Bengaluru: SusCrunch 2026, hosted by The Sustainability Mafia (SusMafia), brought together more than 350 climate-tech founders, investors, corporates and ecosystem leaders in Bengaluru and announced the winner of the ₹31.4 lakh Big Pi Grant, India’s largest non-dilutive grant for early-stage climate startups.
The third edition of SusCrunch 2026 attracted participation from investors including Zerodha and 3one4 Capital, alongside corporates such as Reliance, Biocon, Zomato and Apollo Hospitals.
The summit focused on accelerating collaboration between climate startups, investors and large enterprises.
The event comes amid rising momentum in India’s climate-tech ecosystem.
According to the Tracxn India Climate Tech 2026 Report, the sector has attracted nearly US$12.8 billion in funding across 1,583 startups between 2008 and June 2026, reflecting growing investor confidence in decarbonisation, clean energy, sustainable agriculture, circular economy and climate resilience.
Now in its third edition, SusCrunch 2026 has evolved into one of India’s leading founder-focused climate innovation gatherings.
The summit also highlighted the growth of The Sustainability Mafia, which began as an informal network of climate entrepreneurs and has expanded into a founder-led community comprising 84 active founders, known as Mafiosos, and more than 700 Climate Ninjas.
According to the organisation, startups within the SusMafia network have collectively raised over US$350 million, employ more than 3,000 people, generate ₹2,100 crore in annual revenue, divert over 363,000 tonnes of waste from landfills and mitigate approximately 1.56 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent annually.
A major highlight of SusCrunch 2026 was the Big Pi Grant, jointly supported by SusMafia and the BITS Pilani PIEDS Accelerator.
The grant received more than 50 curated applications from founders across the BITS, IIT and broader startup ecosystem through the SusVentures network.
Five finalists were selected through multiple evaluation rounds across sectors including water and waste management, climate intelligence, sustainable materials and the built environment.
Entries were assessed on problem-solution fit, founder-market alignment, climate impact potential, validation achieved and scalability.
At the summit finale, Agropak was announced as the winner of the ₹31.4 lakh Big Pi Grant. The startup develops plant-based circular materials that replace virgin fossil-plastic packaging with high-performance bio-composite alternatives.
The grant arrives at a critical time for climate innovation. The State of Climate Tech 2025 report indicates that early-stage climate funding has fallen to a five-year low, with fewer startups progressing from Seed to Series A and from Series A to Series B.
Against this backdrop, non-dilutive funding mechanisms such as the Big Pi Grant are increasingly important for helping founders validate technologies, build pilot projects and achieve early commercial milestones without diluting ownership.
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Beyond the grant amount, the winning startup will receive mentorship, introductions to incubators and government programmes, and continued access to SusMafia’s investor, fellowship and grant network.
The ₹31.4 lakh figure is inspired by the mathematical constant π (3.14), symbolising bold and unconventional thinking.
The impact of previous editions of SusCrunch 2026 is already visible. BioCompute, the 2024 recipient, has established laboratory infrastructure, conducted thousands of experiments and raised over ₹5 crore from investors including WTF Fund, Grad Capital and 1517 Fund while expanding into the Bay Area. Bisket Labs, the 2025 winner, later secured the Karnataka Government’s ELEVATE Grant.
Another key feature of SusCrunch 2026 was Builder’s Room 2.0, where more than 15 corporates presented real-world sustainability challenges to climate startups before participating in curated one-on-one meetings designed to identify collaboration and commercial partnership opportunities.
“Every founder needs access to business, capital and talent. No founder can build all three alone,” said Ganesh Shankar, Co-founder, The Sustainability Mafia, and Founder, FluxGen.
Neeraj Jain, Co-founder of Solar Square, said, “SusMafia community feels like the start of a movement,” during a Climate Sitdown conversation with Ashish Goel, Founder of Urban Ladder & Optimist and investor in 30+ startups.
The growing participation of leading enterprises at SusCrunch 2026 reflects a broader shift in corporate sustainability strategies, with businesses increasingly seeking innovative solutions in energy efficiency, waste management, water stewardship, carbon reduction and supply chain decarbonisation to meet evolving regulatory requirements and net-zero commitments.
The summit also introduced an interactive Climate Game of Life, culminating in a Climate Hyrox challenge designed to encourage participants to engage with sustainability concepts through immersive, hands-on experiences rather than conventional conference formats.
As India accelerates its transition towards a low-carbon economy, initiatives such as the Big Pi Grant and SusCrunch 2026 aim to strengthen the climate innovation ecosystem by connecting entrepreneurs with capital, mentorship and market access needed to scale climate solutions from research and prototype stages to commercial deployment.
