MC² Foundation

Is MC²+ Ignite still open?

No. Applications for the first cohort ran from 5 to 31 August 2026 and there were no late submissions. No second intake date is published on the MC²+ site as of 23 October 2026, so write to info@mc2plus.in to ask. The Fellows track is marked coming soon and the oil and gas regulatory sandbox states no dates.

Check what is open first

MC²+ has had one open call so far. The Ignite call for its first cohort closed on 31 August 2026. Look at the MC²+ website for the next cohort before you plan an application, or write to info@mc2plus.in to ask about timing. The oil and gas regulatory sandbox shows an application link but no dates, and the Fellows track is not open yet.

Is Ignite right for you?

• Stage: you need a working prototype or an early pilot at technology readiness level 4 to 7. Ideas without a prototype are not accepted.
• Team: at least two founders, one of them a technical co-founder.
• Company: Indian-incorporated, no more than five years old, with limited funding raised so far.
• Fit: your work must fit one of the seven themes, and you must name one primary theme.

How applications work

Applications went through an online form reached from the Apply button on the MC²+ website. There was a fixed window and no late submissions. Joining is free, and the funding is convertible debt, so read how it converts to equity before you accept it.

How selection works

Selection runs in stages: a first triage, due diligence, interviews and a final pitch round before a five-member committee that uses a documented rubric. The call expected 300 or more applications for 30 places. Startups that are not selected stay eligible for later cohorts and other Foundation programmes.

What reviewers look for

• A named energy problem. The programme maps startups to challenges set by the energy majors, so show which problem you solve.
• Proof at the right readiness level. A prototype or early pilot, with evidence of how far it has been tested.
• A technical co-founder who can run the pilot.
• A path to buyers. The programme ends in pilots and possible procurement with the energy majors, so say who would buy and how a pilot would work.

MC²+ is the energy innovation platform run by MC² Foundation (also written MC2 Foundation), a not-for-profit company registered as a Section 8 company and led by India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG). It is often searched as MC2 Plus or MC2 Ignite. Seven oil and gas companies stand behind it: HPCL, ONGC, Indian Oil, BPCL, GAIL, Oil India and Petronet LNG. Its registered office is at the World Trade Centre, Nauroji Nagar, New Delhi.

What MC²+ is, and what it is not

Its own pages describe it as a Section 8 not-for-profit, led by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and backed by the energy majors. The Ministry's Secretary chairs the board. It is not a government department, so a founder should treat it as an industry-backed funder and convener rather than a ministry scheme. The platform exists to connect startups, researchers and institutions with the labs, pilot sites and buyers of the energy majors.

How programmes work

MC²+ has run one startup call so far, the MC²+ Ignite accelerator, and it is now closed. Alongside it, its initiatives page lists a regulatory sandbox for oil and gas, and a Fellows track that is marked as coming soon and has no application route yet. News coverage from July 2026 reports that the foundation also launched the Grand Butanol Challenge, a national call for indigenous bio-based n-Butanol and Iso-Butanol production. The same coverage names C-CAMP as implementation and mentorship partner, the Ministry as lead, the Centre for High Technology as technology partner and the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Biotechnology as knowledge partners. It reported applications open until 15 August 2026, and we list that challenge as closed.

MC²+ Ignite

Ignite is the first accelerator programme of MC² Foundation. A cohort of 30 startups is chosen across seven themes: AI-driven subsurface intelligence, next-generation drilling and well completion, hydrogen and mobility, bioenergy including compressed biogas, refinery process intensification and catalysis, digital asset management, and open innovation. IIT Madras implements the programme. Host nodes named in the call are IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras, C-CAMP in Bengaluru and the NCL Venture Centre in Pune, plus host sites at the energy majors.

The programme starts with a residential launch bootcamp, followed by a twelve-week build phase from 1 October to 31 December 2026 with gate reviews at weeks four and eight. It ends with a Demo Day at IIT Madras in Chennai in January 2027. The call gives two different dates for the Demo Day, so check the exact day with the team. Startups get laboratory and pilot infrastructure, mentoring, and routes to technology validation and possible procurement with the participating energy companies. Joining costs nothing, and no priced funding round is needed to take part.

Funding is convertible debt, not a grant. It is released in two parts, the first at the launch bootcamp and the second on completing the first milestone, against a signed incubation agreement. A further tranche is available at Demo Day. The call describes it in two ways, as going to the winning startup in each theme and as going to startups chosen by MC²+'s experts. The debt converts to equity, at a discount to the price, if the startup raises an outside round within two years. Background IP that a startup brings stays with it, and so does IP created during the programme.

Applications for the first cohort ran from 5 to 31 August 2026 and are closed. The call said the cohort would be announced on 15 September 2026. We could not find a published list of selected startups. Several pages of the main site still describe the first cohort as launching soon, while the call document describes the build phase as already scheduled, so the status on the site is not consistent.

Who can apply to Ignite

The call asks for Indian-incorporated startups that are no more than five years old and have limited funding raised so far. A startup needs at least two founders, one of them a technical co-founder, and a working prototype or early pilot at technology readiness level 4 to 7. It must fit one of the seven themes and nominate one primary theme. Idea-stage ventures without a prototype cannot apply. The same document also says any registered startup can apply, which does not match the detailed criteria. We have followed the detailed criteria. Startups that are not selected remain eligible for later cohorts and other Foundation programmes.

Regulatory sandbox

The oil and gas regulatory sandbox is a joint initiative of the Centre for High Technology and MC²+. It gives innovators a time-bound framework to trial products, technologies and business models under temporary, targeted regulatory relaxations, while safety, environmental and consumer protections stay fully in force. The initiatives page links to an application form but states no dates or eligibility criteria.

Facilities and support

MC²+ does not run its own labs. Its pages describe shared access to R&D labs, testing rigs, fabrication workshops and technical facilities at the energy majors and research institutions, and say the majors' R&D centres and labs open to startups number more than twelve. Support listed on its site includes mentoring, market access through pilots and procurement routes, and regulatory guidance and policy navigation.

Its site says the Fellows track, once open, will place fellows in energy-major and academic labs to build a venture around a real problem or a piece of lab IP, with a stipend and seed funding. It mentions around 20 fellows a year. This is a plan, not a running programme.

Scale

These are MC²+'s own statements. Its portfolio page lists 165 ventures, but it describes them as companies incubated through the energy majors' own programmes, so they are not MC²+'s own cohort and we do not count them as startups it has supported. The first MC²+ cohort has not yet been published.

Who runs it

The chairman and a director of the company is Dr. Neeraj Mittal, Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Shri Sandeep Maheshwari is Director and Chief Executive Officer, and is also an Executive Director at HPCL. The other directors named on the team page are the chairmen and managing directors of HPCL and BPCL and the managing director and chief executive of Petronet LNG. An advisory board of five people includes Dr. Abhay Karandikar, Dr. Pawan Goenka and Shri Neelkanth Mishra.

Location and contact

MC² Foundation is at Tower I, 5th Floor, World Trade Centre, Nauroji Nagar, New Delhi 110029. The general enquiry inbox is info@mc2plus.in. Applications go through the online form linked from the Apply button on the MC²+ website.