In a powerful show of unity, the Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas stood alongside the chiefs of India’s oil and gas majors to unveil a new platform that aims to transform how energy technologies move from idea to scale.
On 19 August 2026 at IIT Madras, Dr. Neeraj Mittal, Secretary, MoPNG and Chairman of MC² Foundation, formally launched MC²+ Ignite. The sector-specific accelerator programme, a brand of MC² Foundation, is designed to support deep-tech startups building technologies for India’s energy sector. Joining him were the CMDs of ONGC, Oil India, IndianOil, BPCL, HPCL and Engineers India Limited, along with the Chairman of bp India.
Dr. Mittal explained that MC² Foundation was created to bring the technology problem statements of India’s oil and gas energy majors onto a single platform. The goal is to connect those challenges directly with academic research and startups, then back the resulting ventures to global scale. He highlighted the waste of fragmented efforts, noting that several companies can work on the same catalyst at the same time, leading to duplication of work, investment and bureaucracy without a direct link to the institutions where research happens.
Energy, he stressed, sits at the foundation of everything. Without it there is no life, no economy, no business, no food and no water. India’s ambition of becoming a Viksit Bharat cannot rest on the domestic market alone. Production must reach global scale so that costs fall.
To the founders present, Dr. Mittal offered a clear commitment. MC² will stay with them through the full cycle — technical and managerial mentorship, help with funds, and the visibility that comes when a PSU is ready to procure the product. Founders should not have to worry about whether a market exists.
MC²+ Ignite stands out as a first-of-its-kind decentralised acceleration and innovation platform. Its hub sits in Delhi, with nodes located inside the R&D centres of the sponsoring oil and gas companies. These nodes give startups access to real pilot sites. The programme has partnered with IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, C-CAMP and Venture Center, Pune, so that incubated startups can draw on infrastructure, lab facilities and mentoring across India.
Around 30 startups will form the first cohort. Each selected venture will be eligible for up to ₹2 crore in milestone-linked convertible funding. The initiative directly addresses a critical gap: while early-stage grant funding is relatively accessible, deep-tech and energy startups often struggle to reach operating assets, pilot sites, industry customers and growth capital. MC²+ Ignite brings capital, infrastructure, technical expertise and industry access together inside a structured cohort.
Applications for the inaugural cohort opened on 5 August 2026 and close on 31 August 2026. The 30 selected startups will be announced on 15 September 2026.
The presence of every major oil and gas leadership team at the launch signals how seriously the Ministry and the industry view this effort. MC²+ Ignite now opens the door for deep-tech innovators to move from the lab to industrial reality with the full weight of India’s energy majors behind them.
