The year was 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on lives and livelihoods, India grappled with the worst humanitarian crisis the world had ever seen.
That’s when a group of people, from different walks of life, decided to come together and support the public healthcare system in managing the crisis in every possible way.
ACT was born as 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. Actioning prevention protocols, providing oxygen concentrators, pioneering tele-ICU services, driving vaccinations & enabling mental health counselling – we stopped at nothing to deliver whatever the country critically needed during the COVID 1st and 2nd waves.
As more individuals joined the collective as donors, volunteers, advisors, partners and full-time employees – moving mountains by sheer force of will and the desire to serve – the idea of channeling the momentum towards other critical areas of focus began to germinate.
Today, ACT is a robust community of people with expertise and good will who are working together to seed innovations that can address complex social problems at scale; across education, healthcare, climate action and gender inclusivity.
Always believing that anything is possible through the power of collective action!
Our Approach
As an organisation, we imbibe the values of leading with empathy, overcoming adversity with resilience, enabling a bias for action and fostering the spirit of inclusivity in everything we do.
Our grants are given as seed capital to incubate and accelerate innovations that have demonstrated ability to address identified social need gaps at scale.
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 to make sure they have access to the best-in-class mentorship the industry has to offer.
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.
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 or a philanthropist, an entrepreneur or an individual with a novel idea, a domain expert or a 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!
ACT Values
Why
We believe everyone can be a co-founder of social change
How
By harnessing the power of collaborative entrepreneurship to solve societal problems at scale, the startup way
What
ACT is a social change movement for the startup ecosystem in India, enabling changemakers to give their time, talent and resource to mobilize solutions that address societal problems at scale. ACT started as a response to fight COVID-19 and has now expanded its mandate to cover healthcare, education, environment, and women’s participation in workforce
