Gray Matters Capital picks 6 Indian startups for ed-tech accelerator’s new cohort

US-based impact investment firm Gray Matters Capital has selected six Indian startups for the second cohort of its education-focussed GMC Calibrator accelerator programme.

Launched in April last year, GMC Calibrator aims to promote ‘self-learning to earning’ by improving user engagement, monetisation and optimisation of mobile learning platforms. This is done by understanding and implementing the principles of behavioural science and data-driven decision-making, as per its website.

“We welcome our new cohort members to the Gray Matters Capital fold and see them align with our program mission of empowering 5 million women and girls through their digital platforms by 2020,” said Ragini Chaudhary, India chief executive officer of Gray Matters Capital.

Startups from Kenya, Sierra Leone and Vietnam have also been picked for the programme.

The startups were selected by a jury comprising NASSCOM president Debjani Ghosh; Sanjeev Bikhchandani, co-founder of Info Edge India Ltd; Digvijay Singh, chief operating officer of Indian Angel Network; Anirudh Khusape, chief operating officer of Jiogennext; and Abhinav Mathur, founder of Million Sparks Foundation.

The programme will begin in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Below is a snapshot of the six Indian startups picked for the programme:

Dcoder: Dcoder is a cloud-powered Integrated Development Environment (online compiler) for programmers to code on mobile and tablets. The Jaipur-based company was founded by Ankush Chugh in 2016 and it currently has a 1.2 million-strong global community of coders.

InnerHour: Founded by Amit Malik and Shefali Batra, Mumbai-based InnerHour trains therapists to look after the emotional and psychological well-being of clients through its online platform and app.

Lal10: Noida-based Lal10 bridges rural artisans with global markets. It uses mobile technology to introduce them to contemporary designs and equip them with requisite skills. The venture was founded by Maneet Gohil, Sanchit Govil and Albin Jose in 2015.

Matrubharti: Founded by IT engineers Mahendra Sharma and Nilesh Shah in 2015, Matrubharti is a vernacular content community platform built for readers and writers in Indian languages such as Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi, besides English. The Ahmedabad-based platform gives it members access to both paper novels and e-books.

Quest Alliance: Started by Aakash Sethi in 2005, the Bengaluru-based non-profit aims to encourage self-learning among youth through digital means. It designs scalable solutions that enable educators to address critical gaps for quality education and skills training.

Skipy: Skipy is a creative play kit aimed at building foundational skills among children using mixed reality, which bridges the gap between the real world and the virtual world. The venture was founded by Ajay Das.