ARE YOU READY TO CATALYZE THE NEXT GENERATION OF FINANCIAL SERVICES FOR INDIA?
Apply to the Catalyst Incubator for your chance to receive funding and build Fintech for the Last Mile solutions!
Building for the Last Mile
While the infrastructure to build inclusive financial services has recently been upgraded with the roll-out of UPI, Aadhaar, and India Stack, we are yet to see the power of those systems delivered to end users at scale. There also remains massive scope to build, on top of the payment transaction layer, deeper workflows that generate tangible value to specific stakeholders in specific commerce use cases – be it analytics, access to financing, or streamlined business processes. Hence, Catalyst is focused on building Solutions for this Last Mile of low income consumers. To realize this mission, we will provide funding for organizations creating financial products and services for these traditionally under-served market segments.
WHAT WE HAVE FOR YOU
Up to 33 lakhs*
per award for activities lasting up to six months and additional benefits
Opportunity to refine your product or service
and test hypotheses over six months in a dynamic market environment
Mentorship from thought leaders
in digital finance companies, social enterprise, and technology entrepreneurship
Access to small businesses,
customers and suppliers in Jaipur to test your product or service, run pilots, and validate hypotheses
Access to Catalyst’s research team
and on-ground learning infrastructure
Access to Catalyst’s broader partner ecosystem,
including other fintech companies, traditional financial institutions and government & policy stakeholders
*inclusive of all taxes
THE APPLICATION PROCESS
Applications are due by September 24th, 2017
We will use a two-step process to select finalists. First, applicants must submit a Pitch Deck which will be evaluated against the Eligibility Criteria. Organizations whose applications fulfill all the Eligibility Criteria will be invited to submit a full application.
We encourage you to apply as early as possible as funds will be allocated on a first-come first-serve basis to organizations with great ideas that meet our eligibility and selection criteria.
PITCH DECK SUBMISSION (PHASE I)
Mandatory
To submit your Pitch Deck, please fill in the Phase I webform and attach the following mandatory materials:
Pitch Deck in PowerPoint format of no more than 10 slides - Feel free to be creative, but the following information must be included in your Pitch Deck:
- Well-defined problem statement - Describe the problem you are proposing to resolve.
- A solution strategy - Describe how your idea addresses the problem you propose to solve and the minimum viable product (MVP) you are proposing to develop. We define a reasonable MVP as a combination of services, software, hardware, people and/or code that demonstrates all major features of the proposed solution such that it conveys to any potential user the value proposition and workflow of the product.
- A description of the target population you intend to work with, including their income levels and geographic locations.
- A short summary budget detailing how much the activity will cost and a breakdown of how much of this total budget will be covered by the Catalyst grant and - how much of it will be covered by funds that the organization is willing to contribute from its own resources (what we call “skin in the game”).
Optional, but not required Phase I material
(please include links in your pitch deck)
FULL APPLICATION SUBMISSION (PHASE II)
If you are invited to this phase, we will require you to submit a more detailed set of materials that outline goals and milestones for the program, and how budgetary funds will be used to achieve them. Full templates will be provided by Catalyst to fulfill these submission requirements. When we’ve received all mandatory materials for your application we will review them against our selection criteria and inform you if you’ve been shortlisted for an award within 3 weeks. Read More
To know more about the program, Click Here