Villgro

Villgro Innovations Foundation is India's oldest social enterprise incubator, founded in 2001 by Paul Basil and headquartered at IIT Madras Research Park in Chennai. The organisation supports early-stage, innovation-driven enterprises working on solutions for underserved communities across healthcare, agriculture, climate action, and gender inclusion. Villgro provides funding, mentorship, and structured incubation to help market-based models create social impact at scale. Since inception, it has incubated over 340 enterprises, supported 84-plus women-led ventures, impacted more than 20.8 million lives, and created over 5,600 direct jobs. Portfolio companies have collectively raised more than 4 billion rupees in follow-on funding. Villgro's core belief is that market-based models are a powerful and sustainable way to solve social problems, and that capacitating these models with the right resources and knowledge creates lasting impact.

Who Benefits

Early-stage social enterprise founders building innovative solutions for underserved communities in India. Women entrepreneurs and founders working on healthcare delivery, agricultural productivity, clean energy access, and climate resilience for base-of-pyramid populations benefit from Villgro's patient capital, mentorship, and impact-focused incubation model.