ACT

ACT is a non-profit venture philanthropy platform based in India. It started in 2020 as the Action Covid Taskforce, when a group of venture capitalists, tech entrepreneurs, and social impact leaders came together to support India's public healthcare system during the pandemic, from oxygen concentrators to tele-ICU services to vaccination drives. Since then, ACT has grown into a permanent platform that funds tech-led innovations for social impact across four focus areas: education, environment, health, and women's workforce participation. It works like a venture fund, but for social change: it gives seed capital to founders (both nonprofit and for-profit) tackling India's toughest problems, then supports them with strategic advisory, mentorship, and access to its network of VCs and industry experts. ACT is registered as ACT Capital Foundation For Social Impact, a Section 8 non-profit.

Major Initiatives & Programmes India Clean Air Challenge (ICAC): A $1 million competition, run in partnership with government and startups, to find and scale clean air innovations across mobility, construction, waste management, agriculture, and industrial decarbonisation. Winners get mentorship and direct exposure to investors and government bodies.

ACT Fellowship Program: A 9-month, full-time fellowship for young professionals to apply venture capital principles to philanthropy, working across sector research, dealflow, due diligence, and portfolio management within one of ACT's four focus areas.

Tech Advisors For Social Change: A 12-week volunteering program matching senior tech experts from the startup world with social enterprises facing specific, time-bound tech challenges.

ACT Implementers Network: Matches the tech needs of social enterprises serving underserved communities with ACT-backed health innovations, launching pilot projects to close healthcare gaps.

Green Startup Pledge (GSP): Launched at COP27 with BCG, the world's first climate pledge for startups, committing signatories to a path toward net-zero by 2050.

ACT Summit: An annual gathering of social entrepreneurs, impact investors, CSR professionals, and sector experts to discuss scaling social impact through technology and collaboration.

Mission Brighter Bharat: Distributed 600+ tablets preloaded with educational content to underprivileged children (grades 4-8) in rural Uttarakhand, with a focus on building a replicable device-distribution model.

WISER (Women in India's Startup Ecosystem Report): The largest study of its kind on gender diversity in Indian startups, run under the Pact For Gender Parity.

Impact

• ₹155 Cr invested and 58 innovations supported in 2024-25 alone
• 30 million lives touched, scaling reach 11x since its pandemic-era origins (from ~2 Mn to 30 Mn by March 2025)
• 39 portfolio founders raised follow-on external capital
• 36 portfolio organisations won national or international recognition
• 26 portfolio organisations secured government partnerships

Why people want to work here

ACT sits at the intersection of venture capital and social impact, so the work has the pace and rigor of a fund but the mission of a nonprofit. People join because they get to work directly with founders building real solutions, not just write checks and step back. The organisation has deep credibility in India's startup and VC ecosystem (its board and advisors include people from Accel, Peak XV, Nexus, and Avaana Capital), so the exposure and network access is hard to find elsewhere in the social sector.

ACT suits people who want the intensity and structure of venture work applied to social problems, and who are energised by working closely with founders rather than at a distance from them.