ACT In The Media

Coverage of our work.

A running archive of press features, op-eds, podcasts and videos about the ACT platform, the founders we back and the wider social-impact ecosystem. Use the year jump-links below to scan a specific period — every card links out to the full piece on the official ACT media archive.

As featured in

2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 202195 pieces in the archive

2026

Coverage from 2026

How venture-like philanthropic capital has the potential to unleash impact at scale

Platform

Featured · 2026

12 Jan 2026

How venture-like philanthropic capital has the potential to unleash impact at scale

A perspective on how venture-style capital — when paired with patience and discipline — can unlock impact that traditional grant-making struggles to reach.

2025

Coverage from 2025

How India's agricultural waste can power a cleaner future

Environment

17 Dec 2025

How India's agricultural waste can power a cleaner future

How crop residue — burned today across north India — can be turned into clean energy, materials and farmer income.

Health

10 Oct 2025

India's changing mental health map: From childhood to old age, a call for collective action

An honest reading of where India sits on mental health across age groups — and why collective action is now overdue.

AI-enabled screening devices for cancer detection launched in Punjab

Health

24 Sept 2025

AI-enabled screening devices for cancer detection launched in Punjab

A state-level rollout of AI-powered cancer-screening devices — extending early detection into community health settings.

Health

03 Sept 2025

Chronic problems, fresh solutions: How health-tech startups are reinventing care

How a new wave of health-tech founders is taking on chronic disease — and rebuilding care delivery around the patient.

Environment

01 Sept 2025

How water-techs make every drop count

A look at the water-tech founders helping India stretch its supply across cities, industries and agriculture.

ACT Awards ₹1.43 Cr in Grants to Boost Tech-First Social Innovations

Platform

15 Jul 2025

ACT Awards ₹1.43 Cr in Grants to Boost Tech-First Social Innovations

An announcement of fresh grant commitments to tech-first social-innovation founders across ACT's focus areas.

Redefine the creation of a future-ready workforce

Education

15 Jul 2025

Redefine the creation of a future-ready workforce

On what it will take to redesign India's skilling and workforce-readiness systems for the next decade.

10 Jul 2025

Japanese delegation visits Dholera Special Investment Region to explore business

Coverage of a Japanese delegation's visit to Dholera — and the business opportunities being explored in the region.

10 Jul 2025

Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (July 10, 2025)

A daily roundup of Indian startup news featuring ACT's portfolio and partner-ecosystem moves.

Business powered by the circular economy

Environment

01 Jul 2025

Business powered by the circular economy

How the circular economy is moving from talking point to operating model for India's hardest material categories.

Time to rethink capital for sustainability

Environment

05 Jun 2025

Time to rethink capital for sustainability

An argument for restructuring the capital stack behind climate and sustainability founders in India.

Women

28 May 2025

International Day of Action for Women's Health: Tech-led solutions revolutionising women's health

A look at the tech-led solutions reshaping women's health in India — built around the International Day of Action.

Women

25 May 2025

From the margins to the mainstream: Financing the last mile in women's health

Why last-mile women's health needs a different financing model — and what it would take to build one.

Closing the learning gap: The role of Ed-Tech and venture philanthropy in building a skilled workforce

Education

16 May 2025

Closing the learning gap: The role of Ed-Tech and venture philanthropy in building a skilled workforce

On the role ed-tech and venture-philanthropy capital can play in closing India's learning and skilling gap.

Catalyzing Bharat: The power of patient capital in social innovation | MC Unusual Suspects

videoPlatform

Moneycontrol · 16 May 2025

Catalyzing Bharat: The power of patient capital in social innovation | MC Unusual Suspects

An MC Unusual Suspects conversation on patient capital and the role of social-innovation funders in India's next decade.

Watch Video

Health

12 Apr 2025

Affordable innovation in public health transformation

On the role affordable, deployment-ready innovation can play in transforming India's public health system.

The Critical Role of Catalytic Capital in Impact Investing — Impact Investing Musings

podcastPlatform

Spotify · 11 Apr 2025

The Critical Role of Catalytic Capital in Impact Investing — Impact Investing Musings

A podcast conversation on why catalytic capital is the missing link inside impact investing in India.

