Gurgaon-based, startup nurturing platform India Accelerator plans to expand its startup portfolio by over three-folds in 2021 by investing in about 100 such Ventures.

India Accelerator is the only GAN (Global Accelerator Network) partnered accelerator in India, endeavoring to provide 360-degrees cross-functional mentorship to entrepreneurs. It brings the much-needed building blocks-mentorship, network, capital, technology, and peripheral services under one roof.

The company founded by Ashish Bhatia in 2015, invests Rs 25 lakh to select startups every year, then mentors them and connects them with other investors as they mature.

"The company is close to launching SEBI-approved alternate investment funds both for category 1 angel fund and category 2 venture capital fund, which will be providing more funding opportunities for startups," says, Ashish Bhatia, Founder & MD, India Accelerator.

He added, "While Accelerator programme is the core foundation for the success of our startups, there are other critical pieces needed to help grow a startup, these (new funds) help us in expand even further -- to new geographies and in other domains, thus helping us to move forward with our target of picking up 100 high-pot startups every year."

India Accelerator had invested in around 30 startups in 2020. The company has chosen about 70 companies for acceleration since August 2017. In 2020, IA  completed 27 financing deals, with nearly two-thirds of portfolio companies receiving additional funding.

IA has partially exited from five startups, according to Bhatia, with up to a six-fold return on investment. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, the company extended its presence to select startups across India, and it is now preparing to launch its programme internationally, including in Dubai, Africa, Singapore, London, and the United States.

Bhatia said, "Covid was of course an unplanned disaster, a lot of startups sank. Nevertheless, it helped us move to remote areas. Earlier you heard about startups from NCR, Jaipur, Rajasthan, Gujarat, they only could come and apply. Now we are mentoring startups from Kerala, Chennai, West Bengal, we have become a pan India entity."

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