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Google-backed APAC Sustainability Seed Fund to back 2 Indian firms solving water woes

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Gujarat Mahila Housing Sewa Trust and Villgro Innovation Foundation have been selected by the Google and Asian Development Bank (ADB)-supported APAC (Asia-Pacific) Sustainability Seed Fund to explore new use cases for AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning) and IoT (Internet of Things) to address threats of high water scarcity and excessive flooding across India. The two are among the 13 organisations to receive grants from the fund in the Asia-Pacific region. Ahmedabad-based Gujarat Mahila Housing Sewa Trust will use its share of funds to develop models to map the landscape around Amalner, Maharashtra to predict floods. Chennai-headquartered Villgro Innovation Foundation will support its partnership with CultYvate to develop mobile- and browser-based applications for farmers to better manage efficient irrigation management and water conservation. Villgro also plans to aggregate outcomes from its work on water conservation and resulting carbon aversion, so farmers can access carbon markets and find alternative sources of revenue.