Co-working space firm Huddle partners GrowX to roll out accelerator for electric vehicle firms

Gurugram-based incubator, accelerator and co-working space provider Huddle has announced its partnership with GrowX Ventures to set up an acceleration programme for the electric vehicles’ sector.

The startups selected under the programme will be provided with upfront investment of up to $150,000 (around Rs 1.04 crore) with access to more funds as the scheme proceeds. Mentorship from Huddle’s chosen personnel, opportunities to participate in pilot projects with large partner organisations and university and research data will be provided to help startups scale up.

The programme will focus on business-to-business (B2B) ventures based in India, enabling the value chain across sub-sectors. The four focus sub-sectors are battery-level innovations, charging infrastructure, low-cost manufacturing and data-driven solutions.

The programme will start from 15 July 2019 for a period of three months. Applications will be open from 27 May to 16 June.

Startups chosen will also have the opportunity of raising a subsequent round of funding worth more than $500,000 (around Rs 3.48 crore), led by GrowX or other institutional investment partner(s).

For this partnership, Huddle and GrowX have said that they have roped in stakeholders including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), battery makers, energy-focused companies as well as other last-mile delivery firms.

Sector-agnostic incubator Huddle has partnered Mumbai Angels Network and HealthStart, among others, to extend support to startups including CapBuild, 1Ramp, VetCo and Atron.

Huddle’s new partner GrowX, based out of Delhi, focuses on angel and seed stages across a wide range of sectors. GrowX recently led a seed funding round in online startup Progcap.

Other accelerator and incubator programmes:

• May 2019: Boeing University Innovation Leadership Development (BUILD) programme launched to incubate ideas and access Boeing’s innovation ecosystem.
• May 2019: Assistive Technology Accelerator launched an accelerator programme for startups focused on differently-abled individuals.
• April 2019: US-based venture capital firm Silicon Road launched the maiden edition of an Indian startup accelerator programme for food-tech and food retail.
• April 2019: Accenture invited fintech startups across the Asia-Pacific to apply for its annual accelerator programme.