AMCHAM organized a webinar in partnership with United Way and Action COVID-19 Team (ACT Grants) to talk about ‘Collective Initiative Towards India’s COVID-19 Fight’ on August 18th. ACT Grants is an INR 100 crore grant fund, created by India’s VC and start-up community, to give wings to ideas that could combat COVID-19 with immediate impact. ACT has partnered with various foundations – Wadhwani Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Omidyar to deploy grants. Since its launch 4 months ago, ACT Grants has a presence in 22 states across India, including key hotspot states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

ACT’s impact can be seen along various initiatives in 8 tracks: prevention, telemedicine, testing and detection, PPE and N-95 masks, ICU and hospital capacity augmentation, mental wellness, sustenance and vaccination and treatment. The speakers were Mr. Prashanth Prakash, Founding Partner, Accel, India and Mr. Sandeep Singhal, Co-founder & CEO, Medusind Solutions, who also serve as Investment Committee members of ACT Grants. The webinar focused on helping companies with customized offerings to suit particular CSR objectives, partnerships with high performing grantee companies and how they can Leverage ACT to build brand visibility. Attendees were from companies like Cargill, Lowes, Parexel, Western Digital, Netapp and others.