India Accelerator announces Dubai foray, will invest $20 mn in start-ups

Incubator will provide start-up founders with four-month training in business growth

India Accelerator (IA), a seed funding group, will partner with USA’s Global Accelerator Network (GAN) to launch an incubator under Dubai SME, an agency of the emirate.

India Accelerator aims to support 20-25 start-ups in Dubai in the first year of the incubator and has dedicated funds to invest up to $20 million.

The iAccel Gulf Business Incubator (iAccel GBI) will provide start-up founders with a four-month training programme on de-risking and business growth. It will offer mentorship, networking, and fundraising opportunities, working with stakeholders to strengthen the startup ecosystem in the United Arab Emirates.

India Accelerator will bring more than 20 start-ups in its portfolio from the domain of healthtech, AI, fintech, agritech, cybertech, D2C, deeptech to Dubai in the next 12 to 18 months.

IA is the first GAN-partnered accelerator in India, working to provide mentorship, business growth and funding to entrepreneurs. It has a portfolio of over 150 start-ups, with more than 1,400 mentors in its network.

IA offers three types of programmes for start-ups. The first is a fixed-term, cohort-based program, with two 90-days cycles a year. 

The second is a mentorship programme aimed at accelerating the growth and third is a ‘Demo Day’ where companies make pitches to investors.