RISE Accelerator participants take part in a reverse pitch session during the five-day Immersion Week in Sydney. Image courtesy of CSIRO
As a landmark initiative under the Australian Government’s India Economic Strategy 2022, the India-Australia Rapid Innovation and Start-up Expansion (RISE) Accelerator is driving the future of climate technology by bridging the gap between Indian and Australian startups.
The program will be launched in 2023 in partnership with India’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and has already started reshaping the landscape for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a focus on science-based climate and environmental solutions.
A unique bilateral cooperation model
The RISE Accelerator Program is a unique model of bilateral collaboration that goes beyond a traditional accelerator, offering customized support, one-on-one coaching, and critical in-country connections. The initiative aims to support startups and SMEs by providing the tools and guidance they need to scale their innovative technologies on an international scale.
Pramit Dash, AIM Director of the RISE program, emphasized the importance of building trust and confidence in service delivery. “We focus on creating opportunities that are manageable for startups – opportunities that are challenging but achievable. Once they have built trust in their relationship with us and feel confident in their service delivery, we explore next steps together,” said Pramit.
Key benefits identified by RISE participants
Strategy planning for market expansion
Expanding into a new market comes with many challenges, but RISE’s network of experienced facilitators and coaches ensures startups get off the ground. They help participants identify key opportunities and potential obstacles early on and adapt their innovations to local market needs.
Dr. Lucy Semenuk, co-founder and CEO of natural dyes startup New Era Bio, stressed the importance of refining her company’s value proposition before expanding into India. “Refining our messaging helped us effectively communicate our value proposition to stakeholders during the RISE Immersion Week,” she says. This preparation was essential to show value to customers that was independent of price competitiveness with fossil fuel dyes.
Valuable domestic insight
One of the distinctive features of the RISE Accelerator is the site visits that provide participants with first-hand knowledge of local manufacturing processes. Tina Funder, founder of Alt. Leather, gained key insights by observing the manufacturing process of shoes and accessories in India.
“Observing traditional leathers being used on a production line in India gave me insights that desk research alone couldn’t provide,” says Tina. The experience helped her understand how her materials would hold up to the Indian production process, leading to necessary improvements.
In addition to site visits, RISE participants will have access to around 70 Atal incubation centres across India. For example, Newera Bio has partnered with AIC-NIFT TEA, a textile and apparel incubation centre, to collaborate on natural dyeing technology.
Peer-to-peer collaboration and support
The friendship and cooperation between program participants is invaluable: startups exchange views on business models, seek advice on local business development and sometimes even join forces.
For example, Australian startups Sustainable Oil Recovery and Remediation (SORR) and Circular Seed have found synergy in waste and pollution remediation. Their collaboration will focus on the coastal areas of Goa to deploy mobile recycling units and sustainable oil recovery technologies.
Circular Seed co-founder Ryan Grove spoke about the importance of peer support: “Being a startup founder, even a co-founder, can be a stressful and lonely journey. Joining the RISE cohort was uplifting. Working with others who are also tackling sustainability challenges makes you feel less alone,” Ryan said.
Overall, RISE helps startups create customized pilot projects to test and validate their market strategies. These pilots help startups build confidence and establish trust with potential customers in new markets.
One example is CarbonCraft, a Bangalore-based company that designs and manufactures tiles from upcycled carbon, which has partnered with Australian company Viewco through the RISE Accelerator.
CarbonCraft founder Tejas Sindal said the collaboration would enable CarbonCraft to bring its products to the Australian market for the first time.
“We are thrilled to have been introduced to a trusted partner who understands our philosophy and has the meaningful insight and understanding to position our products in Australia. This is a true collaboration and we see exciting prospects for the partnership to develop,” said Tejas.
