Media firm Business World launches startup accelerator programme

Media organisation Business World (BW), which was jointly acquired by Exchange4media and an investment banker in 2013, has roped in Ashu Agrawal as program director to launch its accelerator program for startups in the country -- BW Accelerate.

Agrawal was previously working as the North India operations head at Indian Angel Network (IAN), one of the largest network of angel investors in the country.

The new accelerator will engage with startups across the spectrum, from idea, to beyond minimum viable product (MVP) level. It will also help large organizations to set up incubation initiatives through its initiatives.

"Accelerate is a program built on knowledge and intelligence acquired over the years. It has its foundation in a vision to create a platform for early stage startups focused towards speeding innovation, fostering business growth and accelerate entrepreneurial aspirations in the country," said Anurag Batra, chairman Business World and head of Exchange4media.

"We will begin with Delhi and NCR and will expand to another 8 to 9 cities such as Jaipur, Chandigarh and Indore in the next six months," Agrawal told Techcircle.in.

The accelerator has programs for startups across four stages. In the first program, it will run campus activities. There it will bring on campus ideas to prototype level and get them some amount of market validation.

Under the second program, it will accelerate entrepreneurs with minimum viable product. It will involve classroom teaching on how to enhance the product. The accelerator will also create a pool of mentors consisting of CEOs of prominent organisations, who in turn can even fund the startups.

It will then work with early funded startups in its third program. It's focus will be to help them acquire customers. Lastly the accelerator will work with established companies and help them set up incubation businesses for startups.

A not-for-equity accelerator, the accelerator will charge fee from startups or the institutions involved. It plans to charge Rs 25,000 per startup for the second program while the rest of the three will be tailor made.

The launch of the program and commencement of the first batch will happen through the first week of February.