An alumni start-up from IIIT-Hyderabad, Commut, has been selected for the MAN Accelerator Program in collaboration with non-profit venture fund Yunus Social Business. MAN Truck & Bus Impact Accelerator is set to bring together social entrepreneurs from Europe, South Africa and India that tackle social and environmental challenges through innovative solutions in the transport and logistics space. The six-month event kicked off at the Global Social Business Summit in Paris this week to be followed by sessions in Munich, Mumbai, Cape Town and San Francisco. Commut is one of the eight start-ups that have been selected from around the globe. Founded by Prasanth Garapati, Hemanth Jonnalagadda, Charan Thota, Sandeep Kachavarapu, Akshay Chennupati and Srujai Varikuti, it is a tech-enabled shuttle service for quotidian office commuters in Hyderabad.
“The programme will help us understand how transport works throughout the world. We plan on learning the security and safety measures other countries are using. Next year, we want to move to different states too,” says Hemanth.
“Being a part of an accelerator programme led by Nobel Peace Prize Prof. Muhammad Yunus would surely help us learn a lot. We are looking forward to meeting social start-ups from around the world and taking valuable insights from them about making an impact,” adds Prasanth.
Notably, Commut was also selected as one of the ‘Top 10 start-ups of 2016’ by K. T. Rama Rao, Minister for IT, Telangana and received the ‘Best Impact Start-up’ award from the mayor of Hyderabad, Bonthu Rammohan. The team have recently collaborated with Green Mile and are running electric vehicles between the airport and the rest of the city.
“Two members — Prasanth Garapati and Charan Thota — are already in Paris. We have 18 members in the team and we are attending events based on what each one is good at. We are excited as we will be getting an opportunity to interact with international guests. It was a one-month process to apply and get selected for this programme, but it’s totally worth it,” says team member Anusha Kovvuri.