Listen now

AI and the gender gap: Ensuring equity in the AI industry

Women

18 Mar 2025

AI and the gender gap: Ensuring equity in the AI industry

On the gender gap inside the AI industry — and the practical steps founders and operators can take to close it.

Women

06 Mar 2025

Deepening Gender Diversity In Startups: What it will take to have more women in tech & product leadership

An operating note on what it will actually take to put more women into product and engineering leadership at Indian startups.

National Startup Day 2025: The Dawn of India's Social Unicorns

Platform

21 Jan 2025

National Startup Day 2025: The Dawn of India's Social Unicorns

Why India's next decade of unicorn-scale stories will increasingly come from the social-impact category.

Education

21 Jan 2025

"Education is more than lessons and assessments — it is hope, it is empowerment." — Prafulla Shashikant, VOPA

A conversation with Prafulla Shashikant of VOPA on what learning means in rural Maharashtra — and what it takes to deliver it at scale.

Women

18 Jan 2025

Why India's startups need more women at the helm

On the business case for putting more women into founder and leadership roles at India's startups.

Women

16 Jan 2025

National Startup Day: The rise of women's health startups in India

A look at the founders building for women's health in India — and why the sector is finally getting the attention it deserves.

From profit to purpose: Novel initiatives support social-impact entrepreneurs

Platform

08 Jan 2025

From profit to purpose: Novel initiatives support social-impact entrepreneurs

An overview of the new wave of programmes and capital pools backing social-impact founders in India.

2024

Coverage from 2024

LearnTube's $2 Million Seed Funding for product development and expansion

videoEducation

CNBC TV18 · 15 Oct 2024

LearnTube's $2 Million Seed Funding for product development and expansion

A CNBC TV18 segment on LearnTube's seed round and the company's plans for product and reach.

Watch Video

From agri-waste to industrial raw material

Environment

15 Oct 2024

From agri-waste to industrial raw material

How agri-waste is being converted into industrial-grade feedstock — and what it means for farmers and supply chains.

Health

11 Oct 2024

Can an AI chatbot really be your mental-health ally?

A measured look at the role of AI chatbots in mental healthcare — and what current evidence supports and does not.

Women

02 Sept 2024

Meet the women from India's villages supporting the country's AI boom

Stories of the rural women routing AI data work into dignified income — and what it means for the wider economy.

Fellowship

25 Jul 2024

ACT Fellowship Program: Applications open for 2024-25 session — course details, eligibility and more

Programme details, eligibility criteria and application timelines for the ACT Fellowship 2024-25 cohort.

Harnessing innovation to meet India's net-zero emissions goals by 2070

Environment

14 Jul 2024

Harnessing innovation to meet India's net-zero emissions goals by 2070

On the role tech-led innovation will play in India hitting its net-zero target by 2070.

Fellowship

28 Jun 2024

ACT Fellowship Program applications underway for 2024-25 cohort

A briefing on the 2024-25 Fellowship intake — who the programme is for and how to apply.

This startup's robotic solutions help clean manholes, septic tanks and pipelines

Environment

YourStory · 24 Jun 2024

This startup's robotic solutions help clean manholes, septic tanks and pipelines

A profile of Solinas — and the safer, smarter robots replacing dangerous sanitation work across Indian cities.

Environment

06 May 2024

The battle for water in Bengaluru

A reported piece on Bengaluru's deepening water crisis — and what the solutions space looks like up close.

Health

22 Apr 2024

India's primary healthcare ecosystem is evolving — and health outcomes are the new benchmark

Why outcomes — not infrastructure — are becoming the right way to measure India's primary-healthcare reforms.

Health

05 Apr 2024

C-CAMP inks deal to improve eye-care

Coverage of the C-CAMP partnership built around scaling eye-care interventions in India.

Startup makes nanocarbon for batteries from coconut shells — boosts efficiency by 125%

Environment

05 Mar 2024

Startup makes nanocarbon for batteries from coconut shells — boosts efficiency by 125%

A profile of the materials-science work turning coconut shells into nanocarbon — and the battery-performance gains it unlocks.

