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MC² Ignite Brings Energy Start-up Trials to Pune’s NCL Now

IndianOil Backs Pune Push to Move Energy Start-Ups From Research to Industrial Trials

A new effort to help Indian energy start-ups test technologies in real industrial settings came to Pune this week, with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IndianOil), Venture Centre and the CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL) hosting the Pune outreach of MC²+ IGNITE.

The programme, titled “Advancing Energy Innovations”, was held on September 3 at the NCL Main Auditorium. It brought together energy companies, researchers, start-up founders, academic institutions and members of the scientific community.

At the centre of the programme is a practical problem faced by many deep-tech companies. A technology may work in a laboratory but still require money, equipment, industry partners and operating sites before it can be tested at a useful scale. MC²+ IGNITE is designed to help start-ups make that move.

The accelerator plans to select up to 30 deep-tech start-ups working in seven areas linked to the energy sector. These include hydrogen and mobility, artificial intelligence for subsurface intelligence, advanced drilling and well completion, bioenergy and compressed biogas, refinery process intensification, digital asset management and an open category for other energy technologies.

Selected ventures can receive up to ₹50 lakh in convertible funding. The strongest companies can receive another ₹1.5 crore through milestone-based funding at Demo Day. The programme does not require a priced funding round, while founders retain ownership of their intellectual property. IIT Madras is the implementation partner, with IIT Kanpur, Venture Centre, C-CAMP and IIMA Ventures among the incubation partners.

For Indian start-ups working on energy technology, access to an industrial site can be as important as early-stage funding. Equipment used in oil refineries, pipelines, laboratories and other energy facilities is expensive and difficult for a young company to access on its own. The MC²+ model brings participating energy companies into the testing process and offers a possible route from technical validation towards procurement.

Padma Vibhushan Dr R. A. Mashelkar, FRS, delivered the keynote address at the Pune event. He described the initiative as “timely and truly path-breaking”. Referring to Einstein’s equation, he spoke about the pooling of laboratories, industrial assets, mentoring, capital and market access by India’s energy companies. He also urged founders to develop complete solutions and take Indian technology beyond domestic development.

IndianOil Chairman A. S. Sahney said: “Global energy demand is set to rise sharply in the coming years, and India’s growth may well outpace the world’s. Yet only a small share of India’s start-up capital has so far reached the energy sector. Through MC²+ IGNITE, we are opening IndianOil’s infrastructure to founders, a place to test, to fail safely, and to validate solutions beyond bench scale, so that promising technologies do not stall in the valley of death.”

IndianOil’s role in the programme is particularly relevant to hydrogen and mobility. The company has been working on hydrogen production, storage and fuel-cell applications through its research programme for several years. Its latest annual report says it is operating 15 hydrogen fuel-cell buses and has started work on hydrogen refuelling infrastructure.

The company is also building a 10,000-tonne-per-year green hydrogen plant at its Panipat Refinery and Petrochemical Complex. IndianOil finalised the project in May 2025, with commissioning planned for December 2027. The hydrogen is intended to replace fossil-derived hydrogen used in refinery operations.

That work sits within a much larger national policy effort. The Union Cabinet approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission in January 2023 with an initial outlay of ₹19,744 crore. The mission targets at least 5 million metric tonnes of annual green hydrogen production by 2030, along with about 125 GW of associated renewable energy capacity. The government expects the programme to attract more than ₹8 lakh crore in investment and create more than six lakh jobs.

Hydrogen is only one part of the wider energy transition covered by MC²+ IGNITE. Bioenergy, compressed biogas, refinery technology, digital systems, drilling and artificial intelligence also feature in the accelerator’s seven themes. This reflects the range of technical problems facing oil and gas companies as they continue to supply conventional fuels while investing in lower-carbon technologies.

Pune has a strong research base for such work. Venture Centre, located at the NCL Innovation Park, has been selected as an MC² Node for energy venture creation. Its role includes incubation, infrastructure, capital, mentoring and market access for founders and researchers working on energy technologies.

The Pune programme also included talks by CSIR-NCL Director Dr Ashish Lele and Dr Madhukar Garg, Advisor to the MC² Foundation. Dr Umish Srivastava, Executive Director I/c (R&D), IndianOil, discussed the capabilities and problem statements of oil and gas companies. Shri Radhey Shyam of the National Green Hydrogen Mission spoke about the green hydrogen sector.

The programme also featured an energy innovator showcase. It ended with the exchange of a Memorandum of Understanding between the MC² Foundation and Venture Centre, formalising Venture Centre’s role as an on-ground MC² node.

MC²+ IGNITE was launched at IIT Madras in August 2026 with participation from India’s major oil and gas companies. Its first cohort is expected to work through host innovation nodes and industry sites, with the programme scheduled to culminate in a Demo Day at IIT Madras on January 10, 2027.

For the start-ups entering the programme, the key test will come after the laboratory stage. Technologies will have to prove that they can work reliably under industrial conditions and address problems that energy companies are willing to pay to solve. That is where the Pune initiative could make a practical difference to India’s growing pool of energy-focused deep-tech companies.