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In a bid to create an innovation-driven ecosystem in the country, media firm Business World has launched an accelerator program for startups in the country — BW Accelerate. The former North India operations head at Indian Angel Network (IAN), Ashu Agrawal has been appointed as a program directed for this accelerator program.
BW Accelerate will engage with startups across the spectrum, from idea, to beyond minimum viable product (MVP) level. It will also help large organizations to set up incubation initiatives through its initiatives.
Speaking on the plans, Anurag Batra, chairman Business World and head of Exchange4media said, “Accelerate is a program built on knowledge and intelligence acquired over the years. It has its foundation in a vision to create a platform for early stage startups focused towards speeding innovation, fostering business growth and accelerate entrepreneurial aspirations in the country.”
The accelerator program for startups has four verticals, starting from Accelerate Institutional, Accelerate Entrepreneur, Accelerate Customer & Business Connect and Accelerate Organizational.
Accelerate Institutional, the first vertical, which is an education institution-partnered initiative focused towards nurturing entrepreneurial aspirations of the young, on-campus students, and providing them with the right skill-sets to translate such ideas into prototypes.
The second vertical, Accelerate Entrepreneur, is aimed at engaging with beyond MVP startups, across categories, with the objective to provide a knowledge base, and achieve customer traction. This vertical will also focus on facilitating involvement by experienced professionals as mentors and share their knowledge to help achieve sharpness, critical for growth.
The third vertical, Accelerate Customer & Business Connect, is a programme designed for backed startups and it will engage with such early stage companies through a tailor-made programme. The focus will be to assist such startups with market connect and customer acquisition and help them achieve the right scale, in line with investor expectations.
And, Accelerate Organizational is designed to empower larger business entities and businesses to set up incubation projects within their fold, in line with strategic interests or as part of CSR initiatives.
The program will begin with Delhi and NCR and will expand to another 8 to 9 cities such as Jaipur, Chandigarh and Indore in the next six months. The applications for accelerator will open soon and the launch of this programme and commencement of the first batch will happen in the first week of February 2015.
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