Groww Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Groww, has announced the first cohort of its INV.ENT programme, extending support to 19 ideas developed by 35 young innovators at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay). Selected from nearly 400 submissions, the projects span diverse sectors, from a marketplace connecting Dharavi’s potters with customers to AI-powered counter-drone technology, climate-tech solutions that convert CO₂ into edible protein, and assistive devices for physiotherapy patients.
The inaugural cohort includes two tracks. Three student teams have been selected as the programme’s first Grand Challenge Fellows and are eligible for milestone-based support of up to ₹25 lakh annually. The remaining 16 teams will receive ₹30,000 each under the Proof of Concept (POC) Support Track to help validate their ideas.
Beyond financial assistance, participants will gain access to mentoring and the 15,000 sq. ft. Groww Innovation Space at IIT Bombay’s Desai Sethi School of Entrepreneurship (DSSE). The facility is designed to help students build prototypes, validate assumptions, engage with users and refine their ideas into viable solutions. The programme will continue accepting ideas on a rolling basis, encouraging continuous innovation without fixed submission deadlines.
The selected projects span sectors including agri-tech, robotics, climate-tech, defence, retail, education, gaming and assistive technology, with several leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve real-world challenges.
Kalpana Swaminathan, Head of Groww Foundation, said, “At Groww Foundation, our mission since day zero has been to empower India’s youth with opportunities to learn, build and innovate. INV.ENT is a program born out of that belief. We see this as a launchpad, the place where young innovators get the mentorship, financial support and trust to take their first real shot, long before the world is watching. We’re excited to work closely with this cohort of innovators as they turn their conviction into something real, and we hope to look back one day and call this the starting point for some of India’s most impactful builders.”
Highlighting the partnership, Prof. Shireesh Kedare, Director, IIT Bombay, said, “At IIT Bombay, we believe that the distance between an idea and its impact is often determined by whether someone believes in it early enough. Our partnership with Groww Foundation through INV.ENT is built on that shared conviction. Young innovators deserve the freedom, resources, and encouragement to test bold ideas before the world expects results. Together, we are creating an ecosystem where students do not have to wait for permission to build. They can test, fail, learn, and move forward. That is how enduring innovation ecosystems are built.”
One of the winning teams, Team BeBrust, added, “The overall experience of selection has been really helpful in improving our clarity. We understood the caliber of the team. We are now more confident in the innovation of our idea and in our mission, opportunity, and ability to perceive and experiment. We are looking forward to getting a bigger network and being at least one year ahead of our plan.”
Through INV.ENT, Groww Foundation aims to support more than 100 student teams every year, helping transform promising ideas into impactful innovations.
