US-based VC firm Silicon Road launches food-tech accelerator in India

US-based venture firm Silicon Road rolls out accelerator focused on food-tech and food retail

Silicon Road, a US-based venture capital firm, said it has launched the maiden edition of an Indian startup accelerator programme, which will focus on food-tech and food retail.

In a statement, the company said it has invited applications for the first season of the accelerator programme in India, and 20 April is the last date for submission.

It also added that the inaugural programme has been launched in collaboration with Paris-based startup accelerator Numa, which has been running its own startup accelerator in India since 2015.

Silicon Road was founded by Sid Mookerji, co-founder of Softvision, which was acquired by Cognizant Technology Solutions.

Mookerji, an engineer from BITS-Pilani, has also founded Silver Spirit Global, which operates incubators and technology parks in the US and India. He has also worked with Deloitte and Tata Consultancy Services.

As part of the four-month programme, Silicon Road will support qualified startups with funding, access to international and local networks, mentoring from experts and free office space and infrastructure

The programme will invest Rs 25 lakh in each startup, provide perks worth €700,000 (Rs 5.48 crore) to each entity, as well as consider a further round of funding opportunity from Silicon Road.

The maiden accelerator programme, to be held in Mysuru, will focus on accelerating a startup from the minimum-viable-product stage to the investment-ready stage.