Meet the 4 startups picked for VentureNursery's 2nd accelerator batch

VentureNursery, an angel-backed startup accelerator programme launched in March 2012, has announced its second batch of startups which will graduate in April this year. The four startups, shortlisted by the accelerator, include Interview Master, Klip, Smart Sample and The Venturator.

"We received over 150 applications for the second acceleration programme," said Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, executive vice-president of VentureNursery. "While majority of the applications came from Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune, nearly 30 per cent of those were from tier II cities like Lucknow, Kanpur, Bhopal and Nagpur. Retail, consumer technology and e-business are the sectors which have drawn most interest."

The programme will be completed in April this year with a pitch day for raising seed investments from the Charter Angels who are part of the accelerator. The first batch of the accelerator, which graduated in August last year, included two companies – Oravel.com and Shopveg.in. Oravel is an aggregator of bed & breakfast establishments, private rooms and serviced apartments with the focus on short and mid-term rental. However, Shopveg, an e-tailer of vegetables, fruit and grocery, later had to shut shop due to lack of funds .

Here is a look at the latest batch of startups at VentureNursery.

Interview Master : Bangalore-based Interview Master (it also has offices in Chennai and Australia) offers a hiring application, based on automated video interview solution. It allows users to create, manage and evaluate interviews online, using a pool of pre-recorded video questions and structured evaluation tool.

Klip : Mumbai-based Klip is a social shopping discovery platform where users can discover new products and do relevant products research with help from their social connections. Here, users can ask questions and post comments about products.

Smart Sample : A platform for new product enthusiasts. It enables users to directly interact with large corporate houses/brands at the launch and pre-launch stage of any product. Marketers can use it for generating awareness and advocacy for new products.

The Venturator : A media platform and an online marketplace that connects startups with ecosystem enablers. It aims to help early-stage startups connect with the right resource pool.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)