The Top 15 Startup Accelerators in India

As part of our new series on the essentials of starting up in India, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of the top 15 most active startup accelerators in India along with their typical funding ranges, equity terms and focus areas.

Catalyzer

Location – Hyderabad

Founded In – 2014

Focus Area – Technology, Brick & Mortar, Social Enterprises and Non Profits.

Catalyzer Startup Accelerator Program is a 101 days mentorship driven entrepreneurship cohort accelerator program for startups. Twice each year, it select up to 12 startup teams (or individuals) and help them navigate the crucial first stage. Selected startups receive financial support in the form of pre-seed capital, work space, IT facilities and other resources.

Funding – INR 5 – 10 lakhs on 7 – 12% equity

Notable Startups – Not yet

Reach Out – Sunil Mayreddy

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Freemont Partners

Location – Mumbai

Founded In – 2012

Focus Area – Mobile, Internet & Cloud

Freemont is India’s first Global accelerator and incubator,  which provides seed funding to entrepreneurs focused on technology driven startups. It provides mentorship, strategic direction and access to local/global mentors and partners.

Funding – Seed capital of up to INR 50 Lakhs

Notable Startups – Natural Mantra

Reach Out – Vivek Mohan

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GSF Accelerator

Location – Gurgaon

Founded In – 2012

Focus Area – Internet and Mobile

GSF Global Accelerator is a 13 week program, it aims to provide select startups with unparalleled access to venture and business networks, personalized & intensive mentoring, and initial capital. GSF Accelerator is designed to help product-oriented startups.

Funding – $25k – 30K for 5 – 8% equity

Notable Startups – Pokkt, Silverpush, Playcez, Little Eye Labs, Browntape

Reach Out – Rajesh Sawhney

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Health Start

Location – Hyderabad

Founded In – 2014

Focus Area – Healthcare

It is India’s first accelerator program dedicated to supporting startups in healthcare industry through funding, mentorship and other requisite support. It is launched by HealthStart & ISB’s human centered design-focused incubator, DLabs. Its a 20 week program providing selected startups with investment capital to develop their ideas further.

Funding – $100k

Notable Startups – Not yet

Reach Out – Pradeep K Jaisingh

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iAccelerator

(Not operational as of now)

Location – Ahmedabad

Founded In – 2009

Focus Area – Data analytics, software, mobile, education etc.

iAccelerator is a 3- month, mentorship based, intensive residential program for Internet & Mobile startups at CIIE- IIM Ahmedabad.

Funding – INR 500k for 3-12% equity

Notable Startups – Innoz, Griddle, Rideshare, Tookitaki

Reach Out – Info not available

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Kyron Accelerator

Location – Bangalore

Founded In – 2012

Focus Area – Web and Apps

Kyron has introduced a new concept of pre-accelerator, which will admit about 20-25 startups. Such startups will be put through a six-month incubation period after which Kyron handpick the companies for its accelerator batches.

Funding – upto $20k for 5 – 10% equity

Notable Startups – Dronna, Scandid

Reach Out – Vikram Ahuja

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Microsoft Accelerator

Location – Bangalore

Founded In – 2012

Focus Area – Cloud, Internet and Mobile using Microsoft technologies

Focused towards promising early-stage startups or first-time entrepreneurs, Microsoft Accelerator runs program of 4 months, starting in January and July every year. , selected startups get strong mentoring, technical guidance and connections to other startups.

Funding – N/A

Notable Startups – Explara, Frrole, Nowfloats, Plustxt

Reach Out –Mukund Mohan & Rajinish Menon

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Target Accelerator

Location – Bangalore

Founded In – 2014

Focus Area –  Marketing, Omnichannel, Mobile, Big Data analytics and Merchandising and Supply Chain Technologies.

Target Accelerator Program is a 16 week intensive, high touch, immersive and development-oriented program, specially curated for upto five technology startups focused on transforming the global retail industry through innovative and disruptive technologies.

Funding –  $30,000

Notable Startups – Unbxd, muHive, Konotor

Reach Out –Navneet Kapoor

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TLabs Accelerator

Location – Noida

Founded In – 2012

Focus Area – Internet & Mobile Startups

TLabs, an initiative by Times Internet, is a startup accelerator and early stage seed-fund in India for internet and mobile technology startups. Powered by a panel of 70+ mentors – that includes highly-experienced entrepreneurs and industry professionals, TLabs runs a structured and highly intensive four-month mentoring program for these startups. It also offers a funding of INR 10 Lakh, a co-working space and a host of other benefits from prominent tech partners, to the startups it accepts in the program.