2023

Coverage from 2023

Jaipur-based start-up begins making nanomaterials for batteries from agri-wastes

Environment

30 Dec 2023

Jaipur-based start-up begins making nanomaterials for batteries from agri-wastes

A report on a Jaipur-based start-up turning agri-waste into nanomaterials for the battery industry.

Health

28 Nov 2023

ACT For Health collaborates with Global Health Labs to bring private innovations to India's public healthcare system

A new partnership designed to channel private healthtech innovations into India's public health system.

Why India's startups can lead the way on driving gender equity

Women

20 Nov 2023

Why India's startups can lead the way on driving gender equity

Why Indian startups — with their speed and product mindset — can move first on closing the gender gap at work.

Experts decode the best practices India's startups need to adopt as they commit to gender parity

Women

20 Nov 2023

Experts decode the best practices India's startups need to adopt as they commit to gender parity

Practical, field-tested best practices for startups serious about committing to gender parity inside their organisations.

Infographic Insight: A fairer way forward for startups

Women

31 Oct 2023

Infographic Insight: A fairer way forward for startups

An infographic-led look at the path forward for startups serious about closing the gender gap.

Women

31 Oct 2023

Startups have potential to create 2 million jobs for women by 2030: Report

Report coverage on the two-million-job opportunity for women in India's startup ecosystem by 2030.

Indian startups pushing for gender parity

Women

31 Oct 2023

Indian startups pushing for gender parity

Coverage of the Indian startup community's collective push on gender parity at the workplace.

Women

30 Oct 2023

Start-ups with female founders lead the way in creating inclusive workplaces for women

How female-founder-led startups in India are setting the bar on inclusive workplaces.

Women

30 Oct 2023

Indian start-ups may generate 2 million jobs for women by 2030: Report

Headline coverage of the two-million-job projection from the WISER report on Indian startups.

Taking a lead: Startups beat corporates in the gender-inclusivity race

Women

29 Oct 2023

Taking a lead: Startups beat corporates in the gender-inclusivity race

Why startups are starting to outpace large corporates on the gender-inclusivity agenda.

Punjab Inc: Meet the man who transforms crop residue into green energy

Environment

25 Oct 2023

Punjab Inc: Meet the man who transforms crop residue into green energy

A profile of the founder turning Punjab's burning crop residue into clean energy and farmer income.

Health

25 Oct 2023

Building for Bharat: Leveraging tech-led innovations to improve public healthcare

A look at the tech-led innovations being deployed inside India's public healthcare system today.

Gujarat-based start-up finds solution to problem of rice-husk ash

Environment

16 Sept 2023

Gujarat-based start-up finds solution to problem of rice-husk ash

A Gujarat-based start-up turning rice-husk ash into industrial-grade silica and activated carbon.

Recycling wastewater to make a difference

Environment

20 Aug 2023

Recycling wastewater to make a difference

A look at the wastewater-recycling work taking shape across Indian industry and municipalities.

Role of oxygenation devices in alleviating the oxygen crisis in India

Health

17 Aug 2023

Role of oxygenation devices in alleviating the oxygen crisis in India

A retrospective on the role of oxygenation devices during India's oxygen crisis — and what to build for next time.

Education

14 Aug 2023

Our effort is to make quality school education through tech more accessible to socio-economically marginalised families

A conversation on building tech-led school education that genuinely reaches under-served families.

Fellowship

02 Aug 2023

How fellowship programmes can help unlock young talent for India's social-impact sector

Why fellowships are a disproportionately effective lever for routing young talent into India's social-impact sector.

India's climate-action strategy needs a social-entrepreneurial lens

Environment

06 Jul 2023

India's climate-action strategy needs a social-entrepreneurial lens

Why India's climate-action strategy will compound faster with a social-entrepreneurial lens layered on top of it.

Fellowship

05 Jul 2023

ACT Fellowship Programme invites applications for 2023-24 cohort

Programme details and application timelines for the ACT Fellowship 2023-24 cohort.

Tech-led innovations hold the key to battling India's water crisis

Environment

05 Jun 2023

Tech-led innovations hold the key to battling India's water crisis

Why tech-led innovation is the most credible lever inside India's deepening water crisis.

