The ₹100 Crore Bet on the Future: How InMobi, NoBroker, and Yulu Founders are Redefining Tech Education at IIT Kanpur

In a landmark move that bridges the worlds of industry success and academic innovation, the founders of three iconic Indian startups—Naveen Tewari (InMobi), Amit Kumar Agarwal (NoBroker), and Amit Gupta (Yulu)—have jointly pledged ₹100 crore to establish a pioneering School of Technology & Society at IIT Kanpur. Announced on December 30, 2025, this philanthropic endowment is more than a donation; it is a visionary blueprint for the next generation of Indian innovators. The school aims to systematically dismantle the traditional silos between engineering and humanities, creating a new breed of leader equipped to build technology that is not just advanced, but also equitable, sustainable, and deeply impactful for society.

The Founders’ Vision: From Commercial Triumph to Societal Legacy

The three founders represent a unique cross-section of India’s startup success story, each having built a category-defining company that leveraged technology to solve a distinct Indian problem.

• Naveen Tewari (InMobi): Built a global, homegrown advertising technology giant, proving Indian engineers could compete on the world stage in the digital era.
• Amit Kumar Agarwal (NoBroker): Disrupted the entrenched, inefficient real estate brokerage system with a tech-first, peer-to-peer platform, demonstrating how software can bring transparency to a traditional sector.
• Amit Gupta (Yulu): Tackled urban mobility and pollution with an electric micro-mobility platform, showing how technology can be harnessed for environmental sustainability and last-mile connectivity.

Their collective pledge is a statement of intent. Having built unicorns by solving large-scale problems, they are now investing in an institutional framework to ensure that future innovators are trained with a similar problem-first, impact-oriented mindset from the outset.

The School’s Blueprint: Cultivating the “Holistic Innovator”

The School of Technology & Society is designed to address a critical gap in conventional engineering education: the disconnect between technical prowess and understanding the complex social, ethical, and economic contexts in which technology operates.

The ₹100 crore endowment will be strategically deployed to create a world-class interdisciplinary environment. Key focus areas will likely include:

• Interdisciplinary Curriculum: Blending core computer science and engineering with courses in ethics, public policy, behavioral economics, environmental science, and design thinking. Students might take a class on “AI Ethics & Bias” alongside “Advanced Machine Learning,” or “Sustainable Systems Engineering” paired with “Urban Planning.”
• “Tech for Good” Research Labs: Establishing dedicated research centers focused on applied AI for social impact, climate tech, digital public infrastructure, and inclusive design. These labs would encourage collaboration between technologists, social scientists, and domain experts.
• Incubation & Entrepreneurship Support: Integrating the school with IIT Kanpur’s incubation ecosystem (Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre – SIIC) to provide students with mentorship, prototyping grants, and a clear pathway to turn research into viable startups or social enterprises.
• Global Faculty & Scholarships: Attracting leading thinkers from around the world and ensuring access through merit-cum-need scholarships, preventing financial barriers from excluding brilliant minds.

Strategic Alignment with National and Global Trends

The initiative arrives at a pivotal moment, perfectly aligned with larger trends shaping India’s future.

• Fueling the IndiaAI Mission & Atmanirbhar Bharat: The school directly supports the national goal of building sovereign AI capabilities by creating talent that can develop technology for Indian languages, governance, healthcare, and agriculture. It moves beyond being a talent supplier to the West to becoming a creator of homegrown solutions.
• Answering the Call for Ethical Tech: In an era of rising concerns about AI bias, data privacy, and automation’s impact, the school’s emphasis on ethics and society is not a luxury but a necessity. It aims to produce leaders who can build responsible technology by design.
• Supporting a Maturing Startup Ecosystem: With over 2 lakh recognized startups, India’s ecosystem needs more than just coders; it needs founders and leaders who can navigate regulatory landscapes, understand market nuances, and build companies with a positive social footprint. This school aims to be their primary breeding ground.

A Legacy Beyond the Classroom

The impact of this endowment will extend far beyond the IIT Kanpur campus. It sets a powerful precedent for successful Indian entrepreneurs to reinvest their wealth and wisdom into foundational institutions, shaping the ecosystem that nurtured them. It challenges other unicorn founders and corporate leaders to think about their legacy in terms of systemic change, not just charitable giving.

For aspiring students and future founders, the message is inspiring: the most valuable skill of the future may not be expertise in a single programming language, but the ability to bridge the world of bits with the world of people. The School of Technology & Society promises to be the crucible where that skill is forged, ensuring that India’s next wave of technological progress is as humane as it is groundbreaking.