Funding – INR 10 Lakh against 10% Equity

Notable Startups – Dataweave, Musicfellas, Bluegape, Gradestack, Langhar, News in Shorts

Reach Out – Abhishek Gupta, Abhimanyu Godara

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The Morpheus

(Not Operational as of now)

Founded In – 2008

Focus Area – Open for startups in all domains

Before Morpheus had followed a format where it use to provide 4 months intensive engagement / 5 L INR investment and lifetime support. But recently, it has changed the model and as brought in a new / fresh / better way of supporting young startups, where it will start engagement with a startup at a time when the startup and the Morpheus is mutually ready, anytime of the year; for as long as our support is relevant for them.

Before it use to focus on startups in the early stage i.e. 0-2 years, not it has started focusing on startups in later stage i.e. 2-5 years / 5-10 years & across other categories.

Funding – No information available as per the new format

Notable Startups – Akosha, Zepo, Commonfloor, CloudEngine

Reach Out –Sameer Guglani & Nandini Hirianniah

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The Startup Centre

Location – Chennai

Founded In – 2011

The helps the startups with Business Model Brainstorming, Growth Hacking Strategies, Setting up the Advisory Board and Market Validation, a small amount of Funding and an awesome set of Mentors.

Focus Area – Tech

Funding – INR 10 Lakh

Notable Startups – Eventifier

Reach Out –Vijay Anand

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Venture Nursery

Location – Mumbai

Founded In – 2012

Focus Area – Media & Entertainment, Retail, e-Commerce, Consumer Technology, Education and CleanTech.

It is India’s first angel-backed startup accelerator. VN’s acceleration program aims at improving the success probability of the startups and funding for series A. The Acceleration Program offers three months focused Business Acceleration program aimed at enhancing the probability of success of the startup. It works on a hybrid model which includes Acceleration Program as well as ParallelTrack process of acceleration.

Funding – Upto 50 Lakhs

Notable Startups – Oravel, Klip, InterviewMaster

Reach Out – Apoorv Ranjan Sharma

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ZoneStartups

Location – Mumbai

Founded In – Launched in India in 2014

Focus Area – Mobile, internet and digital media startups across verticals like consumer, enterprise and social

It is the first Canadian-led accelerator in India, a joint venture between the Bombay Stock Exchange Institute Ltd., (BIL), Ryerson University of Toronto, Canada, Ryerson Futures Inc. (RFI), and Simon Fraser University.  It offers State of art infrastructure for 4-6 months and access to mentors – functional experts, business advisors & industry guru’s to the startups.

Funding – Funding opportunity of $50k – $750k

Notable Startups – Sismatik, Nimble

Reach Out – Ajay Ramasubramaniam

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5Ideas

Location – Gurgaon

Founded In – 2012

Focus Area – Internet and mobile; niche ecommerce, B2B/SME focused SAAS, intersection of mobile & geo, education, urban parenting, big data and ad tech

It is a seed fund cum accelerator for early stage digital businesses offering unique blend of human, financial and social capital. It collaborates with startups for 6 to 12 months.

Funding – INR 50 lakh to2.5 Cr. for 15 – 30% equity

Notable Startups – Kartrocket

Reach Out –Pearl Uppal & Gaurav Kachru

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500 Startups

Location – Mountain View, San Francisco, and Mexico City

Founded In – 2010

Focus Area – Open for all domains

Founded by Dave McClure famous angel investor from Silicon Valley, 500 Startups run 4 – month accelerator. It’s like a Startup MBA on steroids providing startups access to a network of 1000+ founders, 200+ mentors, and its staff for guidance and mentorship

Funding – It invests $100k in exchange for 7%, and charge a $25K program fee for a net $75K investment. (Mountain View & San Francisco). And $40k in exchange for 10%, and charge a $12K program fee for a net $28K investment.

Notable Startups – Pricebaba, Tushky, Thinknum

Reach Out –Pankaj Jain

Though not an Indian accelerator, but 500 Startups is quite active in the Indian startup space and has accelerated and invested in a good number of Indian startups over the past 2 years.

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This is part of our special series, In Focus: Starting Up In India, in which we focus on the essentials every entrepreneur must know about starting up in India. Stay tuned for a comprehensive list of startup incubators in India coming later this week. 

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