Anything is possible when
Our Origin Story
Two years ago, as the pandemic wreaked havoc on lives & livelihoods and India grappled with the worst humanitarian crisis the world had ever seen, a collective was born.
A group of people, from different walks of life, came together to support the public healthcare system in managing the crisis in every possible way. ACT, we called ourselves – the Action Covid Taskforce – a collective of venture capitalists, tech entrepreneurs and social impact leaders who pooled their strengths to raise funds and deploy resources wherever needed.
We used data as well as on-ground accounts to understand what the country needed during COVID’s 1st and 2nd waves and worked hard to deliver aid in areas that we understood to be the most critical – from providing oxygen concentrators and pioneering tele-ICU services to driving vaccinations and enabling mental health counselling.
Our first two years of existence taught us that collective action can move mountains by sheer force of will and the desire to serve. And that gave us the confidence to channel that momentum towards other critical areas of focus – from education and healthcare to climate action and gender inclusivity.
Today, we continue to leverage our bias for ACTion to catalyse sustainable social impact by seeding innovations that can address some of India’s most complex social problems at scale.
Our Charter Of Beliefs
We believe anything is possible when people come together for a larger purpose.
We believe an entrepreneurial mindset has the power to solve societal problems at scale.
We believe founders who build successful businesses can also build the foundations for a better world.
Leaders who create great shareholder value also have the empathy to create greater shared value.
We believe in collective action!
We believe in the power of technology and innovation to drive sustainable social change.
We believe in supporting ideas that are capital efficient, scale ready and can create immediate impact.
Whether you’re a venture capitalist, philanthropist, entrepreneur, domain expert or social change activist – we believe YOU can be a vital part of the movement.
We believe everyone can be a co-founder of social change!
Our Approach
Our efforts are guided by a data-driven approach that has the ability to take calculated risks on our investments and shoulder the responsibility of meeting the intended outcomes while assuming full accountability for every rupee entrusted with our vision.
ACT As A Venture Philanthropy Fund
Our philanthropic grant-giving philosophy is rooted in 3 core principles:
Founder First
We back individuals who are passionate about social change, extremely outcome-oriented, deeply invested in addressing the access to affordability gap for India’s vulnerable population & determined to be a part of the solution.
Catalytic
As funders, we come in early in the founder's journey. Our investments are intended to be seed capital that helps our grantees unlock the next phase of their product journey or business model to unleash 10x growth.
Impact First
Our grants are mission-centric and thus available to both for-profit and not-for-profit innovations because we believe that both will have a place in the larger social change we’re attempting to create.
ACT As A Collective Action Platform
It is our strong belief that we can deepen the impact of our portfolio if we build collective action within the larger ecosystem. To do so, we catalyse shared value partnerships and bring together diverse stakeholders to:
Enhance Capacity
We build strong relationships with our founders & understand their most pressing needs to provide strategic as well as operational guidance and facilitate 1:1 advisory relationships to hone their organisational capacity.
Incubate New Entrepreneurs
We design challenge grants as well as pilot incubation/acceleration programs to draw attention to social problem statements and inspire aspiring entrepreneurs to transform innovative ideas into scalable solutions.
Generate Knowledge
We collaborate with ecosystem partners to run programs that can generate knowledge, resources and playbooks to help accelerate the pace of overall change for the sector at large.
The ACT Collective
Our Team
Aakanksha Gulati
Director
Alankrita Khera
Director
Anupama Kashyap
Manager - ACT For Women
Disha Gupta
Design Associate
Divya Saraf
Lead - ACT For Health
Gulam Sarwar
Manager - ACT For Health
Krisha Mathur
Director - ACT for Health
Mahima Goburdhun
Brand Manager
Mugundan Thirumalai
CFO
Shazib Siddique
Manager - ACT For Environment
Sowjanya Kanuri
Lead - ACT For Women
Sruthi Shanmugam
Manager - ACT For Environment
Sunaina Mathur
Manager - ACT For Education
Our Board
Geeta Goel
Country Director, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
Loney Antony
Vice Chairman, Hitachi Payment Services
Mohit Bhatnagar
MD, Peak XV Partners
Prashanth Prakash
Partner, Accel
Sandeep Singhal
Senior Advisor, Nexus Venture Partners
Our Anchor Advisors
ACT For Education Investment Committee
Ashish Dhawan
Founder, Central Square Foundation
Mekin Maheshwari
Founder, Udhyam
Mohit Bhatnagar
MD, Peak XV Partners
ACT For Environment Investment Committee
GV Ravishankar
MD, Peak XV Partners
Prashanth Prakash
Partner, Accel
ACT For Health Investment Committee
Dr. Ajay Nair
CEO, Swasth Alliance
Dr. Nachiket Mor
Visiting Scientist, The Banyan Academy
Prashanth Prakash
Partner, Accel
Sandeep Singhal
Senior Advisor, Avaana Capital
Shekhar Kirani
Partner, Accel
ACT For Women Advisory Council
Abhiraj Singh Bhal
Co-Founder, Urban Company
Anjali Bansal
Founder, Avaana Capital
Gayatri Yadav
CMO, Peak XV Partners
Mohit Bhatnagar
MD, Peak XV Partners
Shekhar Kirani
Partner, Accel
Suman Gopalan
Ex-CHRO, Freshworks
Vivek Pandit
Senior Partner, McKinsey
Yamini Atmavilas
President, The Udaiti Foundation
ACT Capital Foundation For Social Impact is a not-for-profit company incorporated and registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013. All donations made to ACT Capital Foundation are eligible for income tax deduction under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act.
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