Three Indian Startups Chosen by Y Combinator Seed Accelerator

BENGALURU: Twice every year, applications from thousands of wannabe entrepreneurs fill the mail boxes of Y Combinator, one of the most sought after start up incubators in the US. Tagged as the world’s most powerful startup incubator by Fast Company, the seed accelerator is a pitching ground for visionary ideas in nearly any realm. Companies receive funding, advice and connections in exchange for seven percent equity. Since inception in 2005, Y Combinator has served as a stepping stone for 9Gag, Reddit, DropBox, AirBnB etc. to name a few.

Making it by far the largest representation of Indian startups at its accelerator program the company has inducted three domestic startups into its summer batch. Innov8, a co-working space; JustRide, a self-drive car rental app, and Meesho, an app for sellers on Facebook and WhatsApp, have been selected by YC, for a three-month program based out of its Mountain View headquarters. Meesho, based in Bangalore helps independent sellers utilize the ever prevailing Facebook and WhatsApp platform by helping them create a custom Facebook store, manage payments and keep customers alert. JustRide imparts transparency and ease of use in the car rental scene. Besides, they also have a scheme where they assure earning to car owners who’d offer their vehicles for their clients. Innov8 on the other hand, provides state of the art workspaces for entrepreneurs and as of now operates in Delhi and Chandigarh.

Y Combinator has always been keen on the Indian Start up ecosystem. Startups like ClearTax, an online tax return filer, Razorpay, a payments gateway provider with their target market being India were also benefitted from Y-Combinator. Speaking to TOI, Sam Altman, President of YC, said, “Each of the founders from India in the current batch has personal experience with the problems they are solving, which gives them unique insights into the market they operate in. India is now only second to the US in terms of applications received from a country, higher than Canada or the UK.”

With an initial funding of $120,000 dollars, every batch cycle of Y-Combinator culminates in Demo Day, when the startups present their companies to a carefully selected, invite-only audience. Ashwarya Singh, CEO and Co-founder of JustRide, said that they were constantly tweaking their business model to reach high levels of efficiency — both in terms of operations and technology in consultation with the YC partners. "With this new war chest, expansion in India will be the immediate goal after the completion of YC and our main focus will be on JustConnect, which is our P2P arm."

Vidit Aatrey, Co-founder of Meesho, told TOI, "YC has been a great resource of on-demand help for us, whether in product development, strategy or even resolving crisis situations. The advice from YC partners (and other YC startups) has made us challenge our assumptions and this intervention is extremely useful for early-stage startups like us."

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