USAID-backed Catalyst launches incubator, to invest $50k in each startup

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Catalyst, which is a collaborative initiative between the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Government of India to increase adoption of digital payments in India, is levelling up its partnership by launching a fintech-focussed incubator.

The incubator is scouting for five fintech startups for its first cohort that can create solutions to meet specific needs and requirements of small businesses and low-income consumers.

Catalyst is funded by USAID, and will offer USD 50,000 to each graduating startup as seed money.

The incubatees will also get access to Catalysts ground research work, technology infrastructure, market opportunity, mentorship, and also operations support for conducting product experiments for six months.

Badal Malick, who was earlier with Snapdeal as Vice President and Head of Omnichannel, has taken the role as the CEO of Catalyst.

Alok Gupta, former member of the first Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) team, will also mentor startups in his role as the Director of Project Incubation.

“There are several fintech startups in India, but majority cater to the urban population. It hardly trickles down to the last mile. We want to find startups that have some solution in this regard. Our mission is to solve multiple problems that have blocked the penetration of digital payments among merchants and low-income consumers,” Badal Malick said.

Catalyst has also roped some more big names as mentors, including Rohan Agrish, CTO of Capital Float; Sanjay Swamy, Managing Partner of Prime Ventures; and Alok Mittal, who is the CEO of Indifi Technologies.

Rakesh Mishra, a well known startup advisor and former Head of Innovation Centre at Infosys, has been appointed the program advisor for the Incubator.

In order to support this initiative, Catalyst has forged cross sector partnerships with firms such as Aspada, SAIF Partners, Accion, MasterCard, Axis Bank, Aditya Birla Payments Bank, Capital Float among others for additional funding and operational support to the incubatees.

Catalyst also has a formal agreement with the Government of Rajasthan to set up a digital payments lab in Jaipur to innovate and validate fintech ideas on the ground.

It has also established a broad partnership of nearly 150 Indian and multinational organizations and is working with select anchor partners to incubate, test, and scale promising digital payment business and delivery models.

Incubatees will get to work with the digital payments lab in Jaipur to test and validate their ideas.

The lab helps India's small businesses and low-income consumers unlock the power of digital payments to gain access to broader financial services like credit, savings, insurance, and investments.