The startup ecosystem observed a fundamental change over the last ten years that encouraged a thriving startup ecosystem, buzzing with new technology and creativity, generating employment and promoting entrepreneurship. The sector is expected to witness a year-over-year growth of 10–12 percent annually and it has never been more feasible than it is now. However, not long ago, building a startup from the ground up was a daunting task. This need gap required immediate attention, owing to which, we saw a rise in accelerator and incubator programmes that have been supporting startups in nurturing and building businesses quickly, providing founders with a distinct competitive advantage. These accelerators offer invaluable business and managerial mentoring in addition to just financial support. They pair inexperienced founders with the best management team to aid in the right execution of ideas. With accelerators paying close attention to each startup, they aim for a rapid boost in growth and provide connections to investors and business partners. Some industries that have experienced exponential growth in the past few years include Edtech, Fintech, Saas, Agritech, and the Healthcare sector.
Making a startup thrive requires much more than just having good ideas. And startup incubators and accelerators in India give you all of it unbiasedly. They provide you with access to all the components of a business, including resources, money, and mentoring.
5 Indian accelerators that have a unique approach to enterprise incubation and entrepreneurship
Founding year: 2006
Founders Name: Saurabh Srivastava, Padmaja Ruparel, Raman Roy
Link: https://www.
IAN (Indian Angels Network) : Indian Angel Network (IAN), is the largest network of angel investors in Asia, which is eager to fund and help startups grow. It is an angel investor network that will support the expansion of your startup. The network’s members are leaders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem since they have a background in starting new ventures or strong operational experience. The network puts you in touch with these investors, who are committed to supporting your startup’s long-term success not only with money but also with their time. They also add value, By giving access to its whole network and offering mentoring and advice.
IAN has invested in almost 100 businesses, which are diversified across a lot of sectors, including manufacturing, e-commerce, gaming, semiconductor, healthcare, QSR, and education. And through its IAN Impact track, it has now begun to invest in businesses that have an impact on the community or those who are less advantaged. Their portfolio companies include Hungryzone, adStringO, and fab alley to name a few.
Founding year: 2007
Founders Name: Kunal Upadhyay
Link: https://ciie.co/
CIIE.CO : CIIE.CO is The Innovation Continuum spreading from incubation, acceleration, seed, and growth funding to research. Founded at IIM Ahmedabad in 2002, initially as an academic center, CIIE.CO has since grown and pivoted to fill the multiple, ever-evolving gaps in the Indian innovation-driven entrepreneurship space. Among various initiatives, CIIE.CO has conceptualized and hosted India’s first accelerator, created India’s first and so far the only cleantech-focused fund, accelerated over 1000 startups, funded over 300 startups, inspired over a million with our publication – Stay Hungry Stay Foolish.
Founding year: 2016
Founders Name: Head – Sruthi Kannan
Link: https://launchpad.cisco.com/
Cisco Launchpad Startup Accelerator: CISCO Launchpad is a corporate accelerator program specialising in helping deep-tech startups that work in disruptive technologies. They primarily focus on collaboration and help startups scale greater heights. The Internet of Things, security, artificial intelligence, machine learning, image processing, linkages/video analytics, and healthcare-specific technology are just a few of the areas of specialisation. They have been propelling deep-tech startups that have the capacity to scale up and go big in terms of addressing myriad modern-day challenges.
As their programmes run for six months, the Cisco Launchpad programme only admits two groups every year. Over 100 industry experts serve as mentors for each cohort, comprising a batch of 6–8 companies. Alumni of the programme are given ongoing help in various ways, including connections with investors and partners, hiring assistance, GTM support, and assistance with user interface and user experience. A few of the startups in their portfolio are Smart Ship Hub, Senseforth.ai, Sensegrass, and Seashore networks.
Founding year: 2011
Founders Name: CEO- Anupam Jalote
Link: https://www.icreate.org.in/
ICreate Startup Incubator: International Centre of Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate) was founded with the goal of creating an effective methodology for selecting tech innovators, supporting them in becoming successful entrepreneurs, and as a result, having a significant positive impact on India’s economy. Its goal is to provide creative and innovative minds with a supportive and challenging environment so that they can establish companies that have the ability to scale quickly, compete worldwide, ethically generate income, and provide meaningful and rewarding employment. Their primary areas of focus are robotics, agritech, healthtech, the internet of things, electric vehicles, and renewable energy. iCreate plays an important role in assisting entrepreneurs with everything from ideation to execution. By providing funds, coaching, and new business prospects, iCreate benefits startups. Their portfolio companies include TecSo CHARGE+ZONE, Drone Nation, and The Solar labs to name a few.
Founding year: 2004
CEO Name: Poyni Bhatt
Link: https://sineiitb.org/
Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship -SINE IIT Bombay : Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship was established in 2004 and is one of the oldest incubation centers in India. It is an initiative by IIT Bombay, and it provides nurturing to startups going from idea to execution. They assist startups by focusing on economic growth, strategic value, and social relevance. It gives prototyping grants, provides incubation support to tech startups, and runs accelerator programs in a corporate partnership. They have a vision of providing an environment to translate knowledge and innovation into the creation of successful entrepreneurs. Till date, they have helped more than 200 startups succeed via various activities to support venture creation, and their startups have raised more than 4500 crores in funding. Their portfolio companies include ideaForge, Bhugol GIS, Bellatrix Aerospace to name a few.
