India Accelerator invests USD 150K in six startups

Gurgaon-based India Accelerator on Tuesday announced their list of final six startups they will be investing in, spread across sectors like FinTech (Kuants), a Ukrainian startup working on AI-backed Sign language-to-speech converter (EValk), Lifestyle products Rental platform (Voko), AI backed gift-recommendation platform (Wish-a-Mitr), Inter-city cab platform (CabBazar) and an e-commerce platform (Square1), to the tune of around USD 20-25K each.

The start-up ecosystem is well versed with the concept of Demo Day - the culmination of the grueling accelerator programs, where start-up founders have two minutes to make the pitch of their lives and dazzle the investors.

The investment was a part of its 'Angel day' by-invitation only event, which was an exclusive opportunity for a selected group of investors and angels to be part of a private viewing of their most recent curated and selected list of start-ups, before they kick off their journey at the accelerator.

The idea was to bring the investors up ahead in the investment cycle of startups, which increases the returns for investors significantly. The shortlisted startups were across the spectrum of sector and at different stages in the value chain, which helped cater to the interest areas of the diverse group of investors.

"While there are many players in the industry who provide funding as the primary offering, we would like to create a more meaningful difference. Post the seed funding, IA would step into handhold these selected startups through the three-month intensive mentorship-driven program, and channelise the seed investment to get the bang for the buck for the investor," said Mona Singh, the Chief Acceleration Officer of IA.

Spanning over two days, the Angel Day was held at the premises of India Accelerator, providing opportunities for networking and meaningful conversations. Of the 150 applications received from across the globe, the final 15 shortlisted startups participated in the event to showcase their technology and product.

There was a 10-minute slot provided to each startup to make their elevator pitch, post which a series of long, serious meetings with relevant investors were setup, who wanted to dig into the details.