Applications for the Greenovation Circularity Challenge close on 31 October 2026 — a pan-India programme run by the EarthON Foundation with the Greenovation Hub for startups tackling plastic, textile, and food waste circularity.
Winners share a ₹20 lakh catalytic prize pool and can access follow-on investment of up to ₹4 crore through the EarthON Blended Finance Platform — a rare blended grant-plus-capital structure for early climate-tech companies. The programme also includes a two-day residential bootcamp and mentorship.
Eligibility is pan-India: registered startups, SMEs and social enterprises under 10 years old working on circular-economy solutions.
For climate founders, the follow-on matters more than the prize. Circularity startups — especially in textiles and food waste — often stall between pilot and scale because early cheques are small and project finance arrives too late. A ₹4-crore follow-on window designed for exactly this stage is what makes this challenge stand out from the average green-hackathon prize.
The deadline date is confirmed by grant listings as 31 October 2026; apply through the official EarthON Foundation challenge page and confirm the date on submission.
Why it matters for founders
The Greenovation Circularity Challenge closes 31 October 2026: ₹20 lakh in prizes plus up to ₹4 crore in follow-on funding for plastic, textile and food-waste circularity startups, with a bootcamp and mentorship included. If you are building in circularity, this is one of the few India programmes pairing prize money with real scale capital.