Facebook & T-Hub Shortlist 10 Startups for Its India Innovation Accelerator Program

Social media giant Facebook and T-Hub, a Hyderabad-based global startup catalyst, announced on Wednesday  the 10 startups they have selected for the second edition of their “India Innovation Accelerator” program.

The Program, which was announced in May, will support the growth of startups focused on finding solutions for social challenges using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in areas of good health and wellbeing, agriculture, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic opportunities, industry, innovation & infrastructure, climate change and peace and justice, and strong institutions.

Manish Chopra, Head and Director of partnerships, Facebook India, said “at Facebook, we believe Artificial Intelligence will be key to finding disruptive solutions to address societal challenges like access, affordability, and skill shortage. We are excited to champion the next generation of tech startups applying AI for social good and accelerate their development by giving them access to expertise.”

The shortlisted startups are:

Ftcash: This Mumbai-based firm aims to empower micro-merchants and small businesses with the power of credit using digital payments.

Blue Sky Analytics: This Gurugram-based Blue sky Analytics is a geospatial data intelligence startup, leading the fight against air pollution, water crisis, and environmental degradation by building a stack of environmental indicators.

StaTwig: Hyderabad-based StaTwig is building blockchain-based

solutions to ensure that every child is vaccinated with high quality vaccines.

Signzy: Bengaluru-based Signzy has built a digital trust infrastructure which enables completely secure digital on-boarding using the following three products: Artificial Intelligence (AI) assisted on-boarding (RealKYC), Algorithmic Risk Intelligence (ARI), Blockchain technology to store and verify consumer information.

Greenturn Idea Factory: Kerala-based Greenturn Idea Factory

helps enterprises reduce energy spends through realtime data driven insights from their IoT based analytics platform, Greenie.

Pensieve: Mumbai-based Pensieve aims to democratise legal data and make it accessible to the common man. They do this through two tools – Mitra (providing access to judicial cases and an AI algorithm that provides the most relevant responses) and Smriti (enabling people to build, amend, review and analyse their contracts)

Shortlist Professionals: Mumbai-based Shortlist Professionals is helping enterprises in

recruiting through their platform that screens candidates using predictive chat-based interviews and online competency-based assessments, letting employers skip these stages altogether and hire candidates based on demonstrated skill, not just what’s on their CV.

Innerhour: The Mumbai-based Innerhour provides access to psychological tools and services through their emotional health app which helps in fighting the stigma and lack of access of qualified professionals in the mental health space.

Marut Drones: The Hyderabad-based Marut Drones uses AI-powered computer vision to identify the mosquito infestation and hyacinth growth in urban ponds. Based on the information, repellents are sprayed to safeguard localities from various diseases caused by mosquitos.

Sensegrass: Delhi-base Sensegrass deploys Smart Soil Sensing NPK Sensors for pesticide and fertilizers detection using IoT and AI algorithm-based prediction software to help farmers by transferring real-time for better decision making, reduce fertilizers and to maximize crop yield.

Ravi Narayan, CEO, T-Hub, said, “Startups that are focused on solving social challenges need all the help they can get in terms of great technical support, market access, and industry connects. The India Innovation Accelerator program by Facebook in partnership with T-Hub, offers such support to the best startups in this space that are using AI. I commend Facebook for this pioneering effort.”

The final cohort of 10 AI startups was selected from over 140 applications received from across India and after an exciting pitch session held at Facebook Office in Gurgaon. The participants were reviewed based on the quality of technology-based solutions, product/solution market readiness and social impact among other relevant parameters.

The India Innovation Accelerator reportedly will support the growth of these start-ups in many ways. A panel of mentors, industry experts, investors, will provide hands-on operational support and mentoring with specialized training on product development, marketing, partnerships, management.