Who We Are
“Never doubt that a group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. It is the only thing that ever has.”
– Margaret Mead
As a non-profit tech-led venture philanthropy platform, ACT is built upon the premise that an entrepreneurial mindset, technology & innovation and collective action have the power to create meaningful social impact at scale.
We are driven by a bias for action to catalyse social change through collaboration across the board – startup founders, VCs, industry experts, NGOs, government stakeholders as well as the public at large.
Capital
Providing hard-to-find, early stage risk capital to take long-term bets and additionally supporting portfolio founders in mobilising follow-on capital.
Connections
Leveraging ACT’s unique network to enable network connections and curate targeted, high value mentorship opportunities for portfolio founders.
Collectives
Building collaborative platforms and programs that bring together multiple partners around specific, more pervasive problem statements.
Our grants are given as seed capital to incubate and accelerate innovations that have demonstrated ability to address some of India’s most complex social needs. In addition to providing funding, we work with our grantees on their strategy as well as operations and help them harness the strength of our collective – through best-in-class industry mentorship that can enable them to build sustainable organisations.
Essentially we treat each grant as an investment in India’s future and thus, focus on ensuring that it yields a return by meaningfully shifting life outcomes.
Know More About Our ApproachOur Focus Areas
ACT For Education
Enabling the bottom three quartiles of India’s population to learn at home by harnessing the power of affordable, accessible and high-quality ed-tech interventions.
ACT For Environment
Catalyzing climate action through innovations to support India’s progress on accelerating decarbonisation and ensuring water security.
ACT For Health
Empowering cutting edge solutions that bridge the access and affordability gap on primary care, NCDs, TB, and mental health.
ACT For Women
Aims to accelerate India’s progress in female workforce participation through data, tech-led platforms and collaboration.
Our Community Is Our Superpower
With the trust and goodwill we earned through our work during COVID, we’ve been able to leverage an incredibly unique and valuable network of individuals and organisations to power our platform.
Anjali Bansal
Bejul Somaia
GV Ravishankar
Mohit Bhatnagar
Paula Mariwala
Prashanth Prakash
Sandeep Singhal
Shekhar Kirani
Sudipto Sannigrahi
Vani Kola
This is just a snapshot of our ever growing collective - as we journey ahead, we hope to inspire more such individuals & organisations to deeply engage with us as partners, advisors & collaborators!
Our Impact 2024-25
155Cr
Invested
58
Innovations
supported
30
Mn
Lives
Touched
Our proof of concept is embedded in the incredible impact achieved by the 58 entrepreneurs we’ve supported in 2024-25.
Scaling reach
by 11x
From reaching around 2 Mn individuals during the pandemic to 30 Mn by Mar 2025, with 85% belonging to India 3
Raising 4x follow-on
capital
39 of our portfolio founders raised additional external capital as their solutions started to demonstrate tangible impact
Winning prestigious
awards
36 of our portfolio organisations gained prestigious national & international recognition for the efficacy of their solutions
Unlocking government
partnerships
26 of our portfolio organisations cracked government partnerships to unlock further scale and sustainability
Latest Updates From The ACT Collective
What Our Portfolio Founders Have To Say
Utsav Kheria
Co-Founder - Rocket Learning (ACT For Education)
“The ACT team is a team of doers - they operate from a founder's PoV and not from a funder's PoV. They've guided us with their technical expertise, connected us to other founders and evolved our thinking on the scale of impact. As founders, we constantly feel looked out for and know that our requirements & challenges are always a priority for ACT”
Krutika Ravishankar
Co-Founder - Farmers For Forests (ACT For Environment)
"ACT For Environment has been a source of tremendous support for us - from connecting us to relevant stakeholders in the ecosystem to spending large amounts of time helping us refine our financial models and organisational strategy. In ACT, we have a great partner - one that we feel comfortable reaching out to for help on nearly anything!"
Amrit Om Nayak
Co-Founder - Indra Water (ACT For Environment)
“ACT has catalyzed Indra’s journey towards unlocking greater commercial traction. Their grant enabled faster product iterations and early deployments, while their hands-on mentorship sharpened our go-to-market strategies, governance, and impact measurement. ACT opened doors to new customer engagements, media spotlight, and a generous peer community that amplified our credibility and accelerated the adoption of our solution. Their team brought us the right experts at the right time and tailored their support to match each founder’s needs. We, at Indra, are grateful for the fantastic platform they’ve built and are proud to be a part of it."
Mahi Singh
Co-Founder - Cancrie (ACT For Environment)
“ACT has been a true partner in every sense. From our very first interaction early on in our journey, their support has been consistent, thoughtful, and impactful. They've helped us across the board - from refining our pricing strategy and providing financial support, to opening doors through their network and simply being there whenever we faced a challenge. ACT has genuinely felt like an extension of the Cancrie team. We're grateful for their commitment and for the vibrant ecosystem they’re building and nurturing.”
Manu Chopra
Co-Founder - Karya (ACT For Education)
“The ACT team has been among the most incredible supporters of Karya in our journey. From constantly connecting us to the most special mentors to giving us guidance on how we can do better, ACT has pushed to be a more impactful organisation. I am so grateful to the team for their mentorship, their kindness and all their wisdom.”
Ruchit Nagar
Co-Founder - Khushi Baby (ACT For Health)
“ACT For Health was one of our earliest champions from India. Their catalytic funding enabled us to rapidly scale our digital health platform to two additional states within a year. But more than capital, the ACT team has brought deep alignment, asking the right questions, immersing themselves in our field operations, and engaging as true thought partners. They understand that solving for last-mile health systems is long-term work - and they have stood by us with conviction, flexibility, and an entrepreneurial spirit. We are proud to have ACT by our side as we digitize rural health systems and reduce the burdens of community health workers across Bharat.”
Ramakant Vempati
Co-Founder - Wysa (ACT For Health)
The ACT team’s support was integral in developing Wysa Hindi, our stepping stone into impact work – increasing access to mental health care for India’s underserved communities. This partnership has encouraged us to be more ambitious in our efforts to bring world-class AI to low-resource settings for universal wellbeing and resilience. Their strategic guidance, inputs, and networks have been invaluable, not only helped us do better in our own domain but also helped broaden our understanding of space and opening doors to useful conversations. With their patient support, we are now identifying a pathway for our impact operations to scale while sustaining quality.
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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