Multimodal AI Innovation Program for Startups | ICICI Bank x IIT Mandi iHub and HCi Foundation

PROGRAM PARTNERS
ICICI BankiHub LogoReserve Bank Innovation Hub

Call For Multimodal AI Innovation Program for Startups

Physiological · Cognitive & Psychological · Sensory · Behavioral

Build the AI that
senses like we do.

A 6-month innovation program for startups building Multimodal AI solutions in financial services.

Applications close: Date TBD

12–15

Startups per cohort

6

Months, launch to Demo Day

15

Masterclass sessions

₹0

Participation fee

About the Program

One technology lens. Every financial use case.

Multimodal AI is the integration of Physiological, Cognitive & Psychological, Sensory, and Behavioral data. It is how machines learn to understand people the way people understand each other. This program identifies and supports startups applying that capability to real problems in banking and financial services.

You don’t need to be working with Multimodal AI today. Startups in any focus area are encouraged to apply; the program will actively guide you to understand and incorporate MMAI, with hands-on access to the IIT Mandi iHub & HCi Foundation Multimodal AI Lab.

Physiological Cognitive & Psychological Sensory Behavioral

What makes this different?

Real ICICI Bank use cases

Selected startups gain the opportunity to build and validate their PoCs against real ICICI Bank use cases and banking systems, rather than simulations.

India’s only dedicated Multimodal AI Lab

Access the MI-RA Lab at IIT Mandi iHub & HCi Foundation: equipment, datasets, and faculty no startup could build alone.

Demo Day with curated VCs

Present to 8-10 invited VC firms and ICICI Bank leadership in Mumbai.

Zero participation fee

Free to join. Selection is purely merit-based.

The MI-RA Lab · IIT Mandi

India's only dedicated Multimodal AI research facility, open to program participants.

An “ImageNet for multimodality,” built India-first: synchronised Indian multimodal datasets across faces, voices, accents, gestures, and biosignals, collected in a research-grade environment no startup could build alone.

multimodallab.ai

Volumetric capture rig16+ cameras in an anechoic chamber for 360 degree synchronised capture
Multi-room facilityCapture Room, Dark Room, UX Labs and Multi-Sensor Room for controlled experiments
Biosensor arraysEMG/EDA biosensors synchronised with audio-visual streams
OptiTrack motion captureWide-area motion capture for gait and gesture analysis
India-centric datasetsLiveness detection, video KYC, voice biometrics and fraud models
Co-research with IIT Mandi facultyStrengthen your IP with guided research collaboration

Focus Areas

Six tracks. Bring your own problem statement.

Within each track, you refine your PoC scope in collaboration with ICICI Bank’s domain teams to align with real business needs.

TRACK A

Fraud, Identity and Trust

Identity verification, fraud detection, deepfake identification, and continuous authentication, combining vision, voice, document, and behavioural signals.

TRACK B

Intelligent Underwriting and Credit

Credit assessment enriched by video KYC, alternative data, document intelligence, and behavioural inputs, extending access to underserved populations.

TRACK C

Conversational and Agentic Banking

AI agents that work across text, voice, image, and video for seamless, multilingual, inclusive banking experiences across India.

TRACK D

Risk, Compliance and RegTech

AML monitoring, compliance automation, audit trails, and regulatory reporting, fusing structured data, documents, audio, and visual inputs.

TRACK E

Customer Experience & Personalisation

Sensing customer intent, sentiment, and preference across channels and modalities for hyper-personalised engagement at scale.

TRACK F

Open Innovation

Breakthrough MMAI applications beyond BFSI, spanning banking operations, embedded finance, branch intelligence, healthcare, industrial inspection, and edge AI.

What You Get

Enterprise access most startups wait years for.
01

MI-RA Lab Access

Dataset access, PoC development, and model testing & validation at India’s only dedicated multimodal AI research facility.

02

Expert Mentorship

A structured 9-week curriculum across product, tech, GTM, sales, growth, finance, and fundraising. Choose the sessions most relevant to you when you apply.

03

Pilot Enablement

Structured pilot enablement and ecosystem network access for top-performing startups.

How It Runs

Four phases, July to December.
1
Phase 1
2nd–4th Week July
2
Phase 2
August
3
Phase 3
September–November
4
Phase 4
First Half December

Mentors

Learn from people who've built it.

Our incubation program provides your startup with on-demand access to a diverse pool of elite technical and business mentors, expertly matched to your evolving needs.

Eligibility

Who should apply

    • ✓Startups with MVP or ARR 1 Mn USD
  • ✓Solutions for BFSI or Open Innovation
  • ✓Building with, or willing to adopt, Multimodal AI as a core technology

Free to participate. Selection is purely merit-based.

Selection Criteria

  • 01Problem-solution fit
  • 02Technology & Innovation
  • 03PoC feasibility
  • 04Team capability

Ready to build the future of financial intelligence?

Join Cohort 1 of the Multimodal AI Innovation (MMAI) Program, in collaboration with ICICI Bank and the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH). Applications are now open. 12 to 15 startups will be selected on merit, and participation is completely free.

A program by IIT Mandi iHub & HCi Foundation in collaboration with ICICI Bank & Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH).

FAQ
Common questions
No. Startups in any focus area are welcome, including those new to MMAI. The program is explicitly designed to help you understand and adopt multimodal approaches, with a dedicated MMAI introduction in Week 1 and hands-on MI-RA Lab access.
No fees at any stage. Equity investment by iHub or ICICI Bank is an optional opportunity for high-potential startups, never a condition of participation.
Hybrid. Masterclasses run online. The Week 6 campus immersion at IIT Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and the Demo Day in Mumbai are in person.
Dataset access for model training, hands-on use of capture infrastructure for PoC development, model testing and validation against India-centric data, and co-research opportunities with IIT Mandi faculty.
Your models and your data remain your IP. Pre-existing Lab datasets are licensed for use, not transferred. A Data Governance and IP Agreement is signed at onboarding so terms are clear from day one.
Top startups may enter PoC-to-pilot conversations with ICICI Bank, be evaluated for equity investment, and gain continued access to the program mentor and partner network.