New Delhi, January 06, 2026: The Sustainability Mafia (SusMafia), a non-profit organisation focused on climate education, early-stage incubation and ecosystem building, has received a ₹2 crore CSR grant from Zerodha to strengthen India’s climate talent and startup ecosystem.
The funding will be used to support SusMafia’s work in developing industry-ready climate professionals and enabling early-stage climate-tech startups to scale solutions across areas such as air quality, water and sanitation, waste management, carbon reduction and the circular economy. The initiative aims to address key gaps in the climate ecosystem, including limited access to skilled talent, early-stage validation support for founders and platforms that connect innovators with capital, corporates and pilot opportunities.
Over recent years, SusMafia has built a climate-focused education and incubation ecosystem through programmes such as Climate Ninja, which has trained over 400 climate professionals. Its incubation efforts have deployed ₹1 crore in grants to early-stage climate ventures, supported by a network of more than 80 climate entrepreneurs working across multiple sustainability sectors.
With the CSR support from Zerodha, SusMafia plans to expand its activities in climate education, knowledge dissemination and early-stage incubation. This includes structured learning programmes for students and professionals, hands-on support for emerging climate ventures, development of shared knowledge resources and ecosystem engagements to promote collaboration among founders, practitioners and institutional partners.
The proposed use of funds includes training over 300 additional Climate Ninjas, supporting more than 20 early-stage climate startups, and convening regional and national ecosystem platforms such as SusCrunch to bring together stakeholders from across the climate and sustainability landscape.
Commenting on the grant, Nithin Kamath, CEO of Zerodha, said, “Strong climate outcomes emerge when founders, practitioners, and learners have access to the right knowledge and support early in their journey. The Sustainability Engine Foundation is building this connective tissue for the climate ecosystem, and we’re pleased to back their work.”
While Ganesh, Director of SusMafia, said, “At the heart of our work is the belief that sustainability scales faster when communities work together toward a shared goal. This grant strengthens our ability to build that community bringing founders, talent, and partners closer as we collectively work to make sustainability the default choice. It enables us to deepen our efforts with greater focus, reach, and impact.”
Zerodha supports long-term climate and sustainability initiatives across India, with a focus on climate resilience, natural resource management and ecosystem development.
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