ONDC announces ‘Build for Bharat’ initiative for big-impact digital commerce solutions

The initiative is organized at a national-scale across 50+ cities with top experts, leaders, VCs and incubators onboard.

The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), in collaboration with Google Cloud India, Antler in India, Paytm, Protean and Startup India announced on December 4 a nationwide 'Build for Bharat' initiative.

The initiative aims to tackle diverse challenges in digital commerce, promoting industry innovation to develop practical solutions in this space.

‘Build for Bharat’ intends to tap into India’s technological and entrepreneurial potential with an expected participation of 200K+ participants representing startups, companies and colleges, according to a press release.

The initiative is organized at a national-scale across 50+ cities with top experts, leaders, VCs and incubators onboard.

Covering Retail, Mobility, F&B, Financial Services and Logistics sectors, the initiative is designed to deliver three distinct outcomes, each offering distinct prizes and collaborations.

NextGen Ventures, the first category, is designed to supercharge venture creation on ONDC and is open to aspiring founders exploring multiple ideas or early-stage founder teams working on an idea. This category provides a pathway to raising capital, launching, scaling companies, and incubating new businesses.

Category 2 includes ‘Scalable Solutions’ and invites participation from organizations or individuals to focus on solving friction points faced by network participants.

Category 3 includes Foundation solutions, exclusively for college students (18+) to identify proof of concept for the friction points faced by NPs, the release added.

Category 3 winners will benefit from Google Cloud India's contributions, including Cloud credits for shortlisted teams and also credits for eligible winning startups.

The winners of category 1 will enjoy mentorship from Antler in India and industry stalwarts, and will also receive a chance to avail equity-free grants of up to Rs 5 crore, opportunity to join Antler Residency, opening avenues for potential VC funding. Moreover, Google India will provide shortlisted teams with Cloud credits accompanied by valuable tech guidance.

Category 2 eligible winners are to receive Cloud credits from Google Cloud India for shortlisted teams and also for eligible winning startups.

Category 3 winners will benefit from Google Cloud India's contributions, including Cloud credits for shortlisted teams and also credits for eligible winning startups. T Koshy, CEO, ONDC said: “Through grants, investments and recognition, we hope to nurture the best ideas into sustainable businesses.”