This Month at Venture Center
August came with plenty of energy — some of it clean-energy, some of it entrepreneurial. From a new Centre of Excellence for clean energy and green hydrogen to startups making headlines, raising funds and taking their innovations to global audiences, there was a lot happening across the community. Here’s a look at what kept us busy this August.
In this issue
- A New Chapter for Clean Energy Innovations • Startup Milestones & Highlights
- Upcoming Events & Opportunities
- Resources to Learn & Explore
- Other Highlights from Across our Ecosystem
A New Chapter for Clean Energy Innovation
Inauguration of the Center of Excellence for Clean Energy & Green Hydrogen Innovations
India’s clean-energy transition is creating new opportunities and a new generation of technologies. But turning these technologies into solutions that can be adopted at scale requires the infrastructure, expertise and ecosystem to validate these technologies and move them closer to real-world deployment.
It is this gap that Venture Center’s new Centre of Excellence for Clean Energy & Green Hydrogen Innovations aims to address. The Center, inaugurated at CSIR-NCL in August, brings together specialized infrastructure, technical capabilities and ecosystem support, with a particular focus on pre-certification testing and validation—helping innovators test, refine and de-risk their technologies before scale-up and deployment.
The inauguration brought together leaders from research, government and the innovation ecosystem. Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar spoke of the opportunity to make Pune a leading centre for the development, demonstration and deployment of clean-energy technologies. Dr. Ashish Lele highlighted opportunities for India to take an early lead in hydrogen-powered transport, fuel-cell data centres and green hydrogen, drawing on NCL’s own history of fuel-cell innovation.
Dr. Shrikant Patil and Smt. Manisha Verma underscored the importance of strengthening regional innovation capabilities and building a stronger ecosystem for clean-energy innovation. The event also marked the launch of the Energy Innovation Talk Series and featured a showcase of startups working in clean energy and green hydrogen.
Click here to read more about the launch event.
The launch in the media
Loksatta | Times of India |Indian Express | Sahayadri Startups
Startup Milestones
Celebrating the success stories from our community!
Medvolt.AI Takes Indian TechBio to Asia:
MedVolt has been named the 2026 AABI Torch Award for Best Nominee – India, earning the opportunity to represent Indian TechBio at the AABI network gathering in Seoul this November.
The startup has also been selected as one of eight finalists from across Asia for the 2026 AAN Global Startup Awards, with two startups representing India. Know More
Curexel Technologies Raises Seed Round
Curexel Technologies has raised a seed round led by IN44 Capital, with participation from Venture Center, Peaceful Progress and Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre. The Bengaluru-based medtech startup is developing a patented intradermal drug-delivery platform designed to make injections painless, with potential applications across vaccines, pain management, diabetes care, IVF and other treatments.
The new funding will support regulatory approval, clinical pilots and team expansion as Curexel moves towards bringing its technology to market. Learn More ...
A Strong Showing at TiE Women Pune
Smita Kale of Sanovaskale Technologies took home the Winner title, while Dr. Madhura Vipra, PhD of Medvolt was named 1st Runner Up at the TiE Women Pune Chapter Finals 2026. With both founders part of the Venture Center family, seeing them take the top two spots made this one especially worth celebrating. Know More
Startup in the news
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DD News’ Next Gen Bharat Indian Express Proeon | FastSense | AVN Agrobharat | BatteryPool | Jinsei | Shastratva | Potion First | Green Pyramid Biotech |
Opportunities & Events: What's new at Venture Center
MC²+ Ignite — India’s Energy Accelerator
Venture Center has joined MC²+ Ignite as a key node in India’s first energy innovation platform, led by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas and implemented with IIT Madras. The programme offers selected startups funding of up to ₹50 lakh, access to labs and pilot sites, industry connections and expert mentoring across seven energy themes.
Applications Close : 15th September, 2026
Apply Now
Learn & Explore: Insightful articles, videos, podcasts and resources for innovators
Strategic Acquisitions Power the Next Chapter of India’s Life Sciences Startups
As mergers and acquisitions become an increasingly important part of the Indian startup playbook, Dr. Premnath Venugopalan shares his perspective in this Biospectrum article on what this could mean for growth, scale and exits in the life sciences sector.
A funding database for innovators
Looking for funding for your next stage of innovation? Venture Center’s Funding Database brings together funding opportunities available to innovators and startups across India, with options organized by funding stage — from technology development and IP protection to validation, market entry and expansion.
Venture Center Journal Club: Monkey Business: The Ones That Hop Onto Your Back
Our latest Journal Club looked at a deceptively simple idea from Harvard Business Review: the “monkey” that gets passed from one person to another. The conversation explored what happens when managers start carrying everyone else’s problems, and why knowing when to hand the monkey back can be an important part of leadership.
Read the accompanying blog for the key insights and takeaways.
Other updates from Venture Center
Venture Center Becomes a Key Node in MC²+ Ignite
Shruti Devasthali, Head – Funding & Investment at Venture Center, represented Venture Center at IIT Madras for the launch of MC²+ Ignite, an energy innovation platform led by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas in partnership with leading energy PSUs and incubators. Venture Center’s participation was formalised through an MoU, positioning us as a key node in the programme.
The partnership opens pathways for innovators and startups in energy and sustainability to access funding, fellowships, incubation, mentoring, pilot opportunities and industry connections.
At the Cummins Clean Tech Summit
Namrata Salwe, PMP and Dr. Sneha Kulkarni represented Venture Center at the Cummins Clean Tech Summit 2026 on 19 August. The summit also featured a showcase of startups supported by Cummins India under its CSR initiatives, creating an opportunity to connect with companies and ecosystem partners working on sustainability and clean technology.
Stay connected with Venture Center
Whether you are an entrepreneur, researcher, mentor, investor, or ecosystem partner, we invite you to stay engaged with the work happening across our community.
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