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The name of our organization – Aavishkaar -means ‘invention’ in Hindi. Founded in 2001, with a vision to catalyse development in India’s underserved regions, it identifies capable entrepreneurs, provides them with capital, supplements it with a nurturing environment and helps build sustainable enterprises.

Aavishkaar’s big innovation is the adoption of venture capital methodology to serve the low_income market segment by creating scalable enterprises. Aavishkaar’s founding team faced the challenge of modifying the investing methodology followed in the Silicon Valley. Funding in the Valley typically focused on new technologies and breakthroughs in intellectual property. Back home, Aavishkaar had to adapt it to brick and mortar, investing in hinterland and rural geographies with a target clientele that had a tiny wallet. At the same time, reasonable returns had to be delivered to investors. This meant that Aavishkaar with its limited capital and resources had to find a large number of start_up companies scattered across underdeveloped regions and then invest small amounts of capital in them.