Launched in partnership with Social Alpha and WTFund and supported by the Authorities of Karnataka and the Larger Bengaluru Authority (GBA), the problem invitations innovators from throughout India to develop scalable options in key areas corresponding to sustainable development, air air pollution, waste administration, and water and sanitation.
Chosen winners will obtain a grant of ₹25 lakh every to deploy their options in Bengaluru, with a chance to entry a further ₹1 crore to scale their improvements. The profitable startups may even take part in a six-month pilot program in collaboration with main actual property and infrastructure companions within the metropolis.
NBC ’26 goals to rework town right into a dwelling lab for local weather innovation by figuring out, funding, and piloting cutting-edge options.
“We aren’t chasing fast fixes. As an alternative, within the face of the local weather disaster urgent on Bengaluru, we’re harnessing the collective will of Bengaluru’s drawback solvers to form a resilient, thriving city future collectively,” mentioned Prashanth Prakash, Founding Accomplice, Accel India & Co-Founder, UnboxingBLR.
“Bengaluru, with its legacy of innovation, is the perfect place to construct the climate-tech options of tomorrow. At WTFund, our mission is to again ventures that ship tangible impression on urgent points like local weather change,” mentioned Nikhil Kamath, investor and Entrepreneur.
“In its debut 2024 version, the Namma Bengaluru Problem attracted over 600 entries and showcased how Bengaluru’s innovators are driving tangible impression throughout sustainability, mobility, and social fairness – setting the stage for NBC ‘26, which is able to take a extra targeted method to tackling local weather challenges,” mentioned Malini Goyal, CEO, UnboxingBLR.
UnboxingBLR (UBLR) is a Bengaluru-focused collaborative platform devoted to celebrating and shaping town’s tradition and identification. Based in 2023 by Prashanth Prakash and Malini Goyal, UBLR brings collectively folks, communities, and establishments to co-create Bengaluru’s story, serving as a metropolis champion, concept catalyst, and collaborative platform.
UBLR drives initiatives such because the Namma Bengaluru Problem, an accelerator that helps startups and changemakers tackling city challenges; BLR Hubba, a city-wide pageant celebrating artwork and tradition; the annual We Are Metropolis Information Report, a data-driven snapshot of how residents expertise and have interaction with Bengaluru; and Code to Tradition, a podcast exploring town and its folks. Collectively, these initiatives spotlight citizen-led innovation and showcase Bengaluru’s cultural vibrancy in motion
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The way to Apply
Startups will probably be evaluated based mostly on innovation, market potential, deployment feasibility in Bengaluru, staff energy, and impression potential. members from throughout India should:
Fill out the appliance type on the NBC website
https://www.socialalpha.org/namma-bengaluru-challenge-26/
Functions for the Namma Bengaluru Problem ‘26 shut on 4th November, 2025.
DM @unboxingblr on Instagram for extra data
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