This chemist has been recycling plastic waste into fuels and petrochemicals

Environment

03 Jun 2023

This chemist has been recycling plastic waste into fuels and petrochemicals

A profile of the chemist turning non-recyclable plastic waste into fuel and petrochemical feedstock.

ACT hosts the 1st edition of ACT Summit 2023 in Delhi

Platform

13 May 2023

ACT hosts the 1st edition of ACT Summit 2023 in Delhi

Coverage of the first edition of the ACT Summit — bringing together founders, funders and operators in Delhi.

Leveraging tech-led innovations to strengthen India's fight against tuberculosis

Health

06 May 2023

Leveraging tech-led innovations to strengthen India's fight against tuberculosis

Why tech-led innovation has a real role to play inside India's tuberculosis elimination strategy.

Health

07 Apr 2023

The importance of bringing private innovations to public healthcare

Why the deployment of private healthtech innovation inside the public health system is where the impact actually lives.

The best of ed-tech is still ahead of us

Education

16 Mar 2023

The best of ed-tech is still ahead of us

A perspective on why the most consequential decade of Indian ed-tech is still ahead — not behind.

Startups can help India accelerate its progress towards gender equity at the workplace

Women

06 Mar 2023

Startups can help India accelerate its progress towards gender equity at the workplace

Why startups are uniquely positioned to accelerate India's progress on workplace gender equity.

Women

18 Jan 2023

ACT For Women launches Women In India's Startup Ecosystem Report (WISER) — with The Udaiti Foundation

The official launch of the WISER report — produced jointly with The Udaiti Foundation.

Top Parent and REVY from the ACT portfolio share their outlook for 2023

Education

18 Jan 2023

Top Parent and REVY from the ACT portfolio share their outlook for 2023

Two ACT portfolio founders share their outlook for 2023 — across education and climate.

Green Startup Pledge — one of the big startup trends for 2023

Environment

16 Jan 2023

Green Startup Pledge — one of the big startup trends for 2023

Why the Green Startup Pledge has become one of the most consequential founder-led commitments of 2023.

Accelerating climate action with social entrepreneurship

Environment

14 Jan 2023

Accelerating climate action with social entrepreneurship

On the case for applying venture-style social entrepreneurship to India's climate-action agenda.

2022

Coverage from 2022

After cousin's diagnosis, researcher builds non-invasive device to detect breast cancer

Health

23 Nov 2022

After cousin's diagnosis, researcher builds non-invasive device to detect breast cancer

A founder's story behind one of India's most promising non-invasive breast-cancer screening devices.

Leveraging a bias for action with the Green Startup Pledge

Environment

15 Nov 2022

Leveraging a bias for action with the Green Startup Pledge

An op-ed on how the Green Startup Pledge translates startup-style bias-for-action into climate commitments.

ACT & BCG launch Green Startup Pledge at COP27

Environment

14 Nov 2022

ACT & BCG launch Green Startup Pledge at COP27

Coverage of the Green Startup Pledge launch by ACT and BCG at COP27 in Egypt.

Nithin Kamath & Deepinder Goyal back ACT-BCG's Green Startup Pledge

Environment

12 Nov 2022

Nithin Kamath & Deepinder Goyal back ACT-BCG's Green Startup Pledge

Two of India's biggest founders publicly back the Green Startup Pledge.

Top unicorn founders & VCs back ACT-BCG's Green Startup Pledge

Environment

11 Nov 2022

Top unicorn founders & VCs back ACT-BCG's Green Startup Pledge

A wider roll-call of unicorn founders and venture investors publicly backing the Green Startup Pledge.

Health

11 Nov 2022

ACT For Health invests ₹3.2 Cr towards accessible, affordable cancer care in India

An ACT For Health investment focused on widening access to cancer care in India.

Education

19 Oct 2022

ACT brings Vidyakul & Josh Skills to its ACT For Education portfolio

An announcement of two new ed-tech investments inside the ACT For Education portfolio.

Education

18 Oct 2022

ACT For Education collaborates with Vidyakul & Josh Skills

Coverage of the ACT For Education collaborations with Vidyakul and Josh Skills.

Health

10 Oct 2022

ACT collaborates with Wysa on a mental-health app in Hindi

An announcement of the ACT × Wysa collaboration on a Hindi-language version of the mental-health app.

