Overview
Villgro is India's oldest social enterprise incubator, founded in 2001 by Paul Basil with a mission to make innovative, impactful businesses succeed. Headquartered at IIT Madras Research Park in Chennai, Villgro provides funding, mentorship and incubation support to early-stage, innovation-driven enterprises working on solutions for underserved communities. Since inception, the organisation has supported over 340 social enterprises across healthcare, agriculture, climate action and gender inclusion.
Their Approach
Villgro's incubation model combines financial and non-financial support tailored to each enterprise's stage:
- Funding instruments include equity, debt, grants, and technical assistance with seed funding of up to INR 25 lakh for selected startups. Non-financial support covers subsidised mentoring and specialist technical services.
- Market partnerships connect portfolio companies with last-mile distributors, FPOs (Farmer Producer Organisations), SHGs (Self-Help Groups) and healthcare networks to improve market reach and product-market fit.
- Ecosystem development extends beyond individual enterprises. Villgro runs programs like iPitch (annual deal discovery platform), Unconvention (innovation and social entrepreneurship events) and capacity-building initiatives for other incubators.
Key Focus Areas
Climate Action
Supporting enterprises enabling climate-resilient livelihoods, waste-to-value solutions, and sustainable mobility. Through Powering Livelihoods, a joint initiative with CEEW, Villgro supports deployment of decentralised renewable energy (DRE) technologies like solar refrigerators, food processors and silk reeling machines. Between 2020-2023, this programme enabled approximately 19,123 livelihoods, with 71% beneficiaries being women.
Climate Smart Agriculture
Innovations in sustainable farming, post-harvest processing and farmer advisory services. Partnerships with SBI Foundation launched the "Innovators for Bharat: Climate Resilient Agricultural Livelihoods" program supporting 14 agri-tech startups focused on reducing emissions and improving smallholder farmer incomes.
Healthcare
Diagnostics, screening solutions and medical devices for early identification of diseases, particularly in underserved areas. Supports enterprises through the Invention Based Enterprise program with The Lemelson Foundation.
Gender Inclusion
Dedicated focus on women-led enterprises and women-centric solutions. The TVARAN accelerator (with Cisco) supports women entrepreneurs in climate tech with cohort startups including GreenGrahi (insect-based waste upcycling), ClimateSense (drone-based forest monitoring) and KNP Arises (used cooking oil to biofuel).
Recognition & Impact
340+ enterprises incubated, 84+ women-led enterprises supported, 20.8+ million lives impacted, 5,600+ direct jobs created, INR 4+ billion in follow-on funding raised by portfolio companies. (As of 2024)
Villgro was recognised as Top Incubator in India at the National Startup Awards 2020 by DPIIT (Government of India). The organisation has won DivHERsity Awards in 2022 and 2023 for its commitment to workplace equity and gender diversity.
The Villgro model has expanded internationally through Impact Innovators and Entrepreneurs Foundation (IIEF), with Villgro Africa (Kenya) winning the Prix Galien Award 2023 for Best Incubator/Accelerator for healthcare innovation across the continent.
Key partnerships include The Lemelson Foundation, UNDP, SBI Foundation, Cisco, and government bodies including the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
Key People
- Paul Basil – Founder (Ashoka Fellow (2002), mechanical engineer and forestry management postgraduate. Also co-founded Menterra Venture Advisors, a seed-stage impact investment fund)
- Srinivas Ramanujam – CEO | LinkedIn
