News Update

USAID Reveals 11 Awardees for Second Cohort of Yash Entrepreneurs Program

• ByStartupStory     |    November 2, 2023

The USAID’s MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership: India-Yash project, in collaboration with Villgro, has unveiled its second cohort of social enterprises for the Yash Entrepreneurs Program. This initiative, led by Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins Affiliate, is dedicated to supporting enterprises in addressing the accessibility of quality family planning and sexual reproductive health (FP/SRH) services for youth and adolescents.

According to a press release, each enterprise in the program will receive technical assistance and support of up to Rs 10 lakh to develop content related to SRH/FP, conduct pilot projects, and validate products and services through community trials. Additionally, they will gain access to mentoring and advisory services covering various aspects such as product development and testing, marketing, customer acquisition, intellectual property, regulatory matters, and fundraising.

The latest cohort comprises 11 innovative enterprises with a strong commitment to improving sexual and reproductive health:

1. Avni Consumer Care Products Private Limited: A feminine care and hygiene startup focused on creating tested, functional, and sustainable products for intimate hygiene, menstruation, and incontinence tailored for diverse body types.
2. Bala Triple E Care LLP: Project Baala, an organization based in Delhi, is dedicated to providing innovative menstrual health solutions, primarily in rural India, Nepal, Ghana, and Tanzania. Over the past five years, Baala has directly benefited more than 3.5 lakh women and girls.
3. GTA Solutions Private Limited (Evolve): With over 400,000 users worldwide, this company is committed to making therapy and wellness tools accessible to all through innovative digital interventions.
4. Ask Techsoft Care Private Limited (Dr. SafeHands): Dr. SafeHands is a digital health platform for sexual health and wellness, offering a wide range of services, including preventive, promotive, diagnostic, therapeutic, and rehab services through an online counseling technology center.
5. Touchkin EServices Private Limited (Wysa): Wysa, an AI-enabled coach for mental and emotional wellness, provides early intervention to high-risk groups through an AI chatbot, evidence-based self-help tools, and messaging-based support from human therapists.
6. Menstrual Health Private Limited (Boondh): Boondh is a social enterprise that focuses on menstrual literacy, policy advocacy, programs and interventions, monitoring and evaluation, and art activism.
7. Davadost Pharma Private Limited (Dava Dost): This enterprise provides affordable drugs through offline-online pharmacies to help individuals find the right generic drugs as per their prescription at the right price.
8. Prev India Private Limited (Prev): Prev offers a safe, convenient, and personalized app-based subscription service for birth control pills, complete with in-app medical consultation, prescription, and doorstep pill delivery.
9. Epsyclinic Healthcare Private Limited (iWill): Epsyclinic’s flagship product, iWill, delivers context-specific, multilingual mental health support to individuals and families, with a strong focus on both rural and urban healthcare.
10. KA Healthcare Private Limited: An omnichannel women’s health lifecycle management platform designed to provide personalized journey-based care, covering all the products and services-based needs of women.
11. Last Mile Care Private Limited (1Care): 1Care offers standardized and affordable primary phygital healthcare services to vulnerable populations at accessible delivery points.

Michelle Lang-Alli, USAID/India Health Office Director, expressed her enthusiasm for the Yash Entrepreneurs Program, emphasizing the role of the US government in supporting local solutions in India. She highlighted the program’s aim to positively impact sexual and reproductive health for India’s youth.

Srinivas Ramanujam, CEO of Villgro Innovations Foundation, pointed out the significance of the program in shaping the market ecosystem for SRH/FP innovations and building the Yash Collaborative Platform to promote further innovations with a focus on women and young people’s health.

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The first cohort of the Yash Entrepreneurs Program in August 2022 featured seven social enterprises, each contributing to innovations and services in menstrual hygiene, sexual and reproductive health, and mental health sectors.

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