Escape Velocity Grants

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Awardees

List of candidates and projects that we currently back or have backed in the past.

  • Tanvi Sharad Dhuri: Golden jackals in an urban mangrove ecosystem and their interactions with free-ranging dogs

    This thesis investigates Golden jackals in Mumbai’s mangroves alongside free-ranging dogs, focusing on space-use, interactions, and microbiome differences. (January 2026)

    Pockets of natural habitats in urban ecosystems are some of the most vital and challenging habitats to conserve. They help threatened wildlife survive even amidst rapid urbanisation and anthropogenic disturbances. The mangroves of Mumbai exemplify this phenomenon; Mumbai’s mangroves persist in fragmented patches along the city’s coast and are among the last preserved natural forests in the city. They also serve as important habitat refuges for many wild species.

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  • Loganayaki S: Butterfly Diversity and Conservation in Coimbatore’s Western Ghats Foothills

    The study in Coimbatore aims to document butterfly diversity and habitat associations in the Western Ghats by engaging local communities and generating essential data for conservation and ecological research. (January 2026)

    The Western Ghats, one of the world’s eight “hottest” biodiversity hotspots, support a remarkable diversity of butterfly species, many of which are endemic and sensitive to habitat change. Coimbatore district, positioned at the foothills of this globally significant mountain range, contains a mosaic of landscapes including forest fringes, agricultural fields, urban gardens, and scrublands—each offering unique ecological niches for butterflies. Despite being a rapidly developing region, systematic short-term assessments of butterfly diversity remain limited. This study aims to document the diversity, distribution, and habitat associations of butterflies across selected foothill habitats in Coimbatore.

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  • Swarnapriya Prusty

    Grant towards college (November 2022)

    Swarnapriya Prusty is from Keonjhar, Orissa and dreams of studying and attending college. Due to lack of resources, her parents are pressured to consider marriage for her instead of a college education. This grant by @_svs_ is going to serve as a guiding post to all girls.

  • Parinita Kanekar

    Help towards a career in finance (November 2022)

    Parinita Kanekar is from Thane, Maharashtra and wants to build a career in finance. She has enrolled in @invactHQ‘s equity research course and intends to use the course as the building block towards a job in finance. She will invest the grant amount in a laptop.

  • Priya Gautam

    Helping an aspiring teacher (October 2022)

    Priya Gautam, from Basti, UP wants to become a teacher. Currently, the family’s restricted budgets are going towards her brother’s engineering education. Post a BSc + BEd, she wants to write the C-TET exam and would purchase a smartphone + cover coaching fee to prepare.

  • Anushka

    Helping mental health treatment (October 2022)

    Anushka (class 12th) is studying in Nagpur. Her mother is schizophrenic and needs treatment. ~7 percent of Indians suffering from mental disorders have schizophrenia and its a disease that’s hard on everyone around.

    @augfrank decided to give the escape velocity to Anushka.

  • Kishore Jayakumar Nadar

    Helping a YouTube creator (September 2022)

    Kishore Jayakumar Nadar is an aspiring video storyteller and has creates inspirational content for Youtube. With the grant sponsored by

    @paraschopra , he will build his own small home studio which will allow him to create videos freely and creatively.

  • Krithika Ramesh

    Helping our Muay Thai winner represent India (September 2022)

    Krithika Ramesh is a 16 year old, 3 times Muay Thai winner and a two times national kick boxer and state boxing fighter. She will be using the grant (sponsored by Neel Patel) for representing India in the world championship on December 8-13th in Cambodia.

  • Rimjhim

    Grant towards a mental health platform (September 2022)

    Rimjhim is building a mental health platform through which she generates a small revenue every month. She wants to use this grant (by

    @AbhinavSahai ) to scale this project and to increase the effectiveness and coverage of therapy among Indian youth.

  • Shrinesh

    Grant for a cohort based coding program (September 2022)

    Shrinesh hasn’t been able to afford college fees and laptop to learn and had to drop out of his 12th standard. His grant (sponsored by an anonymous donor) would go towards joining a cohort based coding program with

    @tanaypratap and work towards getting placed as a developer.