Some human suffering has no one working to solve them.
The Azad Impact Fellowship finds the problems everyone has quietly overlooked, and funds people capable of actually solving one.
Join the search for neglected problems
that deserve your attention.
Capital and talent tend to flow toward problems that are already visible. The ones that don't make headlines, don't have a lobby, and don't fit an existing field are left to whoever happens to notice them. We built Azad Impact to go looking on purpose.
We build Azad Impact to Look problems hidden in plain sight.
HOW IT WORKS
The process runs in three stages, from an open call to a funded fellow.
Call for problems
Anyone, anywhere, submits a problem they believe is dangerously under-addressed — with or without a solution in mind.
We rank them
Every submission is scored on how many people it affects, how severely, and how little serious effort is currently going toward it.
Fellowships awarded
The strongest problems are published and opened to capable, motivated people - sometimes the person who submitted it, at other times someone else entirely.
WHAT MAKES A PROBLEM WORTH FUNDING
We're not looking for the biggest problem, or the most urgent one. We're looking for the combination.
How many people it touches
From a single overlooked condition to something affecting entire regions. Scale isn't everything, but it isn't nothing either.
How badly it hurts them
A problem that ruins lives outweighs one that merely inconveniences them, even at a smaller scale.
How little is being done
The deciding factor. A well-funded field with a hundred labs isn't where a single fellow can move the needle most.
WHY FELLOWS APPLY
Azad Impact doesn't stop at funding a problem — it stays with you from a raw idea to a company.
Mentorship, from day one
Fellows get linked with mentors from inside the Azad Impact network who support them as they move from problem to ideas, from ideas to a working prototype, and from there to a strong MVP.
A path to a startup
If the MVP is successful and gets early traction, we spin it off as a startup with Azad Impact and support it with funding, go-to-market help, and our advisory network.
SUBMIT A PROBLEM
Phase Two starts soon
QUESTIONS
No. Some of the most under-represented problems are noticed precisely because someone outside a field saw them first. Lived experience counts as much as expertise.
Each submission is scored on reach, severity, and neglect. We weigh these together rather than separately — a problem doesn't need to be extreme on all three, but it needs to be striking on the combination.
Shortlisted problems are published for anyone to review. If you indicated you'd like to work on it, you'll be invited into the fellowship selection process for that problem. If not, other candidates can apply against it.
Funding and time to work on the problem directly, plus access to the Azad network for the duration of the fellowship. Specific terms are shared with shortlisted candidates.
FOUNDING TEAM
The people building Azad Impact from the ground up.
Raghav Mimani
Raghav Mimani treats identity as a verb, not a noun. A BITS Pilani graduate and Young India Fellow at Ashoka University, he founded Irikoy Ventures, whose latest project, KARMA a board game he designed and built from scratch is launching soon. He serves as a Major in the Indian Territorial Army and is Founder & Lead Trustee of Nityashree Foundation. He also built Azad Reads into a 3,300-member youth community across Prayagraj, Lucknow and Banaras. A Hindi prose poet, his debut collection, Ek Arsa Ho Gaya Khud Se Bhi Mile Hue, releases with Vani Prakashan in December 2026.
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Amruth Ravindranath
As an entrepreneur and researcher at the intersection of neuroscience, AI, and EdTech, Amruth has built 100+ research-based products reaching 2.5M+ students and 1M+ teachers. His work spans physics, neuroscience, and education, with recognitions including a NASA award and the Sauvé Scholarship at McGill. He has spoken internationally, including at The Royal Institution and TEDxMcGill, and has trained 1,000+ product specialists in design thinking and rapid prototyping.
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