Pitch 2Konnect – KonguTBI × KVB Prototype-to-Market Grant

KonguTBI and KVB invite early-stage startups with groundbreaking prototypes to apply for a pre-seed grant of up to ₹20 Lakhs, structured mentorship, and full incubation support to bring innovations to market.

The PITCH 2KONNECT program, a collaborative initiative by KonguTBI (TBI@KEC, Kongu Engineering College) and Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) through its CSR efforts, aims to empower early-stage technology startups with groundbreaking prototypes or products. This grant support is specifically designed to help innovators evolve their solutions into market-ready enterprises with significant commercialization potential.

The program is structured to help startups achieve four critical milestones: product development and technology validation, pilot deployment and market validation, certifications and regulatory compliance, and manufacturing readiness and commercialization. It seeks to bridge early-stage funding gaps, strengthen customer adoption, accelerate revenue growth, and position ventures for follow-on investment by providing pre-seed funding.

Selected startups gain full access to KonguTBI's comprehensive innovation ecosystem. This includes structured mentoring from domain experts, access to specialized technical infrastructure and lab facilities, strong corporate networks, and direct investor connections, along with strategic market access. The program is a growth catalyst, designed to build a pipeline of scalable, technology-led ventures capable of driving meaningful economic, environmental, and societal impact.

This initiative prioritizes innovations with direct impact across strategic sectors aligned with national and global sustainability goals. These include Climate Innovation, Energy Usage & Efficiency, Biodiversity Loss Prevention, Waste Disposal & Management, Carbon Footprints & Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Agriculture & Sustainable Rural Economy. The program funds ventures that combine technological novelty with measurable real-world outcomes aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — core innovation, social impact, climate and environmental impact, and economic growth.

KonguTBI looks for startups demonstrating core attributes across their team, product, and strategy. This includes committed founders with relevant domain expertise, a validated problem statement, defensible technology (patent filed, published, granted, or intent to file), clear technical feasibility, large market potential, early traction through pilots or customer engagement, a credible commercial strategy, and realistic, measurable operational targets achievable within 12 months with the grant funding.