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Samunnati Foundation, a non-profit subsidiary of agritech enterprise Samunnati Finance, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IIT Madras’ Incubation Cell (IITMIC) to develop innovation in agriculture and help support agritech startups in their goals.

Through this partnership, the organizations will provide incubation support/facilities to entrepreneurial ventures, prepare position papers and propose policy recommendations.

Samunnati said this collaboration ties into their goal of creating a tangible difference in the lives of entrepreneurs among unserved/ underserved agricultural communities, and it will provide strategic and operational guidance, training, mentoring, networking, and other necessary resources to help startups.

Among other things, the tie-up will facilitate research and development in areas such as promotion of alternative crops, adoption of a green agricultural ecosystem including use of green agricultural machinery, solar pumps and others, indigenously developed food processing tech, and other support services for the agricultural community.

“It is heartening to see several youngsters from IIT/IIMs taking up entrepreneurship in agriculture. We also see a lot of private capital flowing into these young startups. Being an ecosystem player, Samunnati aims to nurture this entrepreneurial energy by collaborating with premier institutions to incubate, nurture and scale these ideas which can transform the agri space in this country with focus on the smallholder farmer,” Anilkumar SG, founder and CEO, Samunnati, said.

Ashok Jhunjhunwala, President, IITMIC and IIT Madras Research Park, said: “This partnership focuses on encouraging innovative technologies in agriculture and allied areas and to work together in developing the ecosystem necessary to support entrepreneurs, and jointly incubate startups in this space. This partnership will offer mentoring support for product development, advisory services, networking for business development, training, funding assistance and technological support and will focus on strengthening the agriculture entrepreneurial ecosystem.”