ACT

Last week, we brought together founders building for population-scale impact from across our portfolio for a dinner with The Product Folks to explore how we can better enable their growth. Within minutes, the room was deep into live challenges. Founders were trading reflections on product decisions, how AI is reshaping their sectors, and figuring out how to find the right technical talent and mentorship at the right time. These insights are now shaping how we build portfolio support at ACT, alongside the founders it's meant to serve, and our ecosystem partners. Grateful to everyone who showed up with candour, and to The Product Folks team for co-creating this with us. Subhashish Bhadra Mekin Maheshwari Sriganesh T.V Pinaki K. Suhas Motwani Aditya Mohanty Sudeep Gowrishankar Devendra Rane Madhavi Jadhav Abhimanyu Rathi Mallesh T M Anand Gopakumar Krithika R Sruthi Shanmugam Nayonika Jotsinghani Pallavi Khare Arvind Prakash Piyush Mayank #CoFoundersOfSocialChange

Only 42% of Indian graduates are considered employable the day they receive their degree. And the skills our education system rewards most, recall, reproduction, following instructions, are exactly the ones AI is replacing fastest. What remains irreplaceable is initiative, judgment, ownership, and the ability to figure things out when no one gives you the answer. Mekin Maheshwari writes about this powerfully in his latest piece. Through their work at Udhyam Learning Foundation, he and his team have spent years building exactly these capabilities in young people through real projects, ownership, and experiential learning. Read the full article on India Today. #CoFoundersOfSocialChange

Making 21st century skills accessible at scale: Why We Invested in The Apprentice Project (TAP) Over 100 million adolescents in India's government schools are entering a labour market where critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving matter more than ever. Yet public schooling remains oriented around theory and examinations, leaving little room for applied learning. In India, with teacher-to-student ratios of 60:1, personalised attention is structurally impossible. The result is a generation of young people who struggle to apply knowledge, unprepared for an economy where nearly 40% of current skills are projected to become obsolete by 2030. TAP bridges this gap by building cognitive skills through project-based learning, using technology to deliver it at scale. TAP Buddy is a WhatsApp-based self-learning tool where students choose a co-curricular elective, watch short videos, and complete real-world tasks on a weekly basis such as building a solar oven, coding a Scratch-based mobile game, or planning a simple budget. Students submit their work as photos, text, or voice, and receive structured, personalised feedback. Existing approaches to building these skills tend to fall into two camps. In-person facilitation programs can build real skills but are hard to scale. Tech-first models scale easily but stop at content delivery, with limited opportunity for students to apply what they learn. TAP bridges this gap by using technology to deliver project-based learning where students build, create, and solve real problems. Through projects as the vehicle, TAP seeks to build Applied Agency: a child's belief and ability to say, "If something is broken in my world, I can fix it." A growing body of global research supports this approach. In 2025-26 TAP has directly worked with over 150,000 students across Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Punjab. They partner with state governments and large-scale NGOs, establishing partnerships at both state and district levels to deliver its solution across diverse school contexts. The co-founders, Anand Gopakumar, Prashant Kumar and Monica Pesswani, bring together experience from Teach For India, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, and the Harvard Kennedy School. They have spent nine years building TAP together and are relentless learners. They are constantly testing, iterating, and rethinking how the product works in the field, with a deep obsession for what their learners actually need. Our partnership with TAP supports their expansion into new geographies and national school networks, while strengthening their AI-enabled project-based learning model for population-scale delivery. We are excited to support their ambition to reach 5 million children over the next three years and help government school students build creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, and confidence for the future. Subhashish Bhadra Sowjanya Kanuri Krisha Mathur Vasundhra Negi #CoFoundersOfSocialChange

We're hiring a Communications and Community Manager at ACT to help shape our voice and deepen how we engage with founders, donors, and the wider ecosystem. ACT backs bold entrepreneurs building category-defining, population-scale impact organisations, providing flexible, risk-tolerant capital to founders solving systemic challenges. This role sits at the intersection of storytelling, content, and community building, and will play a key part in growing how ACT shows up in public. We’re looking for someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment, adapts quickly, and wants to build work with immediate, meaningful impact. JD and application form here: https://lnkd.in/gdHUQFjr Do apply or share within your networks. Krithika R Foram Rajani Subhashish Bhadra Sruthi Shanmugam Nayonika Jotsinghani Deepanshu Singal Krisha Mathur Sowjanya Kanuri Vasundhara Singh

Street food vendors are an essential part of how Indian cities eat and move through daily life. We are delighted to see our friends at Udhyam Learning Foundation supporting Bengaluru's street food vendors through hands-on mentorship and infrastructure upgrades that are helping increase incomes, improve customer experience, and build more sustainable small businesses. Vendors in the programme have seen a 24% rise in customer footfall and a 33% increase in revenue. From better lighting and seating to faster cooking setups and digital discoverability, Udhyam Vyapaar is showing what thoughtful support can unlock for the nano-entrepreneurs who keep our cities running. Read more in The New Indian Express: https://lnkd.in/g7E4paPQ Mekin Maheshwari #CoFoundersOfSocialChange

India's first fully paperless court system is now live in Sikkim, built and deployed by our portfolio organisation, Adalat AI. From filing to judgment, the entire lifecycle of a case now runs through one unified digital system, with their platform already operating in 5,000+ courtrooms across the country. With over 4 crore cases pending and a backlog estimated to take 300 years to clear, the cost of slow, paper-heavy court processes falls hardest on those with the least resources to navigate them. Work like this matters because it begins to change that. We are proud to support a team working to make justice faster, more transparent, and more accessible for the communities that need it most. #CoFoundersOfSocialChange

#MeetOurPortfolio | KHPT Tuberculosis remains one of India’s most pressing public health challenges, with millions affected each year. Gaps in awareness and treatment adherence persist, often compounded by language barriers and limited access to reliable information. KHPT is addressing this through Sangaati, a voice-based digital companion supporting TB awareness and treatment adherence. Built on vernacular voice technology, with 3,000+ validated queries, it helps patients, caregivers, and frontline workers access timely, accurate information. With #ACTForHealth’s support, KHPT is scaling Sangaati across Karnataka, driving evidence generation and testing scalability for expansion into new languages and states. We’re proud to support KHPT in expanding access to TB care and improving health outcomes across Bharat. Watch the video to learn more. #CoFoundersOfSocialChange

We’re hiring a Chief of Staff at ACT. If you’re excited by the idea of reimagining philanthropy and scaling a venture-inspired approach, this might be for you. ACT backs bold entrepreneurs building category-defining, population-scale impact organisations. We provide flexible, risk-tolerant capital to founders aiming to create “impact unicorns.” You’ll work closely with ACT’s leadership to drive key priorities and turn ideas into reality across the organisation. This is a role for someone who can move seamlessly between strategy and execution. We’re looking for someone who thrives in ambiguity, learns quickly, and wants to build work with immediate, meaningful impact. JD and application form here --> https://bit.ly/4eHcf1g Krisha Sowjanya Vasundhra Nayonika Deepanshu Sruthi Krithika Pallavi Azeez Mohit Sandeep Loney Mekin Azeez

Agricultural residue is one of the most underutilised resources in India. Locked inside it is lignin, a natural polymer that can replace petrochemicals across industries like construction, packaging, and cosmetics. The question has moved past whether lignin works. It's now about what it takes to integrate it into industrial value chains built around fossil-based inputs. Apoorv Garg, CEO & Co-founder of altM and our portfolio founder, writes about the path forward in businessline. Read here: https://lnkd.in/gYeqNrBK #CoFoundersOfSocialChange #ACTForEnvironment