Education

16 Aug 2022

One man brings free, high-quality education to lakhs in Maharashtra's backward regions

A profile of the founder behind VOPA — and the free, high-quality learning he is bringing to rural Maharashtra.

Philanthropic capital and a lesson in accountability for Indian ed-tech

Education

14 Jul 2022

Philanthropic capital and a lesson in accountability for Indian ed-tech

How philanthropic capital is raising the accountability bar inside Indian ed-tech.

Education

07 Jul 2022

CuriousJr collaborates with ACT to build a more effective platform for education

Coverage of the CuriousJr × ACT collaboration on vernacular coding learning for low-income students.

2021

Coverage from 2021

Education

27 Oct 2021

ACT For Education, UNICEF and YuWaah come together to support employability and life skills for young people

A multi-partner collaboration on employability and life-skills development for India's young people.

Covid

25 Jun 2021

ACT Steps Up Again To Battle COVID-19

Coverage of ACT's renewed Delta-wave response — capital, coordination and partnerships at speed.

ACT, Swasth Alliance and Feeding India to donate 50,000 oxygen concentrators nationally in May

Covid

07 May 2021

ACT, Swasth Alliance and Feeding India to donate 50,000 oxygen concentrators nationally in May

Coverage of the 50,000-oxygen-concentrator donation programme by ACT, Swasth Alliance and Feeding India.

Covid

07 May 2021

Virat Kohli & Anushka Sharma donate ₹2 crore to ACT in COVID-19 fight

Coverage of the ₹2 crore donation from Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma to ACT's COVID-19 response.

Covid

28 Apr 2021

India's entrepreneurs and investors are mobilising to help the nation fight COVID-19 — and you can too

An overview of the founder- and investor-led COVID response — and how readers could contribute.

Covid

26 Apr 2021

ACT looks to raise ₹75 Cr to boost Indian healthcare amid COVID crisis

Reporting on ACT's ₹75 Cr fundraising push to bolster the Indian healthcare response.

Start-ups, venture capitalists offer funds to tackle oxygen scarcity

Covid

26 Apr 2021

Start-ups, venture capitalists offer funds to tackle oxygen scarcity

Coverage of the start-up and VC community pooling funds to address India's oxygen scarcity.

Startup community stands up for India — a list of projects you can contribute to

Covid

26 Apr 2021

Startup community stands up for India — a list of projects you can contribute to

A curated list of community-led projects readers could contribute to during the pandemic.

Covid

26 Apr 2021

Startups join battle against COVID-19 — a look at how they are helping India breathe again

A round-up of the Indian startup community's response to the second COVID wave.

Covid

26 Apr 2021

Startup ecosystem breathes new life into India's COVID fight

Coverage of how India's startup ecosystem rallied around the COVID response.

Amazon partners ACT, Temasek to bring 10,000 oxygen concentrators and BiPAP machines into India

Covid

26 Apr 2021

Amazon partners ACT, Temasek to bring 10,000 oxygen concentrators and BiPAP machines into India

Coverage of the Amazon × ACT × Temasek collaboration to import oxygen concentrators and BiPAPs into India.

Startups, tech giants pitch in to help India

Covid

26 Apr 2021

Startups, tech giants pitch in to help India

Coverage of the broader tech industry mobilising behind India's COVID response.

Covid

24 Apr 2021

#StartupsVsCovid19: How founders and VCs are amping up efforts to solve India's COVID resource crunch

Coverage of the #StartupsVsCovid19 movement and the founder/VC efforts behind it.

Covid

24 Apr 2021

Covid-19 crisis: Startups step up efforts to assist in oxygen delivery

Reporting on the start-up community's oxygen-delivery efforts during the second wave.

Covid

12 Apr 2021

Learning from 2020, ACT wants to solve societal problems beyond COVID-19

The moment ACT publicly committed to expanding beyond the COVID response and into long-term focus areas.

Platform

25 Feb 2021

ACT eyeing ₹500 crore for a second act

Reporting on ACT's next fundraising cycle and what it would be deployed against.

The full ACT In The Media archive lives at actgrants.in/act-in-the-media. New stories are added on a rolling basis.