business models and their impact.

They will also get additional technical assistance and investment from Acumen’s Pioneer Energy Investment Initiative - Powering Livelihoods Using Solar (PEII+).

Besides India, PEII+, a 5-year $25 million initiative invests in early-stage productive energy companies in East Africa, and West Africa. 

After the completion of the programme, the social startups will be eligible to join the The Foundry, Acumen Academy’s global community of over 1300 social innovators. It should be noted that The Foundry has help transform lives of more than eight million lives around the world. 

Saptkrishi Scientific Pvt Ltd is an agri-tech startup committed to solve the problem of perishability of horticultural commodities.

List of startups joining Energy for Livelihoods Accelerator include LinkITBlueCollar (Nimisha Tiwari), EMPBindi International (Harsh Tiwari), 

Vanya Environmental Services (Runjesh Bargal),  Aumsat Technologies (Riddhish Soni),  Jaljeevika infotech pvt ltd (Neelkanth Mishra),  Kisangas (Dhananjay Abhang),  Coolcrop (Srinivas Marella), Arth  (Rishabh Rawat), Suryanirbhar Agritech LLP (Ashwini Vikas), Saptkrishi Scientific Private Limited (Nikky Kumar Jha),  BluPower (Upamanyu Ghosh),  Devidayal Solar Solutions (Tushar Devidayal), Eidikos Business Enterprises Pvt Ltd (Zunzar Patil), Mowo Fleet (Jai Bharathi Addepalli) and  Yotuh Energy (Dharmik Bapodara). 

"Apple is committed to helping ensure everyone can share in the benefits of a greener economy. We’re demonstrating the transformative potential of clean energy in everything we do, and excited to support social innovators who share that goal,”Sarah Chandler, Apple’s vice president of Environment and Supply Chain Innovation, said earlier this year annoucing partnership with Acumen.

It should be noted that Apple has set an ambitious target of turning 100 per cent carbon nuetral by 2030. Since the annoucement in 2020, it has made several strides.

All its official corporate offices and stores are running on renewable engergy. Even the several supply partners (around 300 plus) are running assembly units on clean power.

Also, recently Apple announced the company's first carbon neutral devices-- Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2. The company is offering the option to the customers to choose the device including accessories with zero carbon footprint.

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