AssisTech Foundation (ATF)

Choosing the right programme

• Building an assistive-technology product, device, software or service for people with disabilities? The ATF Enabled Acceleration Program is the route in — it is not for founders based on their own disability status.
• Already have a shipping product or an initiative that supports the AT ecosystem? The ATF Awards is a separate, free-to-enter recognition programme, open to start-ups as well as NGOs, government bodies, CSR programmes, education institutions and AT investors.

How applications work

• The Acceleration Program selects start-ups in batches of 8 to 10 per cohort. Cohorts sometimes run under a co-branded name with a partner organisation.
• The ATF Awards works by self-nomination: fill in the application for the category that fits, and there is no fee to apply.
• ATF's own apply page has not carried a working link for some time — check ATF's current programme pages for whichever call is open rather than relying on a single standing portal.

How selection works

• Acceleration Program: applications go through a screening process, then jury evaluation and decision.
• ATF Awards: nominations are screened for completeness and eligibility, evaluators shortlist three entries per category, and a jury makes the final call. For the Startup Awards, the organisation states rules such as company age and turnover limits for the year in question — check the current cycle's guidelines rather than assuming last year's numbers still apply.

What reviewers look for

• For the Acceleration Program: your product is genuinely assistive technology, and ATF validates it with people with disabilities as "super-users" as part of the process — have a testable product or prototype ready, not just an idea.
• For the ATF Awards: innovation and practicality of the product, demonstrated market and social impact, reach across different kinds of disability, and geographic diversity. The Women Ahead category specifically looks for a woman founder or co-founder.

AssisTech Foundation (ATF) is a non-profit based in Bengaluru that runs India's first accelerator dedicated to assistive technology. Founded in October 2018, it works with start-ups that build products, devices, software or services for persons with disabilities — it is a programme for founders building assistive technology, not a programme reserved for founders who themselves have disabilities.

What they support

ATF's programmes are open to start-ups building assistive technology (AT) — devices, software or services that help people with disabilities in areas such as learning, mobility, communication and independent living. Its own materials describe portfolio companies working across a wide range of disability types, including visual, speech and hearing, and physical and intellectual disability. Detailed eligibility criteria are not published; what ATF does describe is validating applicants' products with people with disabilities as "super-users" during the programme, rather than screening founders for their own disability status.

Programmes

ATF's flagship is the ATF Enabled Acceleration Program, a 16-week cohort for AT start-ups. Selected companies are each assigned an industry-leader mentor and work through growth and investment strategy, product design and management, and an operating plan with milestones, alongside workshops with industry and disability experts and weekly governance and review meetings. The programme ends with a Demo Day in front of industry leaders, investors, government officials and disability experts, and graduates join an active alumni network with regular meetups. Cohorts are put together in batches of 8 to 10 start-ups, following a screening process and jury evaluation. At least one recent cohort ran under the name cATalyst AT Startup Acceleration Program, delivered with SBI Foundation.

ATF also runs the ATF Awards, an annual recognition programme that does not charge a fee to enter. Start-ups nominate themselves in Emerging or Established categories, covering innovation, market impact, people's choice and women-led ventures, while NGOs, government bodies, CSR programmes, education institutions and AT investors can be nominated in separate "Enabler" categories. Nominations are screened for completeness and eligibility, evaluators shortlist three entries per category, and a jury makes the final selection before an awards ceremony.

A separate ATF Fellowship — a 12-month programme for young professionals with a bachelor's degree or two or more years of work experience, aimed at people who want to work on disability and accessibility issues rather than at founders — has not published a new intake in some time and its stated application deadline has long passed.

Support and services

Start-ups on the Acceleration Program get access to disability-focused NGOs, associations and beneficiaries, and to government partnerships in the disability space. ATF connects founders with early-stage investors, impact investors, venture capital and corporate social responsibility programmes, and runs webinars, investor pitch sessions and an annual Assistive Technology Conclave. It also offers legal and accounting support and a start-up kit of subsidised software tools and services, plus ongoing alumni mentoring after the cohort ends.

Track record

ATF's most recently updated pages describe a portfolio of more than 65 start-ups across seven cohorts, offering more than 120 assistive technology products and holding more than 60 patents between them, supported by a network of more than 500 AT start-ups and more than 55 mentors. It reports impacting the lives of more than 1 million people with disabilities. Older pages on the same site give smaller numbers for the same measures — for instance 42 portfolio start-ups across five cohorts — so these figures should be read as a moving count that not every page has caught up with, rather than a single fixed total. ATF also co-founded a global alliance with assistive-technology organisations in several countries, reporting a combined network of more than 1,200 AT start-ups internationally.

Who runs it

ATF is led by co-founder and CEO Prateek Madhav, supported by a board that includes Paralympian Dr. Deepa Malik, T-Hub CEO Ravi Narayan, and other business and technology leaders. Its accelerator work began with the Karnataka state government's backing, together with Samarthanam Trust, from 2018. ATF also lists open roles on its own careers page, mostly based in Bengaluru.

How to apply

ATF's dedicated apply page has not carried a working application link for some time, and specific programme calls — including cohort intakes for the Acceleration Program — have historically opened through their own forms rather than a single standing portal. Founders interested in a cohort or the ATF Awards should check ATF's current programme pages directly for open application windows, and can reach the team at its general enquiries address for